LAUNCH
Irvine’s Sonic+, a mobile marketplace and delivery app, recently expanded from an e-grocer to a “super-app,” offering moving, cleaning and plumbing services to customers throughout Orange County and downtown Los Angeles.
The free app, launched in April 2020, allows customers to order goods from their smartphones for delivery, Sonic+ CEO Jay Zhao told the Business Journal.
“Hundreds of drinks, snacks and essential products can reach customers within a 50-mile radius of Irvine in under an hour,” Zhao said.
The app’s rapid delivery was made possible after Sonic+ launched its 2,500-square-foot micro-fulfillment center, or MFC, last month.
The company also partnered with Door Dash to deliver groceries to OC-based clients in less than 35 minutes, Zhao said.
According to the BBC, Chinese tech companies are leading the way for super-apps, or multi-purpose, all-in-one mobile platforms.
One major player in the market is WeChat, which has over 1 billion users and offers up to 1 million services.
Sonic+ aims to build two more MFCs within the next six months near UC Riverside and UCLA to target students, Zhao told the Business Journal. Its hours will extend to midnight when instruction begins in the fall.
It also aims to expand to the Bay Area by 2022.
Before launching Sonic+, Zhao was involved in the launch of OC Ventures, an Irvine-based student housing private equity fund, and Gui BBQ Restaurant & Bar, a Chinese restaurant in Irvine.
CONTRACTS
Irvine ed tech upstart Immerse VR said this month it closed a contract with Aeon, Japan’s largest chain of international business schools.
Aeon will install Immerse’s virtual reality language learning program on its 325 campuses and launch remote VR courses across the region.
Since Immerse’s launch in 2018, 15 universities around the world have utilized its technology, Quinn Taber, founder and CEO of Immerse, told the Business Journal.
One such university is the University of Sheffield, which partnered with Immerse this month.
The university will disseminate the program to its international students based in Japan and eventually throughout Asia, Taber said.
During lessons, users join the avatars of their teachers and fellow students in virtual locations and engage in conversations that encourage natural language development.
Lessons occur in locations that require English, from Disneyland, to an airport, to a backyard barbecue.
“Sometimes we forget the best way to learn English is when you don’t know you’re speaking English,” Taber said.
Teachers utilize desktop technology to administer learning tests to students who use the Oculus Quest 2 VR headset.
In June, Immerse was awarded the “Language Learning Innovation of the Year” at the Edtech Breakthrough Awards—an award given to industry leaders Busuu and EF in previous years.
“Our goal is to recognize the industry, not as a gimmick but the fastest, most enjoyable way to learn a language,” Taber told the Business Journal. “It’s a game-changer.”
HolonIQ projects the language training market will hit $115 billion by 2025, up from an estimated $61 billion in 2019.
SiC Technologies, an Irvine-based maker of carbon-ceramic brakes for commercial, industrial and government vehicles, announced Aug. 20 it was awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II contract from the Department of Defense.
The contract funds the production of what might be a 200,000 unit starting order for the U.S. Army’s Ground Vehicle Systems Center, founder and president of SiC Technologies Clifford Leonard told the Business Journal.
SiC, which gets its name from the chemical abbreviation for Silicon Carbide, develops custom formulas catered to its clients’ needs. So far it’s developed “dozens” of different formulas, according to Leonard.
“We’re a technology company first, and a brake business second,” Leonard said. “We develop the technology according to whatever specification our customers require.”
SiC’s hybrid composite rotors offer lighter, longer-lasting and better performing brakes than its steel counterparts, Leonard said. Its lightweight material cuts rotational mass down from 80 pounds to 20, yielding “trickle-down” benefits, from more longevity and speed to burning less fuel, making it a green product.
“The army has a massive fleet of thousands of vehicles,” Leonard said. “Having that impact could mean saving millions of dollars in fuel cost.”
The company launched with OC Octane in 2017. In 2018, it was a Technology Innovation Forum LaunchPad finalist.
Octane “is one of the reasons we’re here today,” Leonard said. “I met someone from that program who ended up becoming a director at the ground systems center and he’s the reason our company made it to Phase II contracts.”
San Clemente-based textile and technology company FutureStitch partnered with Crocs last month to manufacture the casual footwear brand’s Crocs Socks debut.
The Crocs Socks collection will sell as three-packs available in tie-dye, marble, camouflage and “out-of-this-world” designs.
“I have a huge passion for making things well and to last,” FutureStitch co-founder and CEO Taylor Shupe told the Business Journal. “I’m a product guy, so we’ve built a product that’s completely different, from the raw materials to our own yarn.”
FutureStitch, founded in 2017, creates knitwear that “promotes social and environmental consciousness.”
It’s also the contract manufacturer of Stance socks, Yeezy socks, and TOMS socks. Shupe was a co-founder of Stance and is vice chairman of Kanye West’s Yeezy.
In 2020, its factory near Shanghai, China achieved LEED’s platinum certification for its energy efficiency and environmental responsibility.
“FutureStitch and Crocs have a shared philosophy around making self-expression comfortable,” Shupe said in a statement. “Partnering with Crocs allows us to push the design boundaries and develop products that enhance the Crocs footwear experience.”
FUNDING
Fintech software developer TerraManta of Irvine announced Aug. 20 it is relaunching a $5 million funding round that was previously paused due to COVID-19.
TerraManta, founded in 2016, uses machine learning to forecast prices of crude oil and corn futures.
The platform will soon expand to additional markets, including energy, agriculture and metals, TerraManta’s CEO Leon Kotovich told the Business Journal.
Last April, TerraManta’s software forecasted WTI crude oil’s front month contract would go negative between April 9 and April 30.
“It did on April 20,” Kotovich said.
It plans to manage outside capital and trade crude oil futures in a separate trading entity with TerraManta, providing an “exclusive license.”
“It’s the most practical way to demonstrate the value of the forecasting approach without selling highly valuable pricing signals,” Kotovich said.
Its paper trading fund is also up 11% since last May, limited by available computing power which will expand after closing the investment round.
While dialogues with a potential lead investor are advancing well, TerraManta is searching for additional strategic investors who can participate in the round or contribute trading capital, Kotovich said.
