Marquise Jackson

“The Brink SBDC and Dr. Martin Kleckner have been invaluable in the success and progress of AccuDava. They dedicated many hours to reviewing and giving advice on our SBIR grant application to the National Cancer Institute, which was successfully awarded $300,000. Their unconditional support continued with extreme efforts that helped us with a $50,000 NIH I-corps grant, which resulted in additional NCI grant funding of $150,000 to extend our diagnostic test application to non-small cell lung cancer.”

– Nahid Razi, Founder/CEO

Description of Business:

AccuDava’s research has the potential to create a paradigm shift in cancer treatment decision making that would ultimately save millions of lives.
Many cancer patients do not survive as a result of tumors that do not respond to commonly used chemotherapy drugs, but AccuDava’s method solves this unmet need in cancer chemotherapy. The company’s diagnostic test saves lives by identifying chemotherapy-resistant patients prior to any drugs being administered, saving people from unnecessary suffering from ineffective drugs and giving patients and doctors a chance to find treatments that work. For more information, please see www.Accudava.com.

Use of Capital Infusion Funds:

The financing was utilized by the company to fund further research and development of its diagnostic test.

Location:

La Jolla, CA 92037

“The Brink SBDC is providing an invaluable service to entrepreneurs by giving guidance and providing connections to both investors and customers. Events such as the San Diego Angel Conference are the icing on the cake, which spreads the spirit of entrepreneurship in the community by bringing entrepreneurs and new
investors together, and resulted in an investment of over $100,000 for our company.”

– Farooq Anjum, Co-Founder/CTO

Description of Business:

AgTech company GroGuru has developed the world’s first 100% wireless underground IoT platform that has the potential to be a game-changing solution for the commercial agriculture market. Utilizing soil sensors and highly advanced technological innovations, GroGuru helps farmers monitor crop growing conditions and provides real-time irrigation recommendations that improve crop yields by 10% and decrease costs by nearly 20%. For more information, please see www.GroGuru.com.

Use of Capital Infusion Funds:

The financing is being utilized for product development, new staff, and working capital.

Location:

La Jolla, CA 92037

“The Brink SBDC has been incredibly helpful to our company. They made a number of connections to potential investors, strategic partners and customers, and also used their hands-on experience to give us crucial guidance on negotiations and funding that we were otherwise lacking. It’s great having them on our side.”

– Joseph Anthony, Founder/CEO

Description of Business:

Formerly a Mandarin cryptographic linguist in the U.S. Air Force, service-disabled Veteran Joseph Anthony launched Run2Play with a grand vision: to create a technology platform that fights two epidemics at once – food insecurity and obesity. Through its website and mobile app, the company utilizes cryptocurrency to pay users to exercise along with making donations to charities of the user’s choice. To learn more, please visit www.Run2Play.com.

Use of Capital Infusion Funds:

The funding is being utilized for software development, marketing, and working capital

Location:

San Diego, CA 92107

“Our SBDC advisor has helped us get a far better understanding of our financial performance and prepare for our
next successful investment round. With this capital, we will be launching a new product and continuing to move
William Painter towards a world class brand.”

– Matthew Decelles, CEO

Description of Business:

Despite getting off to a very fast start in a fiercely competitive market, William Painter, Inc. hit a major financing roadblock that was making further growth extremely difficult. Without outside capital, the company’s significant progress would have been stopped in its tracks. With various assistance from the SBDC including detailed financial modeling and analysis, the company has raised a total of $2.6M from angel investors, private equity, and bank loans. William Painter (www.WilliamPainter.com) is an E-commerce company that manufactures and sells a self-branded line of upscale sunglasses throughout the world. Their products have been featured in Esquire, Cosmopolitan, Maxim and Us Magazine.

Use of Capital Infusion Funds:

The company utilized its funding to expand its product line and launch global marketing campaigns to fuel their expansion.

Location:

San Diego, CA 92109

Description of Business:

Former Navy Seal Scott Keough was looking to start a new chapter in his life by opening a fitness and training center geared toward children.
Though he was no stranger to stressful and challenging situations, Scott was new to the world of business and he turned to the SBDC for help in putting his plan into action. Working with his SBDC advisor, a fleshed-out business plan was created in addition to a detailed financial plan which ultimately culminated in the funding Scott needed to launch the business. Mission accomplished!

Use of Capital Infusion Funds:

The financing was utilized for the build-out construction costs, startup costs, and working capital.

Location:

Imperial Beach, CA 91932

“The SBDC advisors helped us immensely to secure a loan to get our restaurant started. They made our dream a reality!”

– Raechel Kadoya, Co-Founder

Description of Business:

A highly respected fixture in San Diego’s sushi scene with 25 years of training in Japanese cuisine, Chef Soichi Kadoya and his wife Raechel were
ready to branch out and start their own restaurant. But to make their dream come true, the couple needed to put together nearly half a million dollars in financing. They reached out to the SBDC for help, and after successfully working through a business plan, financial projections, and loan applications, Chef Soichi and Raechel emerged with nearly $500,000 in capital and Soichi Sushi was born (www.SoichiSushi.com).

Use of Capital Infusion Funds:

The financing was utilized for the build-out, new equipment, and working capital.

Location:

San Diego, CA 92116

“I was presented with the opportunity to acquire the company where I have been an employee of over 19 years.
The SBDC helped me throughout the financing process from start to finish including putting together a business
plan and making connections to lenders, which resulted in obtaining the working capital I needed to make the
acquisition possible.”

– James Mundy, President

Description of Business:

Established in San Diego in 1948, Cass Plumbing (www.CassPlumbing.com) is one of the oldest plumbing contractors in Southern California. When the previous
owner of the business mentioned that he would like to retire, long-time employee Jeremy Mundy jumped at the chance to buy the business and reached out to the
SBDC to help make it happen. Through a number of sessions with his SBDC advisor, not only did Jeremy finalize the purchase of the company, but he also secured the capital to support the purchase including a $100,000 loan for working capital.

Use of Capital Infusion Funds:

The financing was utilized to acquire the business and working capital.

Location:

San Diego, CA 92116

“The SBDC consulting team has become our trusted ‘go to’ resource for just about everything from strategic guidance to Go To Market strategy to funding advice. To top it off, they’ve made powerful connections to their vast networks that has brought us new customers and important industry connections. We wouldn’t be where we are today without them.”

– Nic Halverson, Waitz Founder/CEO

Summary:

Launched in 2017 by recent engineering graduates of the University of California-San Diego, Waitz has developed cutting-edge “people counter” technology that utilizes Bluetooth and WiFi signal scanning to measure real-time and predicted foot traffic activity in campus environments such as college and corporate campuses.

Description of Business:

Led by founders Nic Halvorson and Max Topolsky, this dynamic young company has contracted within the University of California system to generate and deliver occupancy data with multiple applications of keen interest to any large campus including space management, emergency response, asset tracking and energy efficiency (www.ucsdwaitz.com).

Use of Capital Infusion Funds:

The company utilized its equity financing to hire new employees, relocate its offices, and fund further development of its technology.

Location:

San Diego, CA 92116

Summary:

To understand its origin is to understand the origins of San Diego County itself. More than a century ago, the early settlers of Rancho De La Nacion (now known as National City) chose 30 acres on a peaceful hillside with a sweeping view from Otay to Point Loma as a place to bury loved ones. Today, many of San Diego’s pioneering families have scattered memorials amid wild flowers in the oldest part of the cemetery. The graves mark the history not only of National City, but of San Diego County as well.

Description of Business:

In operation since 1868, La Vista Memorial Park is one of the oldest businesses in Southern California (www.LaVistaMemorialPark.com).

Use of Capital Infusion Funds:

The company utilized its financing for land purchase, new construction, remodeling, and new equipment.

Location:

National City, CA 91950