PRODUCTS
Lake Forest-based RapidX, a consumer electronics firm specializing in charging products for the home, office and cars, announced Jan. 3 a new magnetic wireless power bank for the iPhone 12 and 13 series: Boosta.
Boosta is currently available at RapixX.io, Amazon, Best Buy and Gamestop for $50—half the cost of the Apple MagSafe Battery Pack, according to RapidX Marketing Specialist Milburn Noronha. It comes in seven metallic colors.
“A lot of these portable power banks come in black and white,” Noronha said. “We’re bringing some color back into the monochrome of everyday devices.”
Established in 2016, RapidX “approaches innovation by responding to consumer needs, as we continue to develop efficient, lifestyle-enhancing accessories with cutting-edge designs,” company founder and President Ammar Adra said.
In 2018, RapidX’s X5 Plus, a car charger, won the CES IHS Markit award in the Mobile Accessories category and was featured on Oprah Winfrey’s list of favorite things.
The Boosta takes about two to three hours to charge from dead to completely charged with a 20-watt adapter.
InWith Corp., a microelectronic biotech firm in Irvine, said it’s presenting its electronic soft contact lenses designed to enable “easy transition from real world to metaverse” at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this month.
The technology—said to be a first of its kind—will enable developers to place augmented reality AR vision display chip applications into the soft hydrogel contact lenses that millions of people wear daily, the company said.
The lenses will be capable of “tunable vision” via mobile device and “augmented vision” coupled with mobile device control.
InWith also said it plans to achieve FDA Breakthrough Clearance for commercialization of the lenses in 2022. The company is working with top Fortune 50 companies presently, to secure and introduce the first viable iterations of this technology in 2022, officials said.
PARTNERSHIP
Irvine-based billing software developer Chargezoom announced last month an integration with accounting software provider FreshBooks.
The integration will allow FreshBooks users to accept “virtually any” processor, like Stripe or PayPal, and from anywhere, via Chargezoom’s cloud-based interface, the company said.
Chargezoom CEO Matt Dubois said that “sending invoices and recording payments manually is costly to businesses and increases the risk of error. By connecting FreshBooks to Chargezoom, businesses can focus their time on tasks that are crucial to running and growing their businesses.”
Additional features and benefits of Chargezoom include the ability to reduce credit card processing fees, subscription management and regulatory compliance.
The company said users can try the service for free for 30 days to determine if it is a fit for their business. Small business plans continue to be free and upgrades start at $20 per month.
VENTURE CAPITAL
Lawmatics, a San Diego software firm, in December raised a $10 million Series A round led by Newport Beach’s Ankona Capital, with participation from Eniac Ventures, Revel Ventures, and others.
“We have been incredibly impressed by Lawmatics’ deep knowledge in the space, vision for the future, and vibrant team culture,” Ankona Capital Managing Director Brian Mesic said in a statement. “In partnering with Lawmatics, the Ankona team is focused on lending our expertise to help Lawmatics scale their platform capabilities and accelerate growth.”
Ankona officials last year told the Business Journal they were looking to invest in companies generating $5 million to $15 million in annual sales by providing software as a service.
Founded in 2017, Lawmatics says its software streamlines the operations of law firms, such as managing the initial client intake process and automating email messages after a case has been closed.
“Today’s consumer expects a seamless user experience with instant gratification, and the same applies for legal services,” said Matt Spiegel, Lawmatics CEO. “We give lawyers the technology they need to deliver immediate, personalized engagement from the moment a potential client reaches out through the end of their case and beyond.”
The new funding will support the continued development of Lawmatics’ legal CRM, client intake and marketing automation platform, the company said.
The company raised $2.5 million in seed funding in October.
LAUNCH
Ethen Yao, formerly of Armatic.io and Blast.com, announced Jan. 3 the launch of Carbon, a new AI fintech game for younger investors.
The company is currently seeking a leading investor in its open $7 million seed round.
Yao said he’s teamed up with “well-known financier” Miles Hancock “to disrupt the investment and trading space through AI.”
Yao and Hancock will serve as co-CEOs at Carbon, a free-to-use, “gamified” investment app that helps first-time investors create healthy portfolios through automated recommendations, Yao said.
“The future of investments and trading should not be confined to spreadsheets,” he said. “We envision finance as an engaging and inclusive space that perpetuates wealth generation for all ages, abilities, cultural backgrounds, and genders to benefit on one platform.”
The app’s algorithm illustrates the risk level associated with investments and recommends complimentary stocks depending on the user’s selections, according to Hancock. It also utilizes gaming features like renewable experience points to encourage users to become better investors.
“That’s how we can get the most value out of the platform,” Hancock said. “We create the desire to progress in the app and in turn, create financial wellness in users.”
The seed round is slated to close in early February.
FINANCING
Irvine’s Identillect Technologies Corp., a provider of email security plug-in Delivery Trust, said Dec. 29 that it intends to complete a non-brokered private placement.
The company said it plans to raise up to $1 million.
Proceeds of the financing will be put towards accounting fees, loans and outstanding trade payables, among other things, the company said.
Identillect’s flagship product is an Outlook-based email security system called Delivery Trust. This product provides AES-256 cryptography to transport email to any platform, utilizing our exclusive patented vCard password system to protect messages.
