The Brink SBDC Hosts San Diego Angel Conference March 15

After a six-month development process, the San Diego Angel Conference is finally ready for its big day. On Friday, March 15, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the University of San Diego’s Hahn University Center Forums, seven entrepreneurial business finalists from San Diego County will pitch their ideas to a group of angel investors and the audience. The winner of the pitch competition could receive up to $200,000 in angel-backed investments.

The conference is organized by The Brink SBDC, USD’s on-campus Small Business Development Center for Innovation directed by Mysty Rusk, along with the conference team of Will Fowler, Sebastian Lucier, JD, Silvia Mah and John Sechrest. It aims to build the San Diego ecosystem by connecting accredited investors and entrepreneurs. The conference is open to any member of the community interested in learning more about starting a company and investing in a new business. Tickets for the San Diego Angel Conference are still available.

Following registration, the conference will open with welcome remarks at 11 a.m. and then a finance-focused panel discussion, “War Stories from Start-Ups,” at 11:15 a.m. Lunch is at noon and the first four pitched companies will commence at 1 p.m. After a short break, the remaining pitches will start at 2 p.m. There will then be final deliberations and a People’s Choice Award voting. A keynote address from entrepreneur Fredy Machado will happen prior to the announcement of the winners of the People’s Choice Award, the San Diego Angel Conference Awards and check presentation. A reception will follow the announcement.

Here is a capsule look at the San Diego Angel Conference’s seven finalists, company founders, and company information:

Aquacycl, Orianna Bretschger, PhD, Founder and CEO: Aquacycl provides technology for onsite wastewater treatment plants that operate at 50 to 95 percent lower costs than incumbent technologies. Aquacycl offers the only technology for treating high strength wastewater at small volumes. Aquacycl’s modular and scalable treatment systems create immediate customer savings through competitive equipment rental, and the Aquacycl service plan guarantees discharge quality per customer requirements.

GroGuru, Patrick Henry, CEO and Farooq Anjum, PhD, Founder and CTO: GroGuru has developed an innovative solution for precision irrigation monitoring and management, that includes our patent pending wireless underground system (WUGS) solution. Our hardware enabled SaaS solution enables a price point and convenience to break-open the market for high volume annual field crops like corn, soybeans etc. Our system typically saves farmers up to 20 percent on input costs while increasing crop yield by 10 percent on average.

Hydrostasis, Debbie Chen, PhD, Founder and CEO: Hydrostasis is developing a personalized hydration monitoring system that provides athletes the freedom to sustain and evolve their bodies and minds. We are utilizing scientific methodologies and leading technology to help athletes measure levels of hydration. By maintaining your optimum hydration range, Hydrostasis equips you with a unique performance edge.

LENDIT, Andrew Adrian, Founder and CEO: LENDIT is a full-service point of sale software solution designed for item rental businesses. We streamline all of the various subscriptions, fees, software and platforms used to run a rental business into one seamless & easy to use software for one price. We are also enhancing their customer’s rental experience with on-demand delivery and the ability to make any reservation on any device at any time.

Nanome, Steve McCloskey, Founder and CEO, and Scott Morgan, CFO: Nanome aims to democratize science, creating a virtual world where users can experiment, design and learn at a nanoscale. We produce software applications for next generation interfaces like VR and AR. We’re building an open-source platform (Matryx), a blockchain technology to solve age old problems of collaboration, incentivization and siloed information – creating a world with open access to science, technology and efficient IP attribution.

Navega Therapeutics, Ana Maria Moreno, Co-founder and CEO: Founded in 2018, Navega Therapeutics Inc. is a pre-clinical stage company pursuing a radically different approach to treat chronic pain and tackle the opioid epidemic. Our gene therapy platform has the advantage of being highly specific and long lasting, which has not been achieved by small molecules thus far. Our pipeline includes different types of pain to improve the quality of life for millions of patients.

Vivid Genomics, Julie Collens, CEO: Vivid Genomics is developing genetic, blood-based tests to help pharma companies enroll the right patients into neurodegenerative disease clinical trials to improve the probability of getting to an approved drug. We have prototypes for 4 tests for Alzheimer's disease, validation of our first test, and will commercialize in 2019. Our initial target customer are pharma companies with Alzheimer's disease trials approaching phase 2.

— USD News Center Staff