COVID-19 DATA
WhiskerCloud LLC, a Newport Beach-based firm that boosts the web presence of veterinary practices and pet hospitals, said its clients are seeing increased web activity and demand for veterinary services amid the pandemic.
The 4-year-old firm builds custom websites for animal-focused practices with search engine optimization and analytics; its teams handle web updates, security and backups, reputation management and more. It typically charges customers between $199 and $399 a month.
In a case study conducted throughout March and April, clients reported a substantial uptick in business.
Data showed:
• A San Francisco-based palliative practitioner with in-home services said she received 260 phone calls and appointment requests, with 67% of conversations from new users.
• A pain management practice in Virginia Beach with aftercare and on-call services reported 408 requests. About 63% of users were first-time site visitors.
• A Tampa Bay practitioner that offers house calls said she saw 315 requests, with new users accounting for about 80% of all requests.
• A practitioner in New Jersey with a focus on cancer care and immunotherapy said his team had 106 requests, with 77% of conversations from new users.
• All four practices reported 50% of requests or more came from mobile devices.
LAUNCH
An online marketplace for vegan foods recently unveiled its platform, called GTFO It’s Vegan.
The company, incorporated as GreatFoods It’s Vegan LLC, with an office at Newport Center, sources and offers more than 600 food products from mom-and-pop shops and small businesses.
It’s headed by acting Chief Executive Marc Pierce, a technology entrepreneur who founded the company with his wife, Tanya.
Marc, Tanya and their three children relocated from Chicago to Newport Beach in 2017. Ahead of the move, the duo decided to go vegan but struggled to find great tasting foods that fit with their diet.
“After coming to California, we realized it’s more accessible to get great food that is vegan here. Most places have very limited access. That’s why we decided to launch GTFO It’s Vegan,” Marc said.
Since its launch in late May, the company has received hundreds of orders and sold more than 6,000 products, with one- to three-day shipping available anywhere in the country, Marc said.
As it ramps up its national distribution, the company said it is looking to provide a home delivery option in the Southern California region.
Irvine-based Titan School Solutions Inc., a software developer of nutrition-related services for public school districts, recently released a nutrition label scanner.
The mobile application helps cafeteria workers create healthy recipes and identify food allergens by scanning nutritional information and uploading data to inventory on the Titan platform.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, users can create new serving sessions or reimbursement programs, so that schools can adjust to summer meal programs, the company said.
In addition, the web-based platform enables remote applications such as point-of-sale efforts, so that district personnel can practice social distancing.
Since 2015, Titan has served more than 1 million students across 150 school districts nationwide.
Titan raised a $5.2 million Series A about 18 months ago.
The round was led by Irvine-based Springboard Ventures and Wavemaker Partners in Los Angeles, with participation from Rezven Partners LLC in Irvine.
Titan is a portfolio company of venture studio Cie in Irvine.
NEW HIRES
Everguard.ai, the developer of a safety and surveillance platform in Irvine, has brought on Mark Bula as chief strategy officer and general manager for the steel industry.
Bula was previously chief commercial officer and chief revenue officer for Big River Steel, a steel company in Osceola, Ark., valued around $1.6 billion at the time he left the company.
Everguard.ai’s platform launched in April and uses cameras, sensors, wearable devices and artificial intelligence and computer vision technologies to provide alerts and warnings to ensure worker safety in steel mill and other industries.
“Technology and artificial intelligence can play a critical role in protecting workers and making a plant both more efficient and safer,” Bula said in a statement.
Everguard’s platform, Bula added, “offers an AI suite of applications and devices that gathers data through multi-sensor inputs in real-time to proactively avoid workplace injuries and reduce safety concerns.”
Since its platform launch, the company has developed and added specific technologies to enforce social distancing guidelines and provide on-site temperature checks to help bring employees back to work amid COVID-19.
A Wi-Fi products maker for Internet of Things applications with roots in Australia has named Vahid Manian chief operating officer and head of its new Irvine office at 40 Waterworks Way.
Manian joined Morse Micro Inc. as a senior vice president last year. He previously held senior positions with wireless communications and semiconductor firms in San Diego. Between 1995 and 2008, he served as a senior vice president for manufacturing and operations at Irvine’s Broadcom and was involved in its initial public offering in 1998.
“I’m extremely excited to help lead Morse Micro into the next exciting era of the company,” said Manian in a statement. “I look forward to working with our executive team and our employees in driving growth for our company and the entire IoT ecosystem as it transitions to Wi-Fi HaLow and beyond.”
Morse Micro is developing what it calls the smallest Wi-Fi HaLow (low power, long range) system-on-chip, which provides 10 times the range, 100 times the area and 1,000 times the volume of traditional Wi-Fi systems.
Manian will oversee the growth of sales, marketing, applications and operations teams in Sydney, Australia and Irvine.
Manian said Morse Micro “expects to nearly double its Irvine team to a dozen employees this year, with immediate openings for systems and software engineers. In two to three years, it could reach 30 employees in OC.”
FINANCING
Virtual Dental Care Inc. recently raised $3.15 million, regulatory filings indicate.
The Irvine-based firm has accelerated marketing and sales efforts to meet demand for teledentistry services brought on by reduced office visits and social distancing.
It also launched a new website for its platform, called Teledentix.
The Teledentix platform offers secure video conferencing and virtual payments, in addition to a patient portal where consumers can access their records and message a dentist.
Its cloud-based platform supports multiple groups and providers. It touts its service as a comprehensive and secure system that helps dentists increase production and attract and retain new patients.
Chief Executive Richard Lee launched Virtual Dental Care in 2015.
He previously founded and served as chief executive of Newport Beach’s Planet DDS, a fast-growing software firm aimed at dental back office operations. Planet DDS’ software platform, called Denticon, is billed as the first and largest cloud-based dental practice management software in the U.S.
Virtual Dental Care is hiring for several remote positions such as sales and customer support.
