PRODUCTS
Kargoo LLC has launched an app that connects shoppers seeking unique items overseas with travelers going to those locales who have room in their luggage to buy, transport and deliver products to them.
Using the Kargoo app, a buyer requests a product that they can’t get locally. They are matched with travelers coincidentally going to the right city at the right time to buy and deliver it. The system determines how much to pay the traveler based on the product.
Karla Valdivieso, chief executive of the Costa Mesa-based startup, said the system has protections in place for buyer and travelers. The traveler buys the requested product, so they know what they are carrying, and Kargoo holds the money in an escrow system until the product has been delivered, at which point it’s transferred to the traveler.
Valdivieso said South America is the company’s biggest market, with U.S. products particularly in demand, since products in countries like Argentina and Brazil can cost more, and delivery can be expensive and logistically challenging.
The company has raised funds from family and friends, and is in discussions with venture capital firms in Los Angeles and Latin America about further investment, she said.
Aliso Viejo-based Octiive last week took the wraps off its digital music distribution system. Musicians upload their original music to the company’s platform, and it’s distributed to major retailers and streaming services like Apple’s iTunes, Spotify, Google Play and hundreds of others.
Chief Executive Mershad Javan said since it’s nearly impossible for independent artists to have their music distributed directly by these services, they must go through an approved partner. Every month, Octiive collects royalties from the various services and delivers them to the artist.
The company originally launched in 2017 as MondoTunes, but after tweaking its business model to allow more flexibility for artists, and developing new features like data analytics to help artists see how their music is performing, it rebranded.
It now has five full-time employees, but is seeking to hire up to eight new people in OC with roles in marketing, artist support and content management.
The company has 60,000 users on its platform. Javan said Octiive is supporting itself through revenue, but may consider raising capital in the future in order to grow more aggressively.
OFFICE SPACE
Coworking space company Blankspaces has opened its newest location in Irvine, renting 8,000 square feet at 2400 Barranca Parkway, across the street from The District at Tustin Legacy.
Community manager Todd Dixon said Blankspaces is only taking a portion of the building for now, but the company is partnering with its Pasadena-based landlord Gemdale USA Corp. on the location and there is room to expand.
The Irvine location is a joint venture between Blankspaces and Gemdale, which has a few coworking spaces in China under the brand, iBase. The arrangement will enable marketing and community collaboration bilingually in English and Mandarin.
Blankspaces has locations in Santa Monica, Culver City, Larchmont and Pasadena; and a Long Beach space opens this summer. Pricing for space ranges from $35 per day to $275 per month for a solo entrepreneur.
“Our model is about community building and productivity. We do have a social event once a month but we don’t have a beer waterfall,” Dixon said, adding that Blankspaces locations have been described as “social libraries.”
FINANCING
Micro-device manufacturer Integra Devices has closed a $6 million Series A round of funding led by Santa Monica-based Kairos Venture Investments LLC. South Korea-based circuit board manufacturer Daeduck Electronics and Japanese integrated plating manufacturer OM Sangyo Co. also joined in the round as strategic partners.
Integra Devices produces industrial micro-devices for markets such as telecom, manufacturing, and medicine.
The Irvine-based company was founded in 2015 supported by the research of University of California-Irvine professor and company Chief Technology Officer Mark Bachman.
The company developed a new manufacturing process for the miniaturization of electromechanical devices in the life sciences and tech space, producing microwave switches for 5G telecommunications companies, and an eye pressure sensor the size of an eyelash that is used to monitor glaucoma patients, among other things.
Head of Business Development Sourabh Dhillon said the company currently has 11 full-time employees, and the funding will primarily be used for “building up the engineering team, and infrastructure to execute the projects and push our flagship product, the micro-relay, into pilot production.”
Integra graduated from the EvoNexus startup accelerator in January and recently moved into a 3,500 square foot office at 46 Waterworks Way.
PARTNERSHIPS
Laguna Hills-based fitness app FitNFlow has a new workout buddy: It’s partnered with WeWork locations in Southern California to provide fitness and wellness classes to users of the company’s growing base of coworking spaces.
Company founder Madison Chappell said FitNFlow is working with WeWork locations in Pasadena, Los Angeles and San Diego and is in talks with sites opening soon in Santa Monica and South Orange County.
“Each team seems to really understand the value of wellness, yoga and meditation applied to the workplace and it’s great to see how these values positively affect workplace culture,” said Chappell.
Chappell said more than 200 verified yoga and wellness instructors have signed up for the app—which allows users to book fitness classes anytime, anywhere—since it launched in January. The company is gearing up to raise an $800,000 seed round this summer.
An Anaheim-based maker of online maps for indoor locations, InMapz, recently signed a partnership with SkyTeam Airline Alliance, the Delta Air Lines-led coalition of 19 international airlines, to build an embedded map module for its SkyTeam app.
InMapz built out hub maps for 39 international airports that Delta serves in cities like Singapore, Sydney, Dubai and Beijing as an additional feature for its member passengers.
Chief Executive HD Vo came up with the idea for InMapz after failing to find a good airport app while traveling in Asia.
The company has mapped over 1,500 venues, including 250 international airports and 500 of the top malls in the world.
Orange County venues include Irvine Spectrum Center, South Coast Plaza and Fashion Island.
The company started in 2016, and has been funded by friends and family so far. InMapz is gearing up to raise a $500,000 seed round, and is in talks with other airlines and mall customers. It is also setting its sights on additional venue types, like mapping cruise ships, for later this year.
