Investment
Spinal Singularity Inc., a seed-stage medical device company that’s developing bladder-management products for people suffering from spinal injuries, has gotten a new source of funds.
The San Clemente-based firm announced last month that it received an Employment Achievement Award and a grant from the Triumph Foundation in Santa Clarita.
The award “provides funds to help support individuals living with paralysis continue their path to gain meaningful employment,” the company said in a statement.
The amount wasn’t disclosed. The funds will be used to offset costs from upcoming clinical trials, the company said.
Spinal Singularity’s main product is the Connected Catheter, “a smart catheter designed for adult men with chronic urinary retention [dysfunction] or neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction.”
Spinal Singularity said that the first patient was treated with its clinical-stage device in March.
The clinical study recently obtained institutional review board approval, and investigators are recruiting at five sites, including West Coast Urology in Los Angeles, and Tri-Valley Urology in Murrieta.
“Fundraising is tough for any startup. We have had very promising results in the clinic thus far and are so excited to launch our next clinical study,” said Spinal Singularity founder and Chief Technology Officer Derek Herrera.
Herrera is a former Marine Special Operations Officer who was paralyzed below the chest in 2012 after being shot in the spine by a sniper in Afghanistan.
He developed the device out of a need to manage his own bladder issues.
The company was founded 2015 and raised $3.1 million in seed funding last October. The round was led by Baker & Eastlack Ventures and included investment from Western Technology Investments, YCombinator, Santa Barbara Angels, OC Services Academy Angels and SV Tech Ventures.
— Sherry Hsieh
Space
A “top dog” is coming to Irvine. JustFoodForDogs moved its headquarters from Los Alamitos to a 20,000-square-foot facility at Skypark Circle near John Wayne Airport.
The location contains its self-proclaimed “world’s largest dog kitchen”—producing 30,000 pounds of food daily—and was remodeled to meet human cooking standards, according to a company statement.
The food production center includes a test kitchen for new recipes and a distribution center.
The pet food maker, founded in 2010 and employing 225 people, has found a niche making small-batch, human-grade pet food using USDA-grade meats and produce.
Chief Executive Carey Tischler said the business boom “can be traced to the growing number of pet parents who consider their four-legged family members in high regard,” and want to seek alternatives to commercial-grade dog food.
The company announced a collaboration with San Diego-based pet products retailer Petco in May to open JustFoodForDogs exhibition kitchens at some Petco locations.
Starting with Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties, the kitchens are scheduled to open in 250 sites in the next four years.
The company is backed by Greenwich, Conn.-based L Catterton, a consumer products-focused private equity firm that announced an undisclosed investment in the firm last year.
— Sherry Hsieh
