Carson Kopfl is no different than any other businessman, other than being 13. The San Clemente teen’s Locker Board LLC, a maker of backpack-fitting skate boards, has hit growth stage—the hard part.
Kropfl gained some renown when he scored a $65,000 investment from Sir Richard Branson on ABC’s “Shark Tank” show last fall, which got the Virgin Megastar 20% of Locker Board.
Chief Fun Officer Kropfl just finished the June fiscal year with $100,000 in sales, 30% growth with half now sold through Amazon. Wheels are made in Surf City and final assembly in Baja.
The Business Journal finalist for 2017 Innovator of the Year just got his board awarded a design patent, U.S. Patent No. D82570, which took two years and about $15,000.
“It’s really important to my business, this patent protects everything I’ve worked hard for,” said the Shorercliffs Middle School eight-grader who’ll be a San Clemente HS Triton next year.
It’s Kropfl’s second patent, the prior one was received at age 9 for the yet to be released Streetubez tarp-surfing product, which provides skaters a tube-like surfing experience on dry land.
Kropfl will begin production on the tarps in 2019, in anticipation of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, where athletes will be competing in skateboarding and surfing for the first time. Streetubez and Locker Board are trademarked. And Sir Richard, who’ll be getting his Hollywood star in October, owns 20 % of Streetubez too.
— Pete Weitzner
Syntiant Corp., an Irvine-based semiconductor startup whose executive team hails from area firms including Broadcom Inc., Mindspeed Technologies and Lantronix Inc., is looking to raise additional cash to ramp up production for its first product, according to a report in Electronic Design.
Founded last year, the company makes flash memory chips that reduce the amount of power needed for always-on listening applications, such as smartphones, wearables, ear buds, and drones.
Chief Executive Kurt Busch, who held the same role for four years at Irvine-based networking products maker Lantronix, told Electronic Design the company’s first product would be released in the first half of next year.
The Business Journal reported in May on the company’s $5 million Series A funding round; backers include Intel Capital, the venture arm of Santa Clara-based Intel Corp., as well as Seraph Group, Danhua Capital and Embark Ventures.
Syntiant’s based in The Vine building at the University Research Park, and is an EvoNexus member. It employed 11 full-time employees as of May; it’s looking to hire engineering-related positions, according to its website.
— Mark Mueller
Newport Beach-based investment bank Roth Capital Partners is heading up a new event designed to introduce investors to up-and-coming members of the cleantech industry, including those in the energy, water and transportation sectors.
It’s acting as co-host for the Cleantech Private Capital Day 2018, which will be held on Oct. 3 at The Cove at UCI Applied Innovation.
Roth said it has been involved in approximately 100 transactions for its cleantech and industrial growth clients since 2012, with total transaction value over $3.5 billion.
It’s a founding member of Sustain OC, a trade association with its roots in cleantech economic growth that accelerates sustainability in the greater Orange County area.
Sustain OC is also a co-host of the event, along with capital markets advisory firm CMA, and law firm Procopio.
— Mark Mueller
