A New York-based startup with deep ties to Orange County raised an $8 million seed round led by Stamford, Conn.-based Point72 Ventures, with participation from Quiet Capital, Struck Capital, Core Innovation Capital and other venture and strategic investors.
SoHo, Manhattan-based SAY is developing a social platform for individual shareholders to provide them a bigger voice in corporate developments and level the playing field against institutional investors.
The company was co-founded by OC entrepreneur Jeff Cruttenden, who co-founded Irvine-based Acorns Grow Inc., the country’s fastest-growing microinvesting app, with more than 3.3 million accounts.
Acorns is partnering with SAY to provide Acorns customers with a deeper understanding and influence on stock ownership. Shareholder voting today is largely by mail-in proxy, hence a lower than 30% participation rate, according to Broadridge Financial Solutions, the nation’s leading proxy tabulator.
Acorns Chief Executive Noah Kerner said Cruttenden planted the seeds for SAY when they first met in 2014. Kerner is on SAY’s board, and Cruttenden remains an adviser to Acorns, which recently added a major endorsement and financial muscle from BlackRock Inc. (NYSE: BLK), the world’s largest asset manager, with $6.3 trillion.
The investment was part of a $50 million fundraising round BlackRock led. The amount Blackrock invested wasn’t revealed, but Head of the Americas Region Mark McCombe told the Business Journal it’s an “anchor investor and key partner” in Acorns.
Speaking of financial muscle, the founder and owner of Point72 is famed billionaire and hedge-fund manager Steve Cohen, estimated by Forbes to be worth $14 billion.
— Chris Casacchia
Puppy Love
Los Alamitos-based JustFoodForDogs rightly bet on pet owners’ willingness to go the extra mile for their furry friends. The pet food maker, whose motto is “cooked fresh, packaged frozen,” was tapped by San Diego-based Petco to open “stores within stores,” many of them featuring exhibition kitchens so customers can see how the food is made.
Petco Chief Executive Brad Weston said pet parents are embracing “small batch, human-grade food that is fit for human consumption but nutritionally balanced for pets.”
JustFoodForDogs uses only USDA-grade meats and produce, formulating the food via a team of veterinarians. It will be in 500 stores within 48 months, a company spokesperson said, starting in New York City and Southern California.
Shawn Buckley founded the company in 2010. He said JustFoodForDogs’ own nutrition consultants will staff the Petco stores.
“A growing number of people regard their four-legged pets as family members and, thus, are taking better care of them than ever,” said Chief Medical Officer Oscar Chavez, a veterinarian and professor of canine clinical nutrition.
The Business Journal wrote about the company in January following its securing a significant growth investment from L Catterton, one of the largest consumer-focused private equity firms.
— Sherry Hsieh
In-House
Irvine-based accelerator Cie Digital Labs announced a partnership with Titan School Solutions, bringing the Roseville-based child nutrition SaaS services provider to its Irvine headquarters.
Titan’s cloud-based software, launched in 2014, enables K-12 school districts to modernize the lunch line and spend fewer resources on managing meal plans. In an earlier press release the company quoted Brenda Padilla, director of nutrition services at the Sacramento Unified School District. “Delivering more complicated menu requirements and accounting for meals by student’s eligibility at the point-of-sale are difficult issues when front-line staff has very limited time to feed hundreds of hungry children,” she said.
Titan President Brad Blankenship said that school-targeting campaigns like former First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” can work “much better for the children as intended, when schools have the tools necessary to integrate and manage them properly.”
Cie Digital co-founder and Chief Executive Anderee Berengian and co-founder and Head of Product Strategy Justin Choi joined Titan’s board.
Berengian said the software, which also includes optional free text and email account notifications and the ability to alert lunchrooms about any possible dietary or spending restrictions, gives parents portal-level control and transparency in managing their children’s meal plans. “Parents can load up the account with money and see what students eat for the day, week,” he said.
He said Cie Digital “took what Brad was able to do on his own, and we were able to accelerate and scale growth.” Titan now serves more than 350,000 students in 70 school districts.
Cie Digital announced its mobile tire installation portfolio company ASAP Tire in December.
— Sherry Hsieh
By the SeashoreÂ
Janell Rowland is selling about $6,000 a month in handmade seashell jewelry under Clam & Clasp LLC in Irvine; 20% of profits go to ocean conservation groups.
Inventory of about 300 items spans three products—two necklaces and a bracelet—and sells for $48 to $58 each. Rowland is expanding offerings.
The 24 year old earned a bachelor’s degree in business and advertising from the University of San Diego and worked for two years at Newport Beach-based advertising and marketing firm Orange Label before quitting to start the online-only effort this year.
Initial costs were about $7,000.
“I’ve been saving since I graduated and don’t spend much money,” she said.
Promotion so far has been on social media, particularly Facebook.
An Etsy vendor sends seashells from Florida—“they’re easier to collect there”—gold plating is done in Los Angeles, and she plans to hire someone to handle fulfillment. Items are packaged in “small glass bottles, product information rolled up like a note” inside.
— Paul Hughes
