The Orange County Climate Action Business Incubator (CABI), an organization launched from a partnership between RevHubOC, Sustain SoCal and UCI Beall Applied Innovation, has doubled its funding to $2 million as part of its goal to accelerate the growth of climate-focused businesses.
CABI is looking to incubate between 10 to 20 startups that provide immediate solutions to the world’s most pressing environmental issues.
“There’s massive growth in climate action,” RevHub Chief Executive Stephan Erkelens told the Business Journal.
“We’re looking for businesses that address challenges to help us adapt and become resilient to them.”
Last month, CABI received an initial $1 million state grant from the University of California Office of Research and Innovation, which is part of a $15 million package distributed to the 10 UC campuses out of a total fund of $100 million. Since then, it has received $200,000 from RevHub and an additional $800,000 from other sources.
Mission-Driven
RevHub, Orange County’s first social enterprise incubator, helps entrepreneurs turn an idea into a business model.
The incubator has raised over $11 million in funding for startups in their early stages.
Erkelens spent a 10-year stint in the nonprofit sector, but grew tired of running out of funding.
During this time, he realized mission-driven businesses need to be independent enough to scale. He wants to maintain the nonprofit mission in his new venture.
RevHub’s six-month incubation program has supported more than 30 companies in becoming investment ready.
RevHub is located in a 30,000-square-foot space at the The Cove at UCI and started partnering with the university four years ago.
“We believe that this is the place where climate action can drive innovation that inspires the rest of California,” Erkelens said.
HippoFi Inks Deal With Zimmer Biomet
HippoFi Inc. (OTC: ORHB) hit multiple milestones last month.
The Irvine-based healthcare innovations firm announced a strategic alliance with global medical technology firm Zimmer Biomet on Sept. 6 to support the development of new technologies HippoFi plans to launch next year.
“We have a global partner that will help us become established as authority in spinal biologics,” CJ Wiggins, executive chairman and CEO of HippoFi, told the Business Journal.
HippoFi received three device and method patents in the past few months surrounding its bone marrow aspirate product, PURmarrow360, made by a subsidiary of the company called PUR Biologics.
HippoFi has already acquired a 510(K) certification for a synthetic bone growth biomaterial with Zimmer Biomet.
The company is starting to see revenue for its preexisting line of bone regeneration products after gaining approval for hospital use.
While HippoFi is projected to make $2.9 million this year, analysts at Goldman Small Cap Research expect revenue to increase nearly tenfold to $28 million by 2024.
HippoFi shares are trading around 5 cents for a market cap of $8.2 million.
PURmarrow360, Patents
HippoFi’s partnership with Zimmer Biomet comes on the heels of the U.S. launch of PURmarrow360, a safer way to harvest regenerative stem cells from a patient’s bone marrow aspirate.
PURmarrow360, developed with Italian biomedical manufacturing company BPB Medica, eliminates the risks associated with donated stem cells.
The patents will further improve the quality of the cells by putting them through a specialized filter and using the byproducts of skin cells to regrow cartilage, which are better accepted by the body.
“These patents give us the ability to improve our own cells and avoid disease transfer risks, so it becomes safer,” Ryan Fernan, head of PUR Biologics, told the Business Journal.
The regenerative therapy market is estimated to reach a $200 billion valuation by 2030, according to top officials.
Over the next year, HippoFi is focused on bringing its Zimmer Biomet device to commercialization.
Moving forward, the company wants to expand into different healthcare markets and sees a space for the use of AI to improve the detection of cancer.
