STARTUPS & INNOVATIONS

LAUNCH

Ink Games, an Irvine-based digital and mobile gaming business that targets gamers, online users and social influencers, has begun operations.

The company, a unit of InfluenceInk Inc. with offices in Irvine and Bend, Ore., is looking to build a community-driven platform that gives influencers the ability to monetize their online following. 

Chief Executive Robert Towles describes Ink Games as a cross between Steam and a social network. Users of its first offering purchase zip codes (or virtual real estate) and earn rewards based on all activity within their territories. 

Users collect revenue by sharing their invite code and recruiting others to join the platform.

Ink Games plans to return about 30% of its budget back to users, Towles said. 

During the company’s first “asset drop” in a closed alpha group with about 50 users, more than $200,000 in virtual real estate was purchased. Ink Games expects to take the platform public next year. 

The company will earn money via micro-transactions from in-game asset drops and purchases and monthly subscription fees, Towles said. 

Towles was part of the founding team that led game developer Buffalo Studios, which sold to Caesars Interactive Entertainment Inc. for $100 million in 2012. The gaming division of Caesars was subsequently sold to a Chinese consortium for $4.4 billion.  

InfluenceInk has been developing Ink Games for about a year, Towles said. The company closed a $2.5 million seed round in April and is now raising a $6.5 million Series A round at a $20 million valuation. 

The company is seeking office space in Orange County for its executive team.

Pear Sports LLC, a software-as-a-service company based in Newport Beach, recently released an enterprise platform for health and fitness that includes tools to measure user behavior and recommend custom training plans.

The company recently won a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research contract from the United States Air Force. It aims to improve users’ health and decrease discharge rates due to service members’ failing their annual physical examines, according to Director of Partnerships Jason Catlin.

New clients also include Myodetox, a startup that combines physical therapy with a spa-like delivery. It is using the Pear platform to create personalized treatment plans and increase user engagement via mobile app.

Other clients include Livmor Inc. in Irvine and TRX Systems.

Pear started as a hardware delivery system with real-time audio and video workouts for cyclist Lance Armstrong. The company has since launched a consumer-facing app and, most recently, developed the enterprise platform.

Co-founders Kristian Rauhala and Bob Allison, who is a managing director of Innovate Partners in Newport Beach, launched the company in 2012.

Pear has raised more than $15 million in funding; participating investors include Innovate Partners, Nordic Ventures, and Irvine’s Life Fitness and Vizio Inc.

The company has about 20 employees and is currently hiring.

FINANCING

Summit Technology Laboratory, which uses its software to create augmented reality-driven displays, was recently awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research grant from the U.S. Air Force.

The Air Force is interested in using the company’s technology to provide large, yet relatively inexpensive, display screens across its command control centers worldwide, according to Chief Executive Aditi Majumder.

Summit uses multi-projector displays to construct interactive environments with high-resolution and 360-degree integration. The company’s software uses cameras to mold the image to the shape of an interactive display—whether flat or curved.

A few of the company’s local projects include reworking the helicopter installation at the Discovery Cube OC and an educational display at a community event at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts.

Majumder developed the technology at the University of California-Irvine and launched the company at the TechPortal incubator at Calit2 division.

According to Chief Business Officer Akash Akash, the company is now seeking funds for office space and growth in new segments.

NEW HIRE

Cannabis and CBD retailer MyJane Inc., a subsidiary of ManifestSeven, recently named Helene Blanchette president. 

She joins the Irvine-based team after two years as global vice president of marketing for graphic communications at Xerox Corp., where she worked for nearly two decades.

“We are fortunate to have her onboard to drive MyJane’s growth throughout California’s legal cannabis market and through CBD sales nationwide,” said M7 CEO Sturges Karban.

Blanchette replaces former president and co-founder Kim Kovacs, who is the managing director of Arroyo Ventures LLC and sits on business accelerator OCTANe’s board of directors.

Kovacs is pursuing “new entrepreneurial projects,” the company said.

Kovacs formed MyJane from the remaining assets of See Jane Go, a now-defunct ride-sharing service for women. A year later, the company was acquired by cannabis logistics company ManifestSeven on undisclosed terms.

ManifestSeven is reportedly exploring a public listing on a non-U.S. exchange.

OFFICE SPACE

E-commerce firm Buy It Installed recently moved its headquarters from UCI Research Park to Irvine’s Century Centre office towers, next to Andrei’s Conscious Cuisine & Cocktails.

The company connects buyers of electronics and other products with professional contractors who can install those products. Buy It Installed raised an $8.2 million Series A round last year from Skyview Capital Ventures, the Tanti family and Tech Coast Angels. Prior to that, Buy It Installed brought in $8.6 million in seed funding and $1.6 million in pre-seed funding.

Chief Executive Grant Van Cleve, who is also the chairman of the Tech Coast Angels, said the company in recent months won its first series of patents for omnichannel distribution. In other words, Buy It Installed gets first right to bring its product to the market through various distribution channels.

PatientFi has relocated its Irvine operations to 15635 Alton Parkway at the Irvine Spectrum.

The 3-year-old fintech provides medical practitioners with credit-friendly loans and financing options for patients seeking elective treatments in aesthetics, ophthalmology and dentistry.

It’s more than a lending platform, though, according to Chief Executive Todd Watts.

PatientFi gives medical practitioners the ability to market to prospective clients and increase same-day bookings. There’s a particularly dire need for the service in California, according to Watts, who noted that recent state legislation—specifically SB 639—will curb the use of medical credit cards by prohibiting providers from offering select products come July 2020.

Watts, who was an investment banker at J.P. Morgan and a senior vice president at Alphaeon Corp., launched the company with President Scott Jorgensen, whose résumé includes positions at Allergan, Johnson & Johnson and Alphaeon.

After its launch, Dr. Lou Bucky and Glenn Stearns, founder and former chairman of Santa Ana’s Stearns Lending, provided seed investments and joined the board. The company has since grown its team to about 15 employees and raised a total of $3 million in funding.

Watts is expected to speak on PatientFi during OCTANe’s Aesthetics Technology Summit this week.