PRODUCTS
Irvine-based GigX Inc., an online job directory that caters to professionals seeking part-time, long-term work at a variety of C-level positions, has launched.
The directory connects independent contractors to companies looking to hire fractional “CxOs” such as chief marketing officers, chief information officers, or chief cloud officers. The GigX directory counts some 50 “CxO” types of positions that contractors can market themselves under.
It is free for anyone to use, though fractional CxOs pay a small fee to be listed within it.
After making connections, CxOs and hiring entities can negotiate the terms of employment, including rate and time commitment, free of interference from GigX. The company’s niche focus as a directory for fractional workers is noncompetitive with companies like LinkedIn and Ladders.
The online directory allows companies to get serious firepower for a fraction of the time and the cost, according to Chief Executive John Fox, who co-founded the company with Chuck Lee last year.
And it’s coming to market at the right time. Fox told the Business Journal that gig workers will comprise half the workforce by 2020 and as much as 80% by 2030, according to Peter Miscovish, managing director, Strategy + Innovation at JLL Consulting.
GigX plans to capitalize on the ever-growing gig economy, and is currently seeking seed funding to accelerate the growth of its member population and bring a broader group of hiring entities to the platform.
Costa Mesa-based Lavender Lane Baking Co. has opened an online bakery specializing in gluten-free, grain-free products. The bakery offers an assortment of bread, brownies, cookies, cakes, granola and other made-to-order foods.
Since the website’s launch, Lavender Lane has experienced continuous growth with orders doubling nearly every week, according to co-founders Christine Bren and Sarah Butler.
Bren is the former wife of California Pacific Homes CEO Cary Bren, the son of Irvine Co. Chairman Donald Bren. Butler is a former executive at the Irvine Co. and CHOC.
The duo’s brick-and-mortar bakery operations started last year; they’ve ramped up their retail offerings, with items available at Kéan Coffee and Laguna Coffee Co. Up next? Lavender Lane plans to release a holiday collection within the next few weeks since nearly 25% of its orders are gifts.
The two co-founders have been in the kitchen since the company’s start, striving to make treats that are healthy and indulgent. Their first product was a chocolate chip cookie that would fit with all of the dietary needs of Bren and Butler’s families.
Lavender Lane also offers a monthly subscription service, and allows for pickup at its storefront location in Costa Mesa, near Orange Coast College.
PARTNERSHIPS
GenGirl Media Inc., an entertainment company that creates television programming and toys for children aspiring to run businesses of their own, debuted its original series Middle School Moguls on Nickelodeon this month.
The animated series was inspired by the company’s collection of Middle School Mogul dolls, and will chronicle the lives of four friends aiming to create their own companies while attending Mogul Academy, a school for young entrepreneurs and visionaries.
“We want to inspire young girls and help them understand that no career is off-limits. This show is a great platform to help girls ‘mogulize’ and learn entrepreneurship firsthand and at an early age,” said Gina Heitkamp, chief executive of GenGirl.
Heitkamp is an alumna of the UCI Paul Merage School of Business, and runs the company along with her sister, Chief Innovation Office Jenae Heitkamp. GenGirl was UCI Beall Applied Innovation’s first Cove tenant and ecosystem alumnae.
Irvine-based aviation group purchasing company Aviaa recently announced a new initiative and fleet membership service in collaboration with the Corporate Angel Network, a public charity that arranges free flights for cancer patients to treatment using empty seats on business aircraft.
“We have created Aviaa Cares with the goal of helping dedicated air ambulance and critical response operators reduce their operational costs,” said Matthew Smith, chief business development officer at Aviaa.
“Supply chain management takes time and money. By implementing this initiative, we want to help operators performing critical missions shift costs—reducing their overheads and freeing capital to deploy elsewhere. This focus and capital can be used for what is most important, the life-saving mission at hand.”
Corporate Angel Network operators will receive six months of complimentary Aviaa membership through the new program, in addition to benefits with preferred partners and concierge-level procurement consultation.
Existing Aviaa members will also be rewarded if they join and provide flights for CAN, according to company officials.
Aviaa launched in 2017, and operated out of UCI Beall Applied Innovation’s Cove before moving into a 3,600-square-foot office in Irvine’s Park Place office campus last year.
FINANCING
Costa Mesa-based Left, a group travel planning service, has raised $500,000 in pre-seed funding. The round is still open.
Investors include Fullerton-based Titan Angels LLC, San Diego-based MooDoos Investments, Silicon Valley-based Women’s Startup Labs, San Francisco-based 1517 Funds, and New York-based Quake Venture Capital.
Group coordinators can build a custom trip itinerary using the company’s web platform, and share details such as emergency information on a mobile app. The app includes a language translator, GPS and group chat, which can be accessed offline.
Chief Executive Shayanne Wright discovered her love for travel at an early age, when visiting the Dominican Republic with her church. She was inspired to create Left in 2016 after realizing the tedious and disorganized nature of group travel, which could be easily solved with a technological component.
An avid adventurer, Wright has also traveled to Doha, Qatar for a conference and spoken on women in tech, and visited Portugal for a startup program.
Since launching the company in 2016, Left has worked with hundreds of businesses, schools, religious groups, sports teams and travel agencies.
ACQUISITION
Irvine-based medical devices company Rebound Therapeutics Corp. was acquired this month on undisclosed terms by Plainsboro, N.J.-based Integra LifeSciences Holdings (Nasdaq: IART).
Rebound is a developer of single-use, disposable devices used in minimally invasive surgical procedures. In January, the company received FDA clearance on its neurosurgical endoscopy—the Aurora Surgiscope System—which allows for better visualization in procedures in existing operating rooms.
“The acquisition of Rebound Therapeutics reflects Integra’s ongoing commitment to developing innovative products to address unmet needs in neurosurgery,” Dan Reuvers, corporate vice president of $5.2 billion-valued Integra Lifesciences, said in a statement.
“Rebound’s [minimally invasive surgical technology] platform is a natural addition to our portfolio of neurosurgical products and will expand our therapeutic-focused offerings. We are eager to further develop Rebound’s cutting-edge MIS technologies to help surgeons improve the standard of care for neurosurgery patients.”
The company will join Integra’s Codman Specialty Surgical division. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Rebound was founded in 2015, and raised $16.5 million in Series B financing in 2017. The financing was led by HBM-MedFocus in Irvine, Invus in New York and Wexford Capital LP in Greenwich, Conn.
Rebound CEO Jeff Valko also runs Irvine’s Viseon, a maker of minimally invasive devices used in spinal surgery.
