Laguna Beach-based Okapi Venture Capital is the lead investor in a $2 million seed round investment in TrackStreet, a startup that created an e-commerce monitoring platform that gives brands and manufacturers visibility and control over how and where their products are sold online. TrackStreet will use the funding to continue developing its proprietary artificial intelligence-based software, among other things. TrackStreet is in Santa Barbara. Scott Barnett, vice president of marketing, is from Corona del Mar.
Youngry on New Show
Irvine-based Youngry will be one of the first three startups to pitch to three generations of venture capitalists on a show that debuted on Nov. 19. Youngry is a website with mentorship content, has an agency to help brands and influencers connect with the global millennial and Generation Z demographics, and hosts community events. It will be one of the first three companies to pitch to Bill Draper, his son Tim Draper, and Tim’s daughter, Jesse Draper, on the debut of “Meet the Drapers.” Bill Draper started Draper & Johnson Investment Co. in 1962. Tim Draper founded Menlo Park-based DFJ, short for Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and best known for being an early investor in Elon Musk’s companies. Jesse Draper is a founding partner of Los Angeles-based Halogen Ventures, a venture capital and private equity firm, and creator and host of “The Valley Girl Show.” The show is a first of its kind, in that audience members watching it can invest in the companies using Title III equity crowdfunding. The mechanism enables companies to raise up to $1 million from accredited and nonaccredited investors. The show is distributed via Sony Entertainment Television. Youngry raised $64,000 in its first Title III equity crowdfunding campaign. It’s in the midst of another campaign with a goal of $500,000. Youngry is based at the Eureka co-working building in Irivne, which is owned by Peter Polydor.
Radio Show Premieres
A Newport Beach investment banker started a radio show. Scott Lopez created Disruptive Investor Radio. Episodes air every Tuesday at www.scottlopez.com and www.disruptiveinvestorradio.com. The goal is to share insights and lessons Lopez learned through 20 years of corporate sales and marketing, entrepreneurship and investment banking across the country. Topics include AI and machine learning; cryptocurrency, bitcoin and blockchain technology; and drones and robots. Blockchain, a database that enables the creation of a digital ledger, was designed to be uber-secure, using encryption as a means of preventing tampering and revision, even by those storing the data. It was originally developed to enable the safe trading of bitcoin, decentralized digital currency, and was introduced to the global market in 2009.
Some of the people Lopez interviewed include Michael Beaudoin, an investment associate at Newport Beach-based Mark IV Capital, and Mark Johnson, co-founder and chief executive of New Mexico-based Descartes Labs, which was incubated at Los Alamos National Laboratory and uses AI to analyze satellite imagery.
Since early last year, Lopez has been a managing director of investment banking firm Primary Capital LLC, with offices in Newport Beach and New York City.
Incubator Takes Applications
Irvine-based incubator EvoNexus is closing its next round of applications on Nov. 30. It’s looking for startups with strong teams and “unique” technologies that can move the needle for the Southern California innovation ecosystem. It hasn’t set a quota for this round, a spokesperson said. The Irvine portfolio companies within the last two years have raised more than $45 million collectively. Corporate partners, such as Irvine Co., support the organization with the goal of keeping companies in Southern California. Irvine Co. provides free space to EvoNexus, which in turn, provides free space to startups. EvoNexus also provides mentorship and introductions to capital. It’s at The Vine in University Research Park. Companies can apply at www.evonexus.org/apply. Startups that apply are eligible for investments from San Diego-based chipmaker Qualcomm Inc. and Carlsbad-based ViaSat Inc., EvoNexus’ strategic funding partners, an EvoNexus spokesperson said. All applicants are eligible to receive up to $250,000 in seed funding through the application process. The incubator consolidated San Diego operations in an 18,000-square-foot location in La Jolla this past spring.
Farewell
After establishing the startup beat early last year, and writing about startups/innovation for the past two years—in addition to my other beats—I’m proud of making the Business Journal the go-to place for OC startup news. That was validated when I broke the news of the Alliance for SoCal Innovation, a regional effort, including San Diego, OC and Los Angeles, thanks to the folks at Applied Innovation.
I’ll be leaving the Business Journal on Nov. 22 to go back to my roots as a general assignment reporter and focus more on human interest/feature stories. It’s been a pleasure to cover the vibrant startup ecosystem. My sources have been invaluable in providing intros and tips. I’d like to thank all of them, way too numerous to mention. So I will single out here Grant Van Cleve, Michael Sawitz, Janice Varney-Hamlin, Andrew Bermudez, and the two Kevins—Kevin Bikhazi and Kevin Strom. And a special thank you to former editor Jerry Sullivan.
