STARTUPS & INNOVATIONS

FINANCING

Aliso Viejo-based Adroit Worldwide Media Inc., also known by its consumer brand name AWM Smart Shelf, has raised an $11 million Series A funding round, led by Impact Venture Capital in Sacramento.

Mark IV Capital, a private investment firm with real estate and other holdings, and Peter Ueberroth’s The Contrarian Group Inc., both based in Newport Beach, contributed to the round.

AWM’s retail technology company makes LED shelf displays that allow retailers to change pricing, promotions and advertisements easily. With the addition of its product mapper tool, the company’s customers can better position products to maximize sales.

Additional features include a backend content management system, and two data engines that provide real-time customer and demographic insights through artificial intelligence and machine learning.

The company said it is testing a “Frictionless Shopping Application” that automates checkout with cameras. The technology is being used in a pilot program, and is expected to go live by year’s end.

Helmed by Chief Executive Kevin Howard, AWM Smart Shelf was founded in 2016 and has about 50 employees.

Its base of clients includes Albertsons, Pepsi Co. and Walmart, among others.

Irvine-based Zuum Transportation Inc. has raised $3.75 million, and officials say they have secured another $1.25 million in funding.

The company places its valuation in the $20 million range; company officials said the current round is still open. 

Zuum launched its first platform, an app that connects trucking fleets with shippers, in 2017.

Since then, Zuum has released several apps and web platforms that serve shippers, brokers, and truckers and carriers.

A traditional logistics brokerage is almost like the stock exchange; there are hundreds of people in a room competing with one another, and it’s very manual and human capital intensive, said Chief Operating Officer Matt Tabatabai.

Zuum Transportation aims to change that by connecting all three parties on platforms that aggregate capacity and automate processes. The company is now focused on white labeling its SaaS platform, which will allow its enterprise customers to integrate the software into their own systems. 

Tabatabai, who also serves as chief marketing officer alongside Chief Executive Moe Azizi, characterized the SaaS platform as a “modularized A to Z logistics solution.”

Zuum outgrew its former headquarters in Ontario earlier this year and moved into the Irvine Towers office complex along Von Karman Avenue.

The company has 32 employees and is currently seeking talent for tech, sales and operations positions.

Evoke Neuroscience Inc., with offices in Orange County and New York, has scored a Small Business Innovation Research contract with the U.S. Air Force. The SBIR deal includes a small cash infusion, and from now until Nov. 8, the Air Force will match up to $1.5 million in private capital investment funding. 

Evoke will work with the Air Force to bring its eVox system, which looks at brain biomarkers to determine pre- and post-treatment diagnostics and analyses in patients suffering from PTSD and stress-related conditions, to more service members. 

“We can look at the brain before any treatment, and look at the brain again after, and see, with detail, what effect the treatment had, opposed to subjective thoughts from patients,” said Chief Executive Marinela Gombosev, who works and lives in OC.

Since its launch in 2009, Evoke has placed 400 systems and tested more than 5,000 patients, according to Gombosev. It’s also involved with a clinical trial in Santa Monica, and recently inked a deal with Allied Corp. to support the development of nutraceutical and pharmaceutical products.

Gombosev said that Evoke is now profitable, after five years with revenue.

The OCTANe Launchpad SBDC alumni has 11 employees and plans to announce a head of marketing soon.

LAUNCH

Abbot’s Butcher Inc., a maker of gourmet plant-based dishes, has partnered with Tender Greens to introduce customers of the chef-led restaurant chain to its small-batch products.

The “Mezze” dish, which includes plant-based chicken, is the first protein alternative on the 30-plus location restaurant chain’s menu.

Abbot prepares beef, chorizo and chicken with herbs, extra virgin olive oils and vinegars. The company represents the “second wave” of plant-based protein, paying careful attention to ingredients and catering to customers who are looking to refine their palette, according to CEO Kerry Song.

The company has also introduced its products to dozens of stores and restaurants including Mother’s Market and Kitchen, Greenleaf Gourmet Chopshop and Ed Lee’s Toast Kitchen & Bakery in Newport Beach, among others.

It’s gearing up for a retail push next year, Song said.

A longtime vegan, Song started the business because she missed eating meat. “I didn’t give up meat for the taste or texture. I gave it up for animal welfare and the environment,” she said. “So I couldn’t enjoy a lot of my favorite dishes anymore.”

Abbot’s Butcher this year raised a $1 million seed round of funding led by New Crop Capital in New York, and plans to raise additional funds next year.

The company has a test kitchen in Costa Mesa, in addition to an office in Orange, and has four employees.

NEW HIRES

Salt Lake City-based Pelion Venture Partners has named Jeff Kearl managing director of a new Southern California outpost, which will focus on funding deals from Los Angeles to San Diego.

The early-stage VC firm plans to open an office at 195 Avenida La Pata in San Clemente, just across the street from Stance Socks, where Kearl serves as chairman. He stepped down as CEO last month. Pelion is also searching for office space in the Los Angeles area.

Kearl, a San Clemente resident who has experience running and investing in startups, said that he is excited to “drive more investments to Southern California businesses.” Pelion has already invested $56.2 million in nine startups in the area, and said it has seen four successful exits.

Orange County’s startup ecosystem is “quite robust in medical devices and technology,” added Kearl, while ticking off UCI Beall Applied Innovation and Chapman University’s Leatherby Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Ethics as areas with “high activity.”

Pelion overall has 40 active investments with $324.2 million invested.

Irvine-based Fluxergy, an early-stage medical diagnostic startup developing a point-of-care system for medical testing, has named Dr. Ali Tinazli its chief commercial officer.

Prior to joining Fluxergy, Tinazli led corporate global strategy at Hewlett-Packard Inc. He also served as head of business development at Sony DADC. He is a graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of California-Berkley.

“Fluxergy possesses an exciting and very promising technology platform and scalable manufacturing approach that has the potential to deliver highly innovative POC diagnostics systems for a wide range of potential applications in human and animal healthcare,” Tinazli said.

“We also believe that consumerization and digitization of healthcare diagnostics will be indispensable, not only in providing very positive impacts on healthcare outcomes, but also in helping to address the healthcare cost crisis across economies globally.”

Fluxergy is funded by John Tu, billionaire co-founder of Fountain Valley-based Kingston Technology. The company plans to introduce its first product in veterinary health in 2020.