LAUNCH
Prospect, a streaming service to help early career athletes monetize their fan base, announced a “soft launch” on Oct. 5 before it goes live on the Google Play and Apple app stores in November.
The free app was co-founded by three military veterans and competitive athletes—Richie Galinato, Xavier Sanchez and Raymond Garcia—at Cal State Fullerton’s Startup Incubator.
“Many athletes have anywhere between 10K and 300K followers on Facebook and Instagram. They often get sponsorships, and are given products to show on social media,” CEO of Prospect Galinato told the Business Journal. “That doesn’t pay the rent. Our goal is to turn a portion of their following into paying fans for their content like Patreon and Twitch have done for other creators.”
According to Galinato, college athletes often fund their own careers. Many live below the poverty line.
It wasn’t until last month that student athletes in college could get paid.
“With this recent legislation, we believe we can support NCAA athletes. We’ll help change athletes from sponsored billboards to actual storytellers who build their own brand on our platform.”
“This startup’s team is outstanding. They have strong character, they’re disciplined and they’re good listeners—all important characteristics for incubator residents to have,” John Jackson, director of CSUF’s Startup Incubator said. “Plus, the need that exists for the inspiring athlete is huge. This is very scalable—it could become a gigantic business in the future.”
iPourIt, a Lake Forest-based provider of self-pour beverage dispensers, announced Oct. 5 the launch of its mobile app designed to help operators at restaurants, venues, taprooms and more, promote their business and connect with customers.
iPourit says its app pairs with the company’s latest self-serve platform, allowing users to pour their own beverages while automatically tracking their tab. It also allows users to see exactly which beverages are on tap from anywhere, at any time.
“We’ve created a fresh, innovative tool to help adapt self-pour technology for today’s smartphone culture. Users are able to show a QR code from the app to quickly check in at a taproom, restaurant, or other self-pour concept, and then activate the self-serve taps using just their phone.” Doug Gray, vice president of product management at iPourIt, told Craft Brewing Business.
“iPourIt operators can send push notifications to keep their customers informed and collect valuable feedback to help improve their operation and keep guests coming back.”
Since its launch in 2012, iPourIt has installed more than 7,300 self-serve taps, offering beer, wine, seltzer, spirits and more, at 260 locations, the company said. Its technology is proven to “increase alcohol revenue, simplify labor needs, and enhance customer satisfaction.”
ACQUISITION
Aliso Viejo-based One Identity, a provider of unified identity security technology, has acquired OneLogin, a San Francisco-based provider of Identity Access Management (IAM) solutions, for an undisclosed sum earlier this month.
One Identity and OneLogin provide cybsersecurity products. The merger will expand the scope of One Identity’s Unified Identity Security Platform, and expand its customer base from 7,500 to 10,000, as well as the global identities it manages, from 250 million to 300 million, company said.
“With the proliferation of human and machine identities, the race to the cloud and the rise of remote working, identity is quickly becoming the new edge—and protecting identity in an end-to-end manner has never been more important,” One Identity’s President and General Manager Bhagwat Swaroop said in a statement.
“By adding OneLogin to our portfolio, and incorporating it into our cloud-first Unified Identity Security Platform, we can help customers holistically correlate all identities, verify everything before granting access to critical assets and provide real-time visibility into suspicious login activity. With identity at the core, customers can now implement an adaptive zero trust strategy and dramatically improve their overall cybersecurity posture,” Swaroop added.
The global IAM market was worth $12.3 billion in 2020 and it’s predicted to double in size over the next four years, according to a report by Markets and Markets.
HIRING
Costa Mesa-based inVibe Labs said Oct. 4 it has promoted Sunny Shah to executive vice president, Strategy and Client Services; Beth Baldys to senior director, Listening and Linguistics; and Mariana Posada to senior research manager.
inVibe says it’s developed a “nuanced” research platform designed to yield market insights from clinical trials. It uses machine learning to transcribe interview answers from patients and physicians, while analyzing two types of “rational” and “emotional” vocal data. Gathered data automatically uploads into a dashboard for customers.
“The heart of inVibe is our extraordinary talent,” inVibe co-founder and CEO Fabio Gratton said in a statement. “By recognizing the exquisite abilities and contributions of Sunny, Beth, and Mariana, we are also positioning inVibe to better listen to and understand the patient voice.”
The company reported its three-year growth rate is 371%.
To accommodate for this growth, inVibe has opened several additional roles in strategy, research and analytics, and operations, including director of market research strategy, as well as analyst and manager positions in its Listening and Linguistics department.
Irvine-based medtech startup Hepatiq Inc. is hiring for executive and marketing positions to prepare it for a $5 million Series A round expected to open in the first quarter of 2022.
Hepatiq, incorporated in 2017, was co-founded by University of California, Irvine professor and hepatologist John Hoefs and President of Syprosoft Engineering, Dipu Ghosh.
Hepatiq says it’s developed the first automated software to quickly measure quantitative liver function. Its software received FDA clearance in 2016 and it’s reimbursed by insurance.
“There are ways to diagnose liver disease—but the problem is you’re looking at the scarring of the liver. You’re not looking at how the liver is functioning,” Ghosh told the Business Journal. “There’s nothing on the market that quantitates liver function. That’s what distinguishes us – we measure what really matters.”
Currently, six medical centers use its software, two of which are in Orange County, according to Ghosh.
Hoefs and Ghosh have self-funded up to this point, putting nearly $2 million of their own money into the startup, Ghosh said.
“We’re ready to go,” he added. “Now it’s a question of really bringing it to the market in a big way. That’s the reason for the funding.”
In November, Hepatiq will be participating in the virtual event, The Liver Meeting and the Radiological Society of North America Conference (RSNA) in Chicago.
EXPANSION
Helium 10, an Irvine-based consulting firm for third-party sellers on Amazon, announced Oct. 7 its expansion of new tools for Walmart.com’s e-commerce marketplace, including product research, keyword and profitability solutions, and data insight resources.
While Walmart is an “almost daily fixture” for many customers, its e-commerce business “takes a back seat,” according to Helium 10.
Its new resources will assist Walmart.com sellers in gaining access to information, maximizing keyword research, and growing profitability.
“Walmart.com is a massive opportunity for e-commerce merchants, but many have little to zero guidance on how to excel in the space,” Chief Evangelist and director of training Bradley Sutton said in a statement. “Helium 10 is democratizing online marketplaces with this expansion, allowing our sellers to level up their businesses with ease and providing them with product analytics, insights and opportunities to grow profitability.”
Amazon and Walmart.com e-sellers can now access tools such as Xray, which allows sellers to compare product data at a glance; Cerebro and Magnet, new search functions that provide merchants with insights into keywords; and Profits, sales and performance analytics tools to Walmart.com sellers, the company said.
