Tech Coast Angels announce one of the largest initial raises in angel network’s history, citing “team, tech and traction” as contributors to investment interest
SAN DIEGO, Calif. – June 11, 2019 — Tech Coast Angels (TCA) closed an oversubscribed $3.4 million Seed financing round for Atlazo on Friday, June 7, 2019. TCA’s San Diego chapter led the transaction with $2.5 M coming from the angel network’s members.
Atlazo, based in San Diego, brings together innovative and energy-efficient AI, a flexible bio-sensing interface, and wireless connectivity in a single System-on-Chip for the wearable healthcare and Internet of Things (IoT) market. The company’s products use edge computing, offering speed and efficiency in IoT. Although most edge computing technologies on the market today are image-focused, Atlazo’s proprietary technology is on signals.
This deal marks one of the largest initial raises from TCA in the angel network’s 22-year history. Pradeep Mishra, a TCA San Diego member, led the deal. With his background and knowledge of semiconductor technology both at Qualcomm and his own startup, Mr. Mishra was extremely impressed by what he saw during an investor outreach session presented by San Diego-startup incubator, EvoNexus. The company had shown its belief in itself: it had supported itself for two years and had created and validated a test chip prior to reaching out for financing.
“We weren’t certain that TCA would be interested in semiconductor technology; that they focused on software and network technology,” said Dr. Karim Arabi, founder and CEO of Atlazo. “But after our initial presentation at TCA, we were convinced that there was a large interest from quality people who understood the challenges and commitment required for hardware and semiconductor technology from both an entrepreneurial and experiential level.”
“Atlazo truly had the whole picture – team, tech and traction,” said Mr. Mishra. “The executive team has a stellar background in leading large teams in low power chip design; the technology was very advanced with a health-on-a-chip IoT platform solution, especially considering the challenges and commitment required in chip technology; and it was absolutely astounding to see how much effort and the significant progress made, without raising external funding.”
“Atlazo is one of 17 semiconductor startups that have incubated at EvoNexus; I believe we are the only tech incubator on the planet to launch so many chip companies!” said Rory Moore, Co-Founder and CEO of EvoNexus. “A majority of our board members, advisors and mentors have domain expertise, specifically deep semiconductor backgrounds, enabling us to help startup teams commercialize new technology into viable products that are fundable–vectoring teams to create a business model and market. I am proud that EvoNexus has had a role in the launch of another outstanding company for our region.”
Dr. Arabi continued, “Our interactions with Tech Coast Angels were very positive. They really do their homework — we went through many questions during our meetings with the members and they did their own due diligence. That’s what you want in an investor. They stuck to schedule, kept their timeline and our experience is that TCA committed timely and we have been very happy.”
Atlazo will use the funds from this financing round to take its product to consumers for productization, build the next generation product, and grow its sales, marketing and R&D efforts.
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