A Newport Beach-based company that has developed “smart” glasses—which incorporate augmented and virtual reality to help the visually impaired—is looking to raise $2 million in a Series A round.
“We’re going out for investment because we’re growing faster than we can keep up,” NuEyes co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Justin Moore said.
NuEyes launched in January, and was recently selected to participate, with its NuEyes Easy product, as a finalist in Aging2.0’s global startup search in San Francisco next month. NuEyes got the nod for the event after winning pitch competitions in Palo Alto and Los Angeles. It will compete for $2,500 in prize money to go with the exposure and contacts that Aging2.0’s events bring as part of its aim to develop a “network to accelerate innovation to improve the lives of older adults around the world.”
NuEyes Easy is 100% covered by Veterans Affairs health care systems for veterans who are legally blind and get approval through their local V.A., Moore said.
The product underscores the need for cutting-edge technology for aging baby boomers: 10,000 of them turn 65 every day, a rate that will continue for at least 15 years, he said.
“The technology expectation of these individuals is beyond what is the status quo today … and this presents an opportunity, which is attracting significant investment,” he said.
NuEyes has raised about $400,000 from family, friends and the founders’ own investments, Moore said.
Crowdfunding Complete
A Newport Beach company that’s created a wearable device with the aim of keeping those exercising outdoors at night safe has met the goal of its Kickstarter campaign. Niports Inc. raised $30,568—just over its $30,000 goal—for its product, called Specter.
The device fits around the wrist and features 10 LED lights, which can be programmed via any smartphone to project customized “afterimages.”
Specter works while someone is in motion—jogging, skating or cycling, for example—with its LED lights producing a glowing afterimage, which can be a word or shape traced by the lights as the device moves through space. This feature serves as a safety measure to prevent the wearer from blending into the dark, according to the company.
Specter’s mobile app allows users to draw, import or download afterimages for the device to display. These images can then be customized with color and brightness controls.
The app also enables users to track and record fitness data, such as speed and distance.
Niports was founded by a group of athletes from New York, Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Seoul. Irvine-based The Ignite Agency, a digital marketing agency, handled the Kickstarter campaign.
Fin-Tech Draws Startup
Tech Coast Angels thinks it’s spotted another fin-tech success story and backed up its enthusiasm by leading a $1.8 million seed financing round for MovoCash Inc., according to Grant Van Cleve, president of the OC chapter and now a board member at MovoCash. The Oakland-based startup has developed a soon-to-be-launched app that will enable friends and family members to make payments to each other. It’s a direct play to “underserved” millennials who either don’t have bank accounts, don’t trust banks, or are unsatisfied with their banking options, Van Cleve said.
Founder and Chief Executive Eric Solis has a connection to OC—he founded his first two startup companies here: SaveDaily in 1999 and Save252 in 2005. Both of the prior startups, like MovoCash, targeted the “underbanked.” It was during that time that he began building relationships with “stalwart TCA members like Luis Villalobos, Don Kasle, Dave Berkus and others,” he said.
Solis said he decided to locate MovoCash in the San Francisco Bay Area because co-founder Daniel Kjellen lived there and because he recognized the need to be near the fin-tech epicenter to draw on the knowledge base and labor pool there.
Solis was in OC visiting his family recently, and Van Cleve heard about the progress he had made and asked if TCA could take a shot at funding its next round, he said. TCA received more than a 110% return when Monrovia-based Green Dot Corp. went public in 2010.
Green Dot, a provider of reloadable prepaid debit cards, raised $164 million through its IPO. TCA members sensed that Movo could be the next Green Dot, Van Cleve said.
“The company was one of the best we’ve seen present and in terms of due diligence,” Van Cleve said. “Truly top notch.”
Movo will offer free peer-to-peer payments, along with a free bank account. App users will be able to send money to friends and family instantly and create digital, prepaid cards on-demand that can be spent in a store, through the app or online wherever credit cards are accepted. Solis expects to launch the app next month, he said.
Movo’s services are offered free of charge to customers, and it earns 1.25% of each transaction through interchange fees that are paid by merchants as a built-in cost for being associated with the Visa network.
