FUNDRAISING
Nicolette, a startup launched at CHOC, opened a crowdfunding campaign with a $100,000 minimum last month.
Nicolette assists parents of babies in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) by translating electronic health records into digestible sentences, permitting parents to make educated decisions regarding their baby’s healthcare, the company said.
“We empower patients and their families with data,” founder and Chief Executive of Nicolette Phil Martie told the Business Journal. “As a NICU dad, I was struck by its amazing medical devices—and by how lacking it was in data-driven tools for patients.”
Martie co-founded the company in 2016 with neonatologist Dr. Michel Mikhael 11 months after he lost his daughter Nicolette in the NICU.
In December 2020, the company launched its app NicoBoard with CHOC—“bedside empowerment technology” that turns electronic health data into tools for families, Martie said.
While it’s currently tablet-specific, NicoBoard should be available on mobile phones by the end of next March, Martie said.
In August, CHOC reported 96% of parents using NicoBoard felt better informed on their child’s condition.
With the funds raised, Nicolette aims to expand NicoBoard to new areas and build new features.
“We have 1 NICU with CHOC,” Martie said. “Why can’t we grow it to 1,000?”
Arrix Inc.—an Irvine-based healthcare technology company—announced Aug. 31 it is opening a seed round for $300,000.
Arrix, founded in 2016, develops at-home technology that helps chronically ill patients manage their medications and provides a monitoring system for their providers and caretakers.
The funding will support the completion of its “virtual health coach” device, the Beacon, and the application programming interface (API) of its integrated mobile app MyArrix, enabling it to “hit the market with both products,” said founder and CEO James Arric, who has worked in health tech for 15 years.
“It’s not about staying on the medications,” Arric told the Business Journal. “It’s about getting healthier and having something that clearly monitors the patients for caregivers.”
The Beacon alerts patients when their medication window is approaching and whether or not to take it with food. It also beeps and lights up for visually and hearing impaired individuals.
MyArrix, which went live on the Google Play and Android stores last month, allows providers and caretakers to manage and contact their patients.
Specific users have downloaded MyArrix to test it in the real world, Arric said. The app is still in development and feedback is needed, he said.
Depending on testing and funding, it plans to release a second version within a few weeks on the Apple Store.
LAUNCH
Newport Beach-based Givsum said its philanthropy-focused online platform is launching a “highly requested” new feature this month: silent auctions, a fundraising tool for nonprofits.
Developed in UCI’s Wayfinder program in 2017, Givsum stands for “giving summary.” It provides an all-in-one platform for the operations of clubs and charitable organizations, including donations, volunteer hours, and ticketing.
“People are doing philanthropy in every town—and they are using bad tools,” co-founder and Chief Executive Shawn Wehan told the Business Journal. “We’re providing a better solution at an operational level.”
Its client portfolio includes the ocean conservation organization Oceana and the Freedom Ride Project, a charity seeking to stop human trafficking.
Most recently, Rotary Clubs all over the U.S. have purchased subscriptions to its service, Wehan said.
Earlier this month, Givsum also opened a seed round for $2 million led by its VC firm SteelBridge Labs of Pittsburg, which opened it at $500,000, Wehan said.
According to Wehan, Givsum’s current seed round is critical for it to achieve “exponential growth mode” and a Series A round next winter. The Series A will support the development of a “solid product market fit,” placing it in a “much bigger product main space.”
ROADSHOW
FoodsPass of Newport Beach is embarking on an investor roadshow and trade show for the month of September, executives announced.
The tour includes TechCrunch’s Disrupt on Sept. 21-23, a three-day conference for early-stage startups, and Groceryshop on Sept. 19-22 in Las Vegas, the largest grocery retailer trade show.
FoodsPass was founded by a team of global fintech and foodtech specialists. It’s developing the first-ever Visa credit card and savings club for food—and already has a waitlist of 5,000 people—the company said.
Its mobile app streamlines the process of finding the best local deals on delivery, groceries and more, while the credit card aims to apply a discount from 4% to 40% as cash back on food purchases.
“From the consumer side, it just makes sense,” co-founder and CEO of FoodsPass Travis Siflinger told the Business Journal. “Right now, it’s a mess—we juggle multiple apps, coupons and cards to save on food.”
The service will also donate meals to families in need every time the card is used, Siflinger said.
“We’ll support the community while providing affordable access. We want to rise to the top by doing something good.”
In July, Siflinger and his team pitched at an event where they got the attention of Kevin O’Leary, a judge on Shark Tank. He called FoodsPass “an intriguing idea” and helped it obtain seed funding on StartEngine.
It also recently partnered with Starbucks and was shortlisted for the Kroger Innovation Fund, which supports entrepreneurs seeking to eliminate food insecurity and food waste.
“We’re doing something nobody is at the moment, bringing dynamic businesses into one unique model,” Siflinger said. “We enjoy creating simplicity amidst the challenging environments.”
INVESTMENT
Irvine video game development studio Dreamhaven, which was launched late last year by Blizzard Entertainment co-founder and former CEO Mike Morhaime, has invested in Seattle-based upstart AccelByte, a back-end tool provider for game developers.
AccelByte announced Sept. 9 it has closed on $10 million in Series A funding.
Formed in 2016, AccelByte has developed a “forward-thinking” Games-as-a-Service (GaaS) suite without artificial limits on aspects like transactions and storage that can restrict growth, the company said.
The raise was led by New York venture capital firm Galaxy Interactive, with additional funding from gaming company NetEase of Hangzhou, China; Krafton of South Korea; and Dreamhaven.
AccelByte will utilize the investment to accelerate its business plans, which includes expanding the company’s network of games industry relations, it said. Company officials say the firm is “focused on helping studios by offering a proven, efficient, and accessible online back-end tech platform and tools at scale, so developers can do what they do best: create awesome games.”
