FUNDING
Irvine-based ChatterWorks Inc. has secured an investment from Denver-based venture investment firm Evergreen Mountain Equity Partners.
Financial terms were not undisclosed. Evergreen makes early-stage investments in companies involved in advancing workplace technology.
ChatterWorks, which provides corporate and staffing agency recruiters with an AI-powered talent sourcing software, will use the funding to expand its services internationally. The company, founded in 2020, currently serves over 600 recruiters in the U.S.
“We are thrilled to have [Evergreen co-founders] Greg Moran and Ira Grossman as investors in ChatterWorks,” ChatterWorks founder and CEO Shafiur Rahman said in a statement. “The global workforce is changing quickly, but at its foundation, recruiting is still about being able to connect with others. ChatterWorks is building tools that lead to more connections with the right candidates.”
Moran and Grossman’s “combined knowledge, expertise in the HR tech space, and laser-like focus on the technologies powering the future of work make Evergreen Mountain Equity Partners the perfect partner for ChatterWorks.”
Laguna Beach-based Revolv3 closed a $4.5 million seed funding round led by Rosecliff Ventures and an unidentified angel investor.
The funds will help Revolv3 further build out its payment optimization platform that aims to increase profits for online retailers through recurring billing.
Revolv3, founded this year, analyzes data by bank card processors in real-time to grow merchant approval rates by as much as 14%, according to company officials.
It is led by Frank Arellano, who counts over 20 years in the subscription billing space. He was most recently vice president of business operations at Experian Consumer Services, based in Costa Mesa.
IPO
San Clemente-based Mobile Global Esports Inc. (Nasdaq: MGAM), which is working to develop university esports competitions using mobile telephones in India, went public last week, raising about $6 million. Its IPO generated around 750 million impressions around the world, company officials said.ÂÂÂ
Mobile Global Esports, also known as MOGO, plans to use the proceeds of its modestly sized IPO to expand staff in India and pay for its marketing, streaming and event expenses, regulatory filings indicate.
The company is currently developing a proprietary esports platform to increase player and viewer engagement as an additional revenue stream. The platform will deploy tech exclusive to the company, which reduces file sizes about 66%, keeping data storage costs low.
“People who have older smartphones in India will have a better experience playing on our platform rather than on any of the others,” MOGO CEO Dave Pross told the Business Journal.
“They’ll have higher resolution and lower bandwidth,” added MOGO Head of Investor Relations Rich Schineller.
ÂBefore going public, MOGO downsized its IPO from $16 million to $6 million, according to SEC filings.
The decision came as a recommendation from the company’s underwriter, WestPark Capital Inc., company officials said.
The underwriters “always have to try to position [the company] best for the market,” Pross said. “And obviously, the market was very accepting and excited about it, so the stock price went up.”
Former NFL quarterback Kurt Warner, a two-time MVP, has a post-offering stake in the company of 5.6% through the Kurt & Brenda Warner Revocable Trust, filings indicate.
When MOGO went public, shares were priced at $4. At press time, its stock was up 5.8% at $6.57 per share and a $120 million market cap.
PARTNERSHIPSÂ
Costa Mesa construction-focused tech company Foresite Technology Solutions LLC inked a partnership with Lilt Inc., a translation company, to make Foresite’s platform accessible in multiple languages.
The agreement helps Foresite’s goal to eliminate language barriers in the construction industry, especially in discussions of safety issues, according to company officials. The company cited 2019 research from the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, which found that 42% of employers in the construction industry heavily rely on employees that learn English as a second or third language.
“Our partnership with Lilt highlights how we use leading technology partners … to improve the construction industry labor force with multilingual upskilling content,” Foresite CEO John Gillett said in a statement. “This partnership represents the leading edge of our strategy to reimagine and re-equip the labor force.”
LAUNCH
Â2B3D, a Newport Beach veteran-owned mental wellness firm, will introduce a suicide prevention program to the U.S. federal government this fall. The company hopes to get funds from a government initiative that annually provides over $4 billion to federal and state programs such as the Veteran Administration (VA) and America’s Seed Fund.
Over 6,000 military veterans committed suicide in 2019, according to 2B3D officials. To help reduce veteran suicides, the company has participated in the VA’s $20 million Mission Daybreak exercise, formerly known as the Suicide Prevention Grand Challenge.
2B3D, founded in 2019, is developing a virtual reality medical metaverse that provides real-time healthcare and integrates existing telehealth services. The company is also involved in developing cryptocurrency communities using NFT and blockchain technology.
The company’s VR Medical Environment program is currently in beta testing, according to 2B3D CEO Robert Bell.
The program “will allow us to demonstrate our solution to participants fully immersed into a virtual environment that’s tailored for veterans and offers real-time crisis response and other key healthcare and community service capabilities,” Bell said in a statement. “Additionally, we intend to incorporate most of the legacy telehealth infrastructure, and examine options, such as blockchain, to streamline and secure critical functions such as patient records.”
Irvine-based real estate software company Openn North America Inc. is kicking off its pilot program in Canada that aims to provide greater transparency for real estate agents and clients during the transaction process.
Ontario and Manitoba are the two remaining Canadian provinces without regulatory frameworks for auctioneers, according to officials of the property tech firm. That allows auctioneers to sell property without a license or experience, making homebuyers vulnerable to fraudulent offers.
“Real estate is a rapidly expanding and evolving industry that requires greater transparency, equality and efficiency,” Openn NA Director of Operations Eric Bryant said in a statement. “We are seeing auction companies across Canada emerge and in provinces, such as Ontario, there continue to be regulatory loopholes in the property auction process that pose consumer risks.”
The company last month said it expects to secure $5 million through a funding round from its Australian parent company, Open Negotiation Ltd., which is publicly traded overseas and valued around $30 million.
