Irvine Incubator EvoNexus Graduates Five Startups
BlockBuyer
BlockBuyer is a residential property crowdfunding platform that enables non-accredited investors, similar to Title III equity crowdfunding, which opened up investment in private companies to non-accredited investors.
BlockBuyer helps professional flippers scale their business, while legally allowing them to promote to anyone to fund their projects.
People invite friends and family to invest with them, with the opportunity to buy a “property block” – a fraction of a home – for as little as $500.
Borio was so persistent that he applied to EvoNexus three times before finally being accepted, Moore told the group of current and former EvoNexus entrepreneurs who gathered at the incubator Wednesday for the graduation celebration.
The legal issues around allowing non-accredited investors to participate in a business model like BlockBuyer’s was one of the biggest challenges to confront, Moore said.
But BlockBuyer ultimately succeeded in resolving those issues, Moore said, paving the way for it to be accepted into EvoNexus.
The other four startups that “graduated” yesterday were Evasyst, Syntiant, Abtum and Integra Devices.
All will be moving, or have already moved, into their own offices.
Evasyst
Evasyst is developing a comprehensive social gaming discovery app where gamers can seamlessly play, watch and add new groups of friends from around the world.
It’s received investments from the Cove Fund I and Cove Fund II. The Cove Fund I was the lead investor in the startup’s first round, which also received investments from Tech Coast Angels OC, Wharton Angels and others.
Mucker Capital, a seed-stage venture fund in Santa Monica, was the lead investor for the second round.
Evasyst is keeping both investment amounts confidential.
The company moved its HQ to San Diego. And, it’s expanded into Europe, with HQ there in Finland.
Syntiant
Syntiant builds ultra-low power semiconductors that use AI for battery-powered devices.
Its team is now at 35. And, it’s expected to double by the end of the year in all areas, co-founder and CEO Kurt Busch told OC Startups Now.
The company is moving to the Irvine Business Center on Irvine Center Drive in the Irvine Spectrum area. It will occupy 16,000 s.f. of office space there.
Syntiant recently raised $25 million in a Series B round. See related story here.
Busch credited EvoNexus with being instrumental in helping connect the company with potential customers and investors. The company expects to launch its first product in the next few months.
Abtum
Abtum is a supplier of next generation radio frequency front-end filters for 4G/4.5G LTE and 5G.
Integra Devices
Integra Devices is a next-gen industrial component company that provides a new category of micro-devices for high-value markets like telecom, aerospace, manufacturing and medicine.
It will be moving within Irvine.
This story was published on January 31, 2019 courtesy of OC Startups Now.
