FINANCING
Alkaline water brand ZenWTR of Irvine raised $22.5 million in funds, according to regulatory filings.
ZenWTR is a purified, vapor-distilled water that is bottled with 100% recycled materials and has an alkaline pH of 9.5. Alkaline water is thought to reduce acidity for people with conditions such as acid reflux.
The eco-conscious brand is the brainchild of Lance Collins, a beverage industry entrepreneur responsible for FUZE Beverages and NOS Energy (now owned by Coca-Cola) and CORE Nutrition, which was acquired by Keurig Dr. Pepper for $525 million in 2018.
Collins launched ZenWTR in 2019 and named Bryan Crowley its chief executive in July; Crowley is the former CEO of beverage companies Soylent and KeVita.
ZenWTR is sold through more than 5,000 stores, including Pavilions, Vons, Whole Foods and Walmart.
Semiconductor firm Morse Micro said it recently raised $13 million, bringing its Series A round to a total of $30 million.
The company, which was founded in Australia and established an outpost in Irvine earlier this year, says it is developing 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.
“Now’s the time to redesign connectivity; imagine a world without power cords, spotty connectivity, or empty batteries,” Michael De Nil, chief executive of Morse Micro, said in a statement. “We’re at an exciting inflection point for Wi-Fi HaLow, we’re both ramping up and expanding our teams in order to be a major force in the industry.”
Morse Micro backers include Blackbird Ventures, Main Sequence Ventures, Clean Energy Innovation Fund, Skip Capital and Analog Devices co-founder Ray Stata.
The company’s Irvine office is led by Chief Operating Officer Vahid Manian, a former senior vice president for manufacturing and operations at Irvine’s Broadcom between 1995 and 2008.
Manian joined the firm in 2019 and expects to grow the company’s Irvine team to about 30 employees in the next few years.
PARTNERSHIPS
Prelude Corp., a Laguna Hills-based breast cancer test maker, said last month it will become a provider in America’s Choice Provider Network.
Under the agreement, over 30 million America’s Choice members will have access to Prelude’s DCISionRT test. The DCISion test uses genomic profiling to offer personalized recurrence risk and therapy guidance for patients with the earliest form of breast cancer, known as ductal carcinoma in situ or DCIS.
The test uses artificial intelligence and predictive analytics to provide information about the best treatment path for various patients, such as recommending surgery alone or surgery and radiation therapy.
Over 60,000 women are diagnosed with DCIS each year in the U.S., according to the company.
In a recently published study, Prelude demonstrated that 53% of DCIS patients’ risk scores were under-classified and 34% were over-classified—which can lead to overly aggressive treatment plans—using traditional methods.
Prelude built its test with funding from the National Cancer Institute and is a portfolio company of life sciences incubator Fjord Ventures in Laguna Hills; see the Nov. 30 print edition of the Business Journal for more on Fjord.
LAUNCH
Blizzard Entertainment veteran Jeremy Dela Rosa has launched a new company called Leyline.
‘Ley lines’ were connections between locations of significance in the early 20th century. Similarly, Dela Rosa’s Leyline aims to “connect users to fight for the future” by enabling users to donate time and resources to support research in areas such as COVID-19 and climate change.
Leyline is currently raising funds for its software platform, which will allow users to donate computer processing power—when it isn’t being used, such as when gamers are asleep—to research organizations.
The gaming community alone represents the world’s largest distributed network in the world, according to Leyline. Just 1% of gamers have the computing power to process 7,800 petaflops, compared to the world’s fastest supercomputer, which can process 125 petaflops.
Leyline launched earlier this year and has about 50 employees, according to recent industry reports.
The company’s partners include Geek Therapeutics and gaming PC makers Nzxt and Xidax.
Blizzard alumni have launched several new local companies in 2020. They include game studio upstarts Moonshot Games and Secret Door, which are led by Blizzard co-founder Mike Morhaime; Frost Giant Studios; and esports league startup Rally Cry.
ACQUISITION
Irvine-based Stem Audio, a maker of microphone and speaker products for conference rooms, said it was acquired by Chicago-based Shure on Nov. 23.
Terms of the transaction were undisclosed.
Stem Audio’s software and products for the table, walls and ceiling will broaden Shure’s audio portfolio for the home office and enterprise settings, the companies said.
It will also allow customers to use Stem Audio’s unique RoomDesign tool, which is a drag-and-drop design application that removes the need for businesses to use third-party service providers.
Stem Audio spun out of its sister brand Phoenix Audio Technologies in 2019 with the goal to create easy to install and use high quality audio products for businesses.
Both brands were acquired by Shure and plan to operate independently until integration plans are finalized, the companies said.
NEW HIRES
ThinkIQ of Aliso Viejo recently named Brian Anderson its chief marketing officer.
Anderson will oversee marketing and sales strategy, business development, and social media for the software maker, whose platform runs algorithms to determine how materials flow through the supply chain and identify processes that can be optimized.
Anderson joins ThinkIQ as it plans to scale; the company raised an $11.6 million Series A round in October.
“Brian is a highly experienced marketing leader with a proven track record of building global brands, making him a natural addition to our leadership team,” said Doug Lawson, chief executive of ThinkIQ.
Anderson is an entrepreneur with five successful exits through acquisition and brings more than 35 years of experience in global marketing to ThinkIQ.
