FUNDING
Huckleberry Labs, a parenthood app developer based in Irvine, said Nov. 4 it raised $12.5 million in a Series A round led by Morningside Ventures alongside Spero Ventures and Tamarisc VC.
The funding will support its expansion into new developmental areas, including feeding and tantrums, executives said.
“Meltdowns are developmentally very normal,” Huckleberry’s Chief Executive Jessica Toh told the Business Journal. “How you address them can either exacerbate or alleviate them. As a parent with no child developmental background, how are you supposed to know the right one to take?”
Huckleberry was co-founded in 2017 by parents Seng and Jessica Toh. The app pairs data science, pediatric sleep experts and AI to provide families with customized sleep advice.
The app has served 1.2 million families and raised $16 million in venture capital funding to date, officials said.
“Huckleberry has shown that the combination of machine learning and pediatric expertise applied to early childhood development results in simple, effective tools that positively impact both children and caregivers,” said Stephen Bruso of Morningside Ventures. “The phenomenal growth they have seen is a further validation of the value they are creating for the entire caregiving ecosystem, and we are excited to partner with them as they continue to scale and expand their platform.”
While Huckleberry’s annual plan costs under $5 per month, it has given away nearly 4,000 free subscriptions with its “pay what you can” program, according to Toh.
“The goal is to make our service as accessible to as many parents as possible,” she said. “Nobody should have to choose between putting food on the table and a good night’s sleep.”
Huckleberry’s incoming modules are slated to launch in the first half of next year. In the interim, the company is hiring for a variety of roles in engineering, software development and growth marketing.
PARTNERSHIPS
Newport Beach’s online vegan market and delivery service GTFO It’s Vegan announced Oct. 28 it has added offerings from Canadian plant-based manufacturer Nabati Foods Global Inc. to its inventory. It also formalized an affiliate relationship with the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association’s Blue365 Members Savings Program.
GTFO It’s Vegan has reported exceeding $3 million in revenue and more than 2,500 vegan food, home goods, drinks, and pet products since its launch in 2020.
Several Nabati Foods products are now available on its website including chocolate and tiramisu cheesecakes, Cheeze Shreds, Plant Eggz, F’sh Burgers, and Chick’n Burgers.
“Expanding our distribution online with a growing e-commerce platform like GTFO It’s Vegan is a great way for us to get Nabati Foods products in front of a wider audience of like-minded customers,” CEO of Nabati Foods Ahmad Yehya said in a statement. “GTFO It’s Vegan, similar to Nabati Foods, is a family-founded company, which makes this partnership particularly meaningful for us.”
The strategic partnership with Blue Cross offers BCBS members special savings opportunities when they use the GTFO It’s Vegan site.
“We are very excited about this partnership as GTFO It’s Vegan and Blue365’s mission and values are closely aligned in that both entities are dedicated to helping individuals live healthier lifestyles,” Marc Pierce, CEO of GTFO It’s Vegan said.
EXEC HIRES
Restaurant365 of Irvine announced Oct. 12 the appointment of two new executives: Will Emmons as chief sales officer and Katie Fairchild as its senior vice president of marketing.
Restaurant365—founded in 2011—is a restaurant management software that combines accounting, inventory, scheduling, payroll and HR solutions. The company raised $88 million in 2019, its third round of funding.
Emmons ran sales organizations in media and SaaS businesses in North America, the Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East, while Fairchild has more than 15 years of experience at B2B SaaS-based technology companies.
“The restaurant industry is experiencing a resurgence, which is why we’re positioned to add Katie and Will to our executive team in outward facing roles. They are each so passionate about growth and integrity—both personally and for the company—which fits seamlessly with our culture. They’re the right duo to help tell this next chapter of our restaurant technology transformation story to the world, and I couldn’t be more excited for them to join the team at this pivotal time,” said CEO Tony Smith, who earned a Business Journal’s Innovator of the Year award in September.
LAUNCH
Willbo, a Laguna Beach-based retail startup, launched its first physical apparel store on Oct. 30.
The shop is at 353 N. Coast Highway in Laguna Beach. It will be open Wednesday through Saturday.
Willbo was co-founded by brothers Robbie and Will McInerny along with business partner Wes Barnes in 2020. The company makes T-shirts, sweats, baseball caps and beanies through sustainable and small-batch production, the company said.
The lifestyle brand uses a “capsule collection approach” with the hope of fostering a deeper connection to the environment. Its current clothing line, Voyagers of the Valleys, features destinations throughout Yosemite National Park.
“Each season, we’ll draw inspiration from one of the geographical regions in the west—so the coasts, the mountains, the valleys, the deserts and the cities—as a backdrop for us to celebrate and extract inspiration from,” Robbie McInerny told The Daily Pilot.
PARTNERSHIPS
Aliso Viejo-based Mammogen Inc., a female-led women’s health company, announced Oct. 28 two strategic partnerships with P4 Diagnostix and Brilliantly.
Launched in 2020, Mammogen is a biotechnology startup specializing in RNA-based liquid diagnostic tests for the early detection of women’s health-related diseases. Its flagship product, the genTRU-breast, is a liquid biopsy platform centered around breast cancer, the company said.
Mammogen’s first strategic partnership with P4 Diagnostix will cover the clinical development and validation of the genTRU-breastTM, the company said.
“Our purpose-built partnership model at Mammogen places us in a unique position to enter clinical development of our first-in-class breast cancer diagnostics with a level of speed and efficiency that the industry has never before experienced,” Mammogen CEO Elizabeth Cormier-May said.
The partnership with P4 also provides the company with nearly 20 years of diagnostic commercialization expertise, seven CLIA certified labs and defined channels to market into women’s health, according to Cormier-May.
In June, Mammogen closed a $2 million seed round in support of its genTRU program, according to FemTech Insider. The round was oversubscribed by a group of high-net-worth investors, comprising 52% women, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and veterans from the U.S. Armed Forces.
The second partnership is a collaboration with a women-led provider of mobility programs for women post-breast cancer, Brilliantly. The collaboration will equip women affected by breast cancer through a “book project and a corrective exercise program,” officials said.
Mammogen plans to announce data from its upcoming clinical studies early next year.
