FUNDING
Immerse Inc.—an educational-focused software firm in Irvine—is seeking follow-on investors for its open $8 million Series B round.
Since opening last month, the round has already secured lead investors, Immerse founder and CEO Quinn Taber said in a LinkedIn post.
Founded in 2017, Immerse provides a VR-based English language learning platform using the Oculus VR headset. Features include virtual social scenarios such as airports, cafés, and curriculum, according to international standards.
According to Taber, the idea for the startup came while working in the Middle East for three years, serving Syrian and Iraqi refugees during the Syrian Civil War.
“It was the most impactful time of my life. Many of my dearest friends are still there,” he said. “In the ups and downs of entrepreneurship, the reason I stay motivated is that I pray that our company will serve the people I love so much across that region.”
Last December, Immerse partnered with Japan’s largest English learning school, Aeon, to launch the first-ever VR language school.
The company counts 20 total employees and has seven job openings on LinkedIn.
Irvine-based patient financing company PatientFi announced Feb. 14 the closing of a $15 million equity round led by Patriot Financial Partners and with participation from Curql Collective.
“A lot of companies need to raise money to prove out their business models,” PatientFi Chief Executive Todd Watts told the Business Journal. “This [financing] is all about compressing our timeline of expanding to other specialties.”
PatientFi, founded in 2017, partners with medical and dental practices to offer patients of elective procedures, flexible “buy-now-pay-later” financing options.
While most of PatientFi’s services have historically covered aesthetic procedures, the expansion will allow it to cover new verticals including ophthalmic procedures, like LASIK, and medical devices like hearing aids, Watts said.
According to Watts, PatientFi’s partner base has grown from 100 practices to over 1,200 across 45 states since reaching profitability last July.
It’s also performing a $100 million annualized loan volume and growing “significantly month-over-month.”
PatientFi recently moved its headquarters “close to the Irvine business heart,” to an 8,500-square-foot, top-floor space in the Discovery Park, where it currently employs 38 workers, he said.
“In the last few years, we’ve turned product concepts into a proven-out product, and we want to get into as many practices across the country as possible.”
LAUNCH
SimpleAR—a software solutions company—has officially launched in Irvine, according to a statement released Feb. 11.
SimpleAR’s founder and CEO is Marlo Brooke, who is also CEO of Huntington Beach-based Avatar Partners, chapter president of the VR/AR Association Orange County and member of the CEO Roundtable at University of California, Irvine.
“After 19 years establishing Avatar Partners as a major player in augmented and mixed reality, I’m excited to take the next step with simpleAR,” Brooke, a Business Journal Women in Business Award winner in 2019, said in a statement.
SimpleAR’s platform makes augmented reality and mixed reality “achievable for all businesses” and enterprises, including U.S. military, aerospace and leading X-reality studios.
“Technology will never replace a human being’s knowledge—especially when it comes to highly complex [maintenance, repair and overhaul] tasks. The key is to make what works even more effective, with the use of technology,” a company blog post dated Feb. 15 said. “AR is a proven [on-the-job training] enabler that significantly reduces the cost and burden associated with traditional OJT [and] can be thought of as a ‘Virtual Mentor’ for the technician.”
SimpleAR reports its applications include interactive training systems and job aids, while its capabilities reduce errors by 300% and waste scrap by 38%.
LENDING
Pelorus Equity Group, a Newport Beach-based lender for the cannabis industry, said Feb. 10 that it’s closed a $45.4 million debt deal, the first of two tranches that will total $77.3 million in real estate debt financing for the cannabis firm Harborside Inc. (OTC: HBORF).
Harborside, a penny stock with a $26 million market cap at press time, reported revenue of $57.8 million for the 12 month period ended Sept. 30.
The announcement comes as Oakland-based Harborside merges with cannabis firms Urbn Leaf Holdings and Loudpack JV Corp to create StateHouse Holdings—“a new market leader in California,” said Harborside interim CEO Matt Hawkins.
Pelorus is “the go-to player in cannabis finance,” Hawkins said in a statement.
Pelorus saw 434% year-over-year growth in 2021, with $243 million AUM and $193 million of equity, the company said.
“We are extremely proud to be an important partner during this transformational event in the California market,” said Pelorus CEO Dan Leimel.
The financing contains a nominal interest rate of 10.25%, along with specified origination, closing and other transaction fees, and will be secured by certain real estate assets and cannabis licenses of Harborside, Urbn Leaf and Loudpack.
VENTURE CAPITAL
Irvine-based investor network Tech Coast Angels (TCA) announced that entrepreneur, executive coach and angel investor Lisa Walker has been elected president for 2022-2023; she is the first woman to lead the chapter in its 25-year history.
“My goal is to improve outcomes for all our members, and to develop and build relationships with other ecosystems and angel groups that will drive the overall quality of our investments,” Walker said. “I also believe that my leadership brings a unique point of view; one that increases diversity in both our membership and in the selection of exceptional companies for funding.”
One of the largest investor networks in the nation, TCA consists of over 500 accredited investors in Southern California. Since its founding, it reports investing over $255 million in over 500 early stage companies.
Walker has served as vice president of TCA for the past two years; she hopes to help female founders get the funding they need to be successful, according to her bio on TCA’s website.
“Lisa has a great perspective; her ability to see broad and implement narrow is in her DNA,” said David Friedman, vice chairman of TCA’s board of directors.
Costa Mesa-based VC firm CerraCap Ventures is raising a $100 million fund and plans to open an office in New Mexico, according to a Feb. 10 article in the Albuquerque Business Journal.
Operating Manager Abhi Mukherjee told the paper that some of its next fund may go to startups in New Mexico, adding that the state has a “fantastic innovation ecosystem.” Mukherjee also said CerraCap is “trying to convince some of its portfolio companies” to move to New Mexico—like Singapore-based SaaS startup GreenArc Capital.
In addition, CerraCap plans to open an office in Albuquerque or Santa Fe, to “assess the landscape,” although it has yet to decide on a specific city, he said in the report.
“We are changing that equation. We are trying to bring the companies back into [the] New Mexico ecosystem.”
