FUNDING
Irvine-based medical research startup DocBot Inc. has been awarded a $225,000 Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Science Foundation to expand its study of upper gastrointestinal issues.
DocBot has developed artificial intelligence technology to detect abnormalities in endoscopic procedures. Company co-founders Andrew Ninh and gastroenterologist Dr. Bill Karnes found that doctors were able to detect 20% more polyps during colonoscopies using their software, which works like facial detection, alerting doctors to areas that may need further inspection.
The company is based at UCI Applied Innovation’s The Cove.
DocBot previously raised $500,000 in funding from Silicon Valley-based venture capital giant Kleiner Perkins and several other investors.
It’s currently raising a $5 million Series A round, which should close in early April, Ninh said.
NEW HIRES
Artificial intelligence chipmaker Syntiant Corp. has hired former EvoNexus Senior Portfolio Manager Alexa Enlow as its office manager and executive assistant.
In her role at EvoNexus, Enlow found startups to enter the accelerator program, helped manage the vetting process, and then worked with companies in the program to help them overcome challenges and managed the day-to-day Irvine office operations.
Enlow, originally from Huntington Beach, worked closely with the Syntiant team, and approached Chief Executive Kurt Busch about joining the company last fall, because she felt they were a “really positive, inspiring company to work for.”
“Everyone really enjoys what they are doing and who they are doing it with and I think that’s part of why we’ve had the amount of traction we’ve had so far,” she said.
In her new role, Enlow facilitated the newly graduated EvoNexus accelerator company’s move into its Irvine Business Center office earlier this month, and is working to fill engineering positions at the company, which will nearly double in size this year, according to Busch.
Irvine-based real estate tech company SetSchedule plans to add 20 employees to its current staff of 65.
The company is hiring for various roles across its organization, including front- and back-end engineers, data scientists and product managers.
SetSchedule connects realtors with homeowners, buyers and investors using data and artificial intelligence to identify potential sale properties before they reach the market.
Chief Human Resources Officer Shayna Goldburg said SetSchedule will need additional employees in the near future, and these 20 new hires will be just “scratching the surface for us.”
The new hires will help support new technology rollouts and tech improvements. The company’s platform launched last April.
“All of this has happened in such a short period of time, our clients are always looking for us to have that next improvement because it’s been what we’ve been doing so far,” she said.
SetSchedule began in 2014 and has closed two rounds of funding, a $400,000 seed round in 2015 and a $1 million angel round in 2017.
The company had $4 million in revenue last year, Goldburg said.
EXHIBITION
Newport Beach-based aviation technology startup Aeromates Co. represented Orange County at Startup Grind’s annual conference last week in Silicon Valley.
Aeromates, a digital platform connecting flight schools with pilots and aerial tour seekers, was one of 300 startups from around the world chosen to exhibit at the event, and the only one from OC.
More than 200 investors and 8,000 people total attended the event, according to Startup Grind’s website. Conference speakers included LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman, ClassPass founder Payal Kadakia and Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia.
Aeromates Chief Executive Kevin Phan had meetings with investors and found potential cross-selling opportunities, and called the community “inspiring.”
“There’s a lot of investors that would just come and introduce themselves to us,” said Phan. “We’re an aviation company and there’s not a lot of us so we stick out in the crowd already.”
Aeromates was started by Phan and co-founder Mandeep Minhas last March. The six-person team is currently seeking additional seed funding.
Irvine-based RF DSP Inc. will showcase its 5G technologies next week at Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress.
Company founder and Chief Executive Ping Liang said the company’s MIMO 5G white-box platform and transceiver will allow smartphones to operate more efficiently on the 5G spectrum—the next generation of cellular mobile communications—by concentrating the signal to increase bandwidth.
“Instead of having a single 1,000 watt lightbulb spreading light everywhere, imagine you have 100 flashlights that are only pointing at the places where light is needed,” he said.
RF DSP produces 5G white-box components, generic hardware and software that can be used by other communication manufacturers. Liang said the company plans to license its technology to telecom and networking companies like Ericsson and Nokia, to test and optimize their next iteration of cellphones.
The company launched in 2013, and is privately funded by individual investors.
LAUNCH
Irvine-based real estate tech company Sold.com announced the kick-off of its home selling recommendation platform earlier this month.
Sold.com allows users to compare home selling options so they can decide which approach enables them to sell for the highest price in the shortest amount of time.
Company President Matt Woods said between the standard realtor commission models, lower commission options like Redfin, flat fee models like Purplebricks or even auction models, most consumers don’t realize how many choices there are.
“We looked at that landscape and said this is really interesting, which of these is the future?” he said. “There’s a need for a service that helps make sense of all this.”
Sold.com matches home sellers with their ideal service, and gets a referral fee from that service provider. The company has been privately funded to date.
Sold.com’s board members include Jeff Frieden, co-founder and chairman of Irvine-based Ten-X LLC, the country’s largest online real estate marketplace that previously operated Auction.com, Evan Gentry, founder and chief executive of Money360 Inc. in Ladera Ranch and Steve Ozonian, former chief executive of Santa Clara-based Realtor.com.
