LAUNCH
Commercial real estate company Real Clear Software LLC unveiled its RCS Portfolio business intelligence app this month.
The app enables retailers and other businesses with multiple locations or large portfolios to compare location datasets to understand which are most profitable, and why.
“[RCS Portfolio] allows them to use data they probably already have and pull in outside resources, like foot traffic data … so a company can understand not just what is the lowest cost for a retail location, but how can we be the most profitable?” said Kyle Sausser, vice president of strategy and business development.
The Newport Beach-based company was founded by OC commercial real estate brokerage veterans including Kyle’s father Chris Sausser, a former senior vice president at JLL, and Craig Morris, former executive vice president, Global Client Solutions for Cushman & Wakefield.
The company has self-funded operations for RCS so far.
Current RCS clients include a storage facility company, a franchising company and a real estate investment trust, Sausser said. RCS also has operations in India.
Irvine-based virtual job site JobzMall is taking its web platform out of beta this month. Job seekers navigate through a “virtual mall” looking at companies by industry, location and company type.
The platform currently has over 500 companies represented and more than 100,000 active users, according to Chief Executive Nathan Candaner.
Many of their customers are passive job seekers who are currently employed, but want to see if there’s something better out there, Candaner said, using the analogy of a shopper who goes into a mall to buy a handbag, but finds something else they want while they are there.
“The biggest feedback we got is that we have enabled a lot of people to be exposed to companies or organizations that they never would have come across,” he said.
The company started in 2016, and raised a seed round of $1.5 million in 2017. The 14-person team is in the process of securing additional capital.
UCI Wayfinder startup Neighboring will release its new integrated web platform this week.
Neighboring began in 2017 after founder Joshua Mundell, a student athlete playing water polo at Concordia University, needed to make some money but didn’t have time for a traditional part-time job.
Neighboring connects college students with people in their community who need help with household chores.
Currently more than 60% of their customers are senior citizens, but Mundell also sees a market among families with young children.
The company has been self-funded by Mundell and Director of Operations Richard Machesney, but they are currently seeking investment to expand in OC and to San Diego and Los Angeles this year.
Budding manufacturer Waterborne Skateboards has taken the wraps off two products after the success of its flagship “surf adapter,” which makes skate boarding feel more like surfing.
In December, it launched a rail adapter, which allows a board to make turns more efficiently, and a new line of skateboards.
Chief Executive Patrick Dumas said the decks are solid carbon fiber and called them “completely indestructible.”
“The feel is so remarkably true to surfing, just the way the deck flexes,” he said. “We did a lot of work choosing the right wheels and trucks.”
Waterborne products are currently sold via their website and on Amazon.com. The company is partnering with local brands including Long Beach-based Riptide Electric Skateboard to sell to its customers.
The 8-person team moved into a Costa Mesa warehouse in September and received an angel investment of more than $100,000 in November.
PARTNERSHIPS
Newport Beach-based Protecht Inc. has formed a strategic partnership to integrate TicketGuardian, its event ticket technology, into the Tickets.com platform.
TicketGuardian allows event organizers to monitor ticket inventory in real time across ticketing platforms.
Tickets.com users will also have the option to purchase ticket insurance through Protecht’s FanShield, which provides reimbursement if they are unable to attend an event.
“We saw a gap between consumer expectation and today’s post-Amazon world,” said founder and Chief Executive Bryan Derbyshire. “In ticketing, it’s one of the last nonrefundable spaces left in the United States. The goal for us was to bridge the gap.”
Protecht started in 2016, and raised $8 million in Series A venture capital funding last year. It’s currently integrated into 35 ticketing platforms, Derbyshire said.
UCI Wayfinder startup CarDana Inc. introduced a pilot of its car donation service with several Orange County charities this month including United Way, Working Wardrobes and Court Appointed Special Advocates of Orange County.
CarDana allows nonprofits to create an individualized page where people can donate their vehicles to the charity.
Founder and Chief Executive Anthony Glenn said CarDana’s transparency is what sets them apart from competitors.
“People didn’t like that they donated a car and they didn’t know what happened to it after that. Nothing ever told the donor what impact they had with their donation,” Glenn said.
The website integrates information from Irvine’s Kelley Blue Book so donors know exactly what their car is worth, and are shown upfront how much money the organization will receive.
The company has been self-funded so far by Glenn, but he is currently seeking investment.
FUNDING
Med-tech company Modulated Imaging Inc. raised $7 million in Series B funding last week. The round was led by Pangaea Ventures Ltd., with Fresenius Medical Care Ventures GmbH, Grey Sky Venture Partners LLC, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital Co. and Fouse KK.
The Irvine-based company uses noninvasive imaging to assess tissue health.
The money will be used to fund commercialization of the company’s Clarifi Imaging System, a recently FDA-cleared technology which uses imaging to help doctors identify patients at risk for diabetic foot ulcers.
Chief Executive David Cuccia said that the technology could lead to an 85% reduction in amputations.
“The upshot is that you can see things happening very early on in the progression of disease,” Cuccia said. “Most of medicine today is very reactive, where patients show up with wounds. We’re able to see things happening early on … and that information is very actionable.”
The company is seeking an additional $3 million to close out the round.
