FUNDING
Simply Bread Co., an Irvine oven seller and online marketplace provider, is raising a $2.5 million seed round, according to the San Francisco Standard.
The company sells an $8,490 oven that can bake up to 15 loaves of bread at once. It’s also beta testing an app that allows bakers to sell, schedule pickups and deliveries, and buy ingredients for bread. The app also controls the company’s oven.
Simply Bread, founded in 2020, has sold 70 of its ovens to date. Some of the company’s customers are selling hundreds of loaves a week, Simply Bread officials said.
The company’s CEO, Stijn Vanorbeek, started Simply Bread after he fell into the bread baking trend during the pandemic and realized the hobby could be a legitimate side hustle, he told the San Francisco Standard.
Vanorbeek, a serial entrepreneur, previously founded Newport Beach VR corporate training provider PlayWerk in 2015 and camera product maker FX-Motion in 2001.
PARTNERSHIPS
Cloudbased Ventures, a Costa Mesa workplace restaurant delivery platform doing business as Foodja, is adding Carlsbad-based fast-casual chain Rubio’s Coastal Grill to its meal service, Foodja Cafe.
The service, which is available seven days a week for all meal periods, allows individual employees to order their food from a list of rotating, local restaurants. Employees receive a text notification when their order has arrived so they can pick up their individually packaged and labeled meal from the designated Foodja kiosk located inside or outside of their office.
“Our Foodja Cafe service is the hottest workplace meal delivery offering on the market right now, so it only makes sense to partner with a top fast-casual restaurant like Rubio’s,” Foodja CEO Steven Sprinkle said in a statement.
Foodja Cafe allows customers to schedule orders two weeks in advance. To avoid overwhelming restaurant staff in light of labor shortages, the platform also caps orders when a restaurant’s order capacity is reached.
The company touts itself as an incentive for employees to return to the office.
“Our cafe product launch was driven by the transition to accommodate individuals in the pandemic environment as employees return to the office,” Sprinkle told the Business Journal in an interview in May. “Employees are looking to order their own personalized, individually packaged meals from local restaurants. Employers are looking to create a great workplace experience to welcome employees back to the office. Our cafe product provides both.”
Sprinkle earned a degree in technology from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.
LAUNCH
Coop Home Goods LLC, a Costa Mesa bedding products maker, has introduced its “all-season” adjustable comforter, Exhale.
The new product features panels that can be added or removed to meet users’ temperature preferences.
“Now, couples with different sleeping preferences no longer have to compromise on their sleep experience,” the company said.
The Exhale full/queen size is priced at $279, while the king/Cal king size costs $319.
Coop, founded in 2013, has raised an undisclosed amount in funding from a round led by private equity firm Topspin Consumer Partners. The company also received an undisclosed amount in debt financing from private equity firm Star Mountain Capital LLC and BHI, the U.S division of Bank Hapoalim.
The company’s CEO, Steve Holley, has previously held chief executive roles at apparel companies HUF and Lakai Limited Footwear. He has also served as the global marketing group director at Foothill Ranch sunglasses company Oakley Inc. and as VP, global business insights/new business ventures and innovation at Mattel Inc. (Nasdaq: MAT).
HQ MOVES
Primo Fitness, a Santa Ana gym equipment supplier, is moving its headquarters to Texas.
The company purchased a nearly 72,000-square-foot office and warehouse space in Fresno, not far from Houston. Financial terms of the transaction were not immediately disclosed.
“As a supplier of high-end fitness equipment, Primo’s business has grown quickly across the state of Texas,” Vice President Jason Scholtz of real estate company Colliers International Group Inc. (Nasdaq: CGI), which facilitated the sale, said in a statement. “Texas’ business-friendly atmosphere along with the lower cost of living made a very compelling case for Primo’s relocation.”
The company’s former Santa Ana headquarters were at 1909 S. Susan St.
Primo Fitness, founded in 2016, provides new and used exercise equipment to gyms. The company’s CEO, Leo Marangi, previously served as the chief executive of Dynamic Fitness Solutions, another Santa Ana company that provides used gym equipment.
EXEC HIRES
Huupe, a Huntington Beach “smart” basketball company which makes a high-definition screen for a backboard that allows users to train and track their performance, has appointed Chris Paul to CTO, effective immediately.
Paul, not related to the Phoenix Suns all-star, counts over 40 years of experience in startup and technology innovation, according to company officials. “I’ve been a startup guy for a long time,” Paul told the Business Journal. “Huupe is my 11th startup,” six of which he helped start, he added. He has held CTO roles at rowing machine company Hydrow Inc., which he co-founded, Âcybersecurity company Continuum, tween apparel company Fashion Playtes and sales data company Brainshark. He previously founded database product development company Working Set Inc. in 1984.
Paul’s responsibilities at Huupe will include enhancing and accelerating the development of the company’s database, mobile app and hardware.
“I’m a basketball lifer,” he said, adding that he has been playing on his local senior team for years. His new role at Huupe “is just too perfect.”
The company recently secured a patent for its intelligent backboard, Paul said.Â
Huupe, founded in 2016, in August completed a funding round of an undisclosed amount led by sports and entertainment agency Paradigm Sports. NBA players who have invested in the company include the Toronto Raptors’ Thaddeus Young and Washington Wizards’ Trevor Booker, company officials tell the Business Journal.
Huupe’s CEO, Paul Anton, previously founded digital sign company Atlas Media in 2015. He also started augmented reality gaming company Real Shot Inc. in 2018. Anton earned his J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law and is licensed to practice in California and Wisconsin.
PATENTS
Specright Inc., a Tustin software firm that helps companies organize and share their supply chain specifications, has been granted a patent for its Specification Data Management (SDM) platform.
The platform allows companies to create and track a digital record of its product and packaging needs, Specright officials said.
“With today’s focus on supply chain visibility and traceability, the ability to link specifications is critical,” Specright founder and CEO Matthew Wright said in a statement.
“This patent is a significant achievement for Specright, as technology patents today have to meet a higher standard to prove uniqueness than ever before,” CTO Ayman Showery said. The patent, four years in the making, also covers Specright Network, which allows brands, suppliers and retailers to share live specifications with one another, according to officials.
Specright, founded in 2014, has raised over $44 million to date. The company last year closed a $30 million Series B funding round led by Sageview Capital.
Wright previously owned packaging company TriPAQ, which was acquired by box manufacturer New-Indy Containerboard LLC, whose parent company is the sports, real estate and manufacturing conglomerate the Kraft Group.
