FUNDING
Newport Beach-based music technology company Trubify announced Feb. 22 the opening of a $12 million Series A round in partnership with Orange County’s largest business accelerator, Octane.
The company has “grown exponentially—both nationwide and globally—and Series A funding will help us accomplish our business milestones and strategies while focusing on maximizing investor returns,” said Trubify founder and CEO Stephen Tyszka, who previously co-founded the now-acquired fintech app Blast.com.
“As a Southern California-based company, we are also aligned with Octane’s mission to enhance a growing tech ecosystem here in our own community.”
Trubify is a mobile app designed to help musicians monetize their craft through livestreamed performances. Since launching in 2021, it reported engagement increasing by 500% and garnering $1 million in royalty contracts. It’s backed by Walter Cruttenden, founder of Irvine fintech unicorn Acorns, who also serves on its advisory board.
“As an Octane LaunchPad Accelerator alum, Trubify epitomizes the type of innovation that synergistically ties into our mission,” Octane CEO Bill Carpou said. “Their music-streaming platform that empowers artists not only showcases the SoCal tech community but is leading the way for future innovation stemming from our ecosystem.”
PropBidder, a Newport Beach-based residential real estate firm, announced Feb. 22 the closing of a $1 million seed round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from notable investors including former Irvine Co. President Ray Wirta, Google Chairman John Hennessey, and Shutterstock Chairman Jon Oringer.
Husband and wife Mikael Hastrup and Sydney Hastrup co-founded PropBidder in 2020. Mikael previously handled land acquisition and new home development for New Home Co., a homebuilder formerly based in Irvine, while Sydney comes from a background in e-commerce, software development, and retail.
“This funding round validates our market pull in the home bidding and offer category, as well as our clear product and customer competitive advantages that we’ve established in just under two years,” Mikael Hastrup said in a statement.
The new capital will help grow PropBidder’s customer base, which already includes large brokerages such as Coldwell Banker and Century 21, as well as scale its team across a variety of sales, customer support, and software engineering roles.
Medical device company Diality Inc. of Irvine announced Mar. 2 securing $24 million in Series B2 funding from private investors.
Founded in 2015, Diality is developing a hemodialysis machine that can be used in multiple care settings, including nursing homes, hospitals, dialysis centers, and at home, according to the company.
“To accommodate cost-effective delivery in all care settings, hemodialysis machines need to be user friendly for non-specialty nurses, patients, and care partners,” Diality CEO Dr. Osman Khawar said in a statement. “To meet the needs of prescribing physicians and their patients in acute, sub-acute, chronic, and home settings, a versatile machine also needs to be capable of delivering a wide range of dialysis prescriptions.”
The funding will be used to support FDA 510(k) clearance, an at-home clinical study and the formation of a U.S. commercial organization, the company said.
“The timing of this round positions us to leverage growing interest in this relatively new category of hemodialysis solutions where we see opportunity for innovation that better addresses the distinct needs of dialysis providers across all segments of the market,” Khawar added. “Diality is known for innovation, its speed to market and the efficient use of its capital.”
ACQUISITION
Clubspeed, an Irvine-based software developer for family entertainment venues, said Feb. 28 it has acquired KartingManager, a software provider in the go-kart industry, for an undisclosed sum.
In November 2021, Clubspeed acquired online booking and waver management software company Vantora, the financial details of which were also undisclosed.
With the addition of KartingManager, Clubspeed now serves over 700 customers across more than 60 countries.
KartingManager founder Tomasz Kozlowski will transition into his new role of managing director for international operations at Clubspeed, the company said.
The acquisition “uniquely positions our business to continue scaling internationally and providing world-class solutions and support for family entertainment centers,” said Clubspeed Chief Executive Alok Pandey, who took over the CEO role October 2021. “Our mission is to enable activity centers all over the world to drive more revenue, streamline operations and enhance the guest experience.”
Clubspeed was founded in 2005; its cloud-based software serves karting facilities, trampoline parks, and multi-activity family entertainment centers. According to Crunchbase data, it has raised about $20 million in total funding.
PRODUCTS
CloudBlue, a cloud ecosystem technology company in Irvine, announced Feb. 22 the launch of an automated management platform for multi-cloud infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) providers: CloudBlue PSA IaaS 360.
The new product streamlines tasks for MSPs, or managed service providers, according to the company.
The product “takes building an IaaS business to the next level,” CloudBlue CTO of Cloud Channel Platform Rajesh Marar said in a statement. “By offering consolidated access to operational tools and resources, partners can manage their IaaS assets in the cloud from the vantage of a single viewpoint. With this level of multi-cloud orchestration achieved, partners can view their entire multi-cloud infrastructure, drive enablement of employees to accelerate vendor competency and unlock more profit.”
CloudBlue is an independent Ingram Micro business. Its ecosystem orchestration platform serves more than 180 service provider cloud marketplaces, which reportedly represents more than 27 million enterprise cloud subscriptions and $1 billion in subscription revenue.
CoreVest American Finance has released a new loan to assist clients branching into short-term rentals, the Irvine-based real estate lender said on Feb. 22.
“The market has yet to address the short-term rental strategy in a way that adequately serves the evolving needs of investors,” CoreVest CEO Beth O’Brien said in a statement. “Our clients are seeing increased opportunity in short-term rental, especially post-COVID-19. This product is a natural extension to other portfolio businesses we finance for them, and we look forward to rolling out this product more broadly to our clients.”
CoreVest—a division of Redwood Trust Inc. (NYSE: RWT)—offers long-term loans, short-term bridge loans, investment credit lines and others. It reports closing over $15 billion in loans on over 100,000 units since its inception in 2014.
The inaugural loan was a five-year, $12.4 million acquisition loan for a short-term rental portfolio in North Carolina called The Home Collection, according to the company.
“I have had a long-standing relationship with CoreVest, who was at the forefront of developing financing needs for the single-family rental sector,” said Home Collection Principal Rich Ford. “I had confidence CoreVest could deliver a product to suit this attractive short-stay opportunity.”
