EXIT
InVibe Labs, a Costa Mesa health tech firm, has been acquired by clinical trial software maker Thread of Cary, N.C. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.
“At inVibe, our goal was to help life science companies listen better and more often to patients, caregivers, and physicians,” inVibe’s CEO Fabio Gratton told the Business Journal. “Being acquired is an important milestone because it helps us fulfill that mission.”
InVibe, incorporated in 2013, is developing an AI technology to provide life science and pharmaceutical companies with qualitative research by “extracting acoustics and linguistics” from interviewees, said Gratton, who previously sold his digital healthcare marketing firm Ignite Health.
Gratton, who also founded digital healthcare incubator Alchemy Factory and a clinical trial patient recruitment platform CureClick, has worked with Thread before. CureClick and Thread last year announced a partnership.
InVibe was “completely bootstrapped” without raising funds and had grown to 25 employees at the time of acquisition, Gratton said.
Thread, which operates an office in Tustin, developed a technology platform to modernize clinical trials.
After the acquisition, inVibe will continue “business as usual” by serving its customer base as a division of Thread and integrating its voice recognition technology into Thread’s platform, Gratton said.
Gratton and his co-founder Jeremy Franz will continue to hold executive roles at Thread, while the parent company invests in more human capital to accelerate their product.
“We’re not being dismantled or breaking up the magic,” Gratton said. “We’re investing in it and making sure it touches all parts of our organization.”
LAUNCH
A social app to help Gen Z plan day trips will launch this summer: Coast.
“Gen Z uses social media and travels more than any other generation,” Coast CEO Liliana Montes told the Business Journal. “The app generates day trips for users based on their interests, and they can alter the itinerary to their liking.”
Coast was co-founded in 2020 by Montes and her brother, Coast COO Ramon Montes. This month, they started developing the app at UC Irvine’s Wayfinder incubator.
Coast allows day trippers to upload public posts about their day. Similar to algorithms used by Instagram, Coast’s algorithm will recommend trips people have taken to other users depending on what posts they engage with, Liliana Montes said. Users will also be permitted to customize their desired commute time and distance.
Since joining Wayfinder, Coast has added another developer, two interns and three advisory board members to its staff, according to Liliana.
“It’s been really helpful having a community of other founders to help you get to the next step when you get stuck,” she said of the UCI program.
Coast is slated to beta launch in summer 2022. Once the app scales nationally, its name will most likely change, according to Ramon.
BestBid Auto Group, a remote used car selling firm, has launched in Irvine.
BestBid buys used cars from vehicle owners; a seller fills out an application, receives an offer from BestBid within minutes, and sells the car to the company remotely, the company said. It’s one of several new auto ventures with similar business plans to open in OC in the past year or so.
BestBid said it can pick up the car from the seller’s home within 24 hours of purchasing it.
“We started BestBid to offer folks a better way to sell their vehicle,” CEO Tania Hernandez said this month. “Our mission is to provide a convenient and comfortable way to sell your car, without the need for you to ever set foot in a dealership.”
BestBid held a soft launch in November and expanded its coverage in January, the company said.
Hernandez calls the service a “simple, headache-free way to sell their vehicle.”
E-COMMERCE
Irvine-based e-commerce supplier Sellvia Co. announced Jan. 24 any person looking to start an online business can do so within one business day—and test the company’s services for two weeks without charge.
“There’s a huge difference between theory and practice, and online entrepreneurship is no exception,” Sellvia Chief Executive Ilya Dolgikh said in a statement. “Our new option of starting a business at no cost gives everyone a chance to try being a business owner, listening to one’s feelings and deciding whether to go on, all with zero risk and zero investment.”
Established by entrepreneurs and software developers, Sellvia is designed to help e-commerce merchants build their businesses by drop shipping “winning products handpicked by experts,” the company said.
The company last May launched its headquarters and fulfillment center at a nearly 18,000-square-foot facility along Myford Road (see story, page 1), where it keeps and ships its inventory for merchant customers.
“We’ve been running dozens of drop shipping stores ourselves for years—and learning tricks and strategies along the way for every product niche we deal with,” Dolgikh added. “Besides, we’ve spent over a decade developing cutting-edge e-commerce software that makes running online stores a breeze and helps them bring in great income.”
FUNDING
Irvine-based Zuum Transportation Inc., a designer of logistics technology for the supply chain, announced Jan. 12 that it received a $10 million loan from Bridge Bank’s Capital Finance Group.
“We’re all about smooth processes and enhanced efficiencies—the same qualities Bridge Bank brings to clients,” Zuum COO Matt Tabatabai said in a statement. “Our goal is to defragment the logistics industry through collaboration and partnerships—including with our lender.”
Zuum, founded in 2016, aims to optimize global supply chains on one automated “logistics super platform” that combines a digital freight marketplace and a driver app, the company said.
The company’s client portfolio includes Tyson, Sherwin Williams and Staples and it has raised a total of $12.6 million in seed funding to-date. It moved its headquarters from Irvine Towers to UCI Research Park last year.
Bridge Bank’s Capital Finance Group, headquartered in the Silicon Valley, offers asset-based lending to startups and larger companies in software, technology and manufacturing sectors.
PARTNERSHIPS
San Clemente-based hair products maker Original Sprout has snagged a promotional tie-in to Amazon Prime’s recently released children’s movie Hotel Transylvania: Transformania.
Original Sprout is a unit of Concierge Technologies Inc. (OTC: CNCG), an owner of a variety of businesses. It is inviting customers to take part in a sweepstakes where winners receive a “Hotel Transylvania Prize Pack” that includes some of its products.
“We are big fans of this movie franchise, and excited to play a part in this newest release,” Original Sprout General Manager Michael Ambacher said.
Original Sprout, founded in 2003, offers a line of vegan hair and skin care products targeting babies and pre-teens, so the company is often looking for ways to market to this demographic, a spokesman said.
No product placements were included in this movie, but may be done in future films.
The company was acquired in 2017 by Concierge Technologies, which is headquartered in San Clemente and has operating subsidiaries in the U.S., U.K., New Zealand and Canada.
Concierge reported Original Sprout’s beauty products line saw revenue climbed 5% to $1 million for the fiscal first quarter ended Sept. 30.
