A Newport Beach-based startup won the “Most Fundable” award at Tech Coast Angels’ Celebration of Entrepreneurship on March 10. Need it Now Healthcare is a purchasing platform that connects small medical device companies to purchasers, especially large hospitals that typically have gatekeepers who can present hurdles for new vendors.
Need it Now won a $5,000 package of services from Nguyen & Tarbet, a firm in Irvine that was one of the sponsors of the event and specializes in patent and trademark law.
The award carries additional worth in the form of validation that investors “get” the concept, according to Need it Now Chief Executive Bobby Shah.
“That was the only award I wanted to win,” he said after the event. “It just felt good that the investors got it, that it’s not just about making money. They understood what we are looking to achieve.”
The medical device market is enormous, Shah said. He described it as $322 billion globally and $122 billion domestically. A good chunk of that is produced in Orange County, home to a hub of the segment with major companies, such as heart-valve maker Edwards Lifesciences Corp. in Irvine and a host of others, including numerous eye-device makers that stem in part from the historic presence of Allergan Inc. here.
In the past it’s been very difficult for small medical device companies to gain traction, he said. Need it Now provides a conduit for the companies to gain access and cuts down the decision-making and purchase time, he said. Purchasers can buy the products they like directly from Need it Now’s website, he added.
Shah and his team started the company 18 months ago. Its first customer was Oakland-based Kaiser Permanente.
Need it Now will soon be raising a Series A round of approximately $5 million, Shah said. Previously, the startup amassed $1.5 million from its own team members, board members, friends and family, he added.
He said he ultimately intends to expand the company’s reach beyond healthcare to pharma, automotive and wireless.
New Emojis for Car
A startup created by Chapman University students is launching a new line in early April. MotorMood, which creates emojis for drivers to put on their cars, is launching a new line of emojis that is more similar to the traditional emojis on smartphones and Facebook. MotorMood is based out of the Leatherby Center, Chapman’s center for entrepreneurship.
MotorMood originally designed its own blue and pink emojis and launched them in January after taking preorders for the prior six months. After doing research internationally—through paid surveys and conversations with customers—the company found that traditional emojis were what customers wanted, according to Kina De Santis, co-founder and director of marketing.
It’s launching a new line called CarMoji on April 1. The startup manufactures the facial part of the emojis with a silk screener in Sun Valley. The plastic casing is manufactured in China.
De Santis and her co-founders started the company in 2013 and officially launched it in January. In the interim, MotorMood worked on building a team and testing prototypes, as well as setting up its factory in China, she added.
MotorMood recently closed a round of funding for an undisclosed amount in the six-figure range.
Federal-Local Partnership
The U.S. Small Business Administration, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and Applied Innovation (University of California-Irvine’s innovation institute), joined forces March 17 to host an Inventor and Entrepreneur Forum at The Cove, where Applied Innovation is housed.
It was the inaugural event for Orange County, according to Christopher Lorenzana, a lead economic development specialist for the SBA who’s based out of its Santa Ana office.
The Small Business Administration and Applied Innovation signed a two-year, strategic alliance agreement, demonstrating that the SBA is committed to furthering development with UCI, Lorenzana said.
The event also featured panels and workshops on issues including getting trademarks, patents and funding.
The SBA invited John Cabeca, director of the West Coast region for the federal patent/trademark office, to the event to show him the vibrancy of small businesses and entrepreneurs in OC, Lorenzana said.
“I would love to see today’s program replicated across the country,” said Cabeca, whose region covers seven Western states; he is based out of San Jose. “Working across the innovation ecosystem to create a comprehensive program for the small-business and entrepreneurial community is critical to their success.”
In Memoriam
The local startup community is mourning the recent passing of Lisa Taylor, founder and chief executive of CrashLabs in Costa Mesa, an alternative, on-demand work space that hosted events for startups and people affiliated with them.
