Partnerships
Two Irvine-based biotech startups, Cellgen Diagnostic, a precision diagnostics company, and Genomic Testing Cooperative, a molecular testing firm, are collaborating to develop companion tests for oncology treatments.
The tests will help clinicians select targeted therapy for patients, GTC Chief Executive and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Maher Albitar said.
GTC will do the initial screening to determine five or six genetic markers that can predict the response to a drug; then Cellgen will produce simple, inexpensive tests that can be made widely available, Albitar said.
The partners will work with pharmaceutical companies developing new drug therapies.
“We are trying to work together to develop these tests … in the context of these newly developed drugs, to select patients that will benefit,” he said.
GTC launched last year and has been privately funded through investors and a co-operative model of working with other labs to offer genetic testing.
Cellgen was founded in 2015 with technology licensed from University of California-San Diego and is privately funded.
Irvine-based dog accessory company HundenFolk opening monthly pop-up shops at Nordstrom at two Irvine Co.-run locations, Fashion Island in Newport Beach and Irvine’s Spectrum Center.
HundenFolk cofounders OC native Julia Bahu and Nick Hamblen launched the company in 2017 and hand make all the products including dog collars, leashes and other items priced between $10 and $50.
Bahu said Nordstrom was inspired to feature a local pet business because of the large community of dog-lovers in OC, and HundenFolk was suggested by a manager familiar with the company.
“If they feel that you are ‘up to snuff’ with your product, it’s not something that they actively sell in their location, they’ll have you come in,” Bahu said, “to heighten the experience of the Nordstrom customers.”
Pop-ups are scheduled through the end of June.
Hundenfolk’s products are also on its website, and Hamblen said the company is talking with several boutique pet shops to sell its products in brick and mortar shops.
Bahu said the bootstrapped company is profitable and had over 50% profit growth last year.
Financing
The 5th annual Eureka Fest startup festival was held last weekend at Irvine’s Eureka Building, the 41,000-square-foot office along Alton Parkway designed for early-stage companies.
The event featured a startup showcase, where roughly 30 companies demonstrated their products and services, and a pitch competition among 10 startups; judges included Okapi Venture Capital’s Brad Costello and others.
MyShoperoo, an Aliso Viejo-based errand service launched by an ex-Telogis Inc. exec and profiled in the Business Journal in February, won first place, and received prizes including $6,000 towards office space at the building.
The event also provided networking time, and panels on artificial intelligence, cannabis and venture capital funding.
Speakers included Eureka Award winner Kelly Vlahakis-Hanks, chief executive of Cypress-based consumer goods company Earth Friendly Products, and Billy Zane, actor and chief executive of Pasadena-based technology research lab The Convergence Lab.
The panel on building the SoCal tech community featured JC Ruffalo, director of accelerator OCTANe’s Launchpad program, Tech Coast Angels Southern California board Chair Grant Van Cleve, OC startup entrepreneur Dalip Jaggi, and Taylor Decker, director of the Eureka Hub co-working space—and was moderated by yours truly!
Decker shared her vision for the future of OC’s tech scene during the panel: she’d like it to be more about work-life balance than Silicon Valley.
“You can have a great team of people who are dedicated to the cause, who are compensated well enough to enjoy their lives, and you can still continue to grow and grind and hustle and build great companies without having to sacrifice all the other things too,” she said.
Irvine-based technology-driven healthcare company Jio Health has raised a $5 million Series A round led by Singapore-based Monk’s Hill Ventures.
Jio Health provides health care services in Vietnam, including home doctor visits, nursing services, lab collections, telemedicine and pharmacy delivery.
The company also has offices in Ho Chi Minh City. It has 150 employees, including 70 healthcare providers, but is looking to expand.
Company founder Raghu Rai said in an email that the funds will be used for “broadening our clinical service offering, expanding across Vietnam, and hiring a larger team of care providers.”
“We’ll also explore additional regional markets,” he said.
The company was started in 2014 by Rai and University of California-Irvine trustee Ken Rohl. Rai’s a UCI grad.
As part of the investment, Monk’s Hill Ventures managing partner Kuo-Yi Lim is joining the company’s board.
Products
Irvine-based startup K9 Align, a company that creates wearable therapy products for dogs, has launched its K9 HipLign product that helps treat and alleviate discomfort from hip dysplasia.
Chief Executive Larkie Dam said roughly 25% of dogs will suffer from the disease, nearly 23 million in the U.S. and Canada alone.
“Given the sheer market size and the increasing spend in the pet industry,” the OC potential is “phenomenal,” Dam said.
The patent pending K9 HipLign is sold on the company’s website and at a handful of veterinary clinics and canine physical therapy offices for $195.
K9 Align launched in 2016 and completed the first half of its seed round last summer with backing by individual OC investors.
It’s looking to raise an additional $300,000 to $500,000 for marketing, and to complete a double blind clinical study with an academic or clinical institution.
Chicago-based commercial real estate company JLL has released a report showing Orange County tech and life science firms raised a total of $1.5 billion last year.
Electronic health record and medical device companies led the way, with $310 million and nearly $270 million in funding each, respectively.
Companies with significant investment included Irvine-based NextGen Healthcare, Aliso Viejo-based UST Global, Irvine-based Cylance and Huntington Beach-based Rocket Lab (see tech column, page 22).
JLL Vice President Jason Lantgen said a larger number of transactions contributed to the 36% increase from the $1.1 billion invested in 2017.
Lantgen said the growth of accelerator OCTANe, University of California-Irvine’s Applied Innovation and other accelerators in the region, along with a highly educated workforce has made OC “a hub for skilled labor and innovation.”
The report also showed the impact of growth on office space in OC. For new and expansion leases 25,000 square feet or larger, nearly half of the 1.7 million square feet of leasing activity in 2018 involved tech or life science companies.
