Innovative Microscope Maker Closes Angel Network’s Largest Deal for 2016; Wins TCA San Diego’s Quick Pitch Award; Looks Forward to 2017
Press Release – IRVINE, Calif. and SAN DIEGO – December 21, 2016 – San Diego-based Echo Laboratories recently completed its first phase of funding with a $2 million funding round in fewer than 60 days, headed by Tech Coast Angels’ (TCA) San Diego network. Although originally estimated at $500K, the ceiling was raised with an increased momentum in the life sciences investor community, spearheaded by TCA deal leads, Annie Mak and Dean Rosenberg. The funding amount was the largest in TCA’s 2016 portfolio of deals.
The company’s microscope, Revolve, is revolutionizing microscopy, integrating the functionality of an upright and an inverted microscope with tablet and cloud-based technologies.
“As a scientist who has 20 years of experience and goes through all the learning curves of cutting edge technologies, it was exciting for me to see Echo Labs challenging the status quo of microscopy and bringing in advanced usability of the 21st century,” said Annie Mak, co-deal lead investor for TCA. “Revolve is user-friendly and very intuitive, so scientists can just focus on the biology under the lenses rather than the technicalities of operating a microscope.”
“What was so gratifying for us is that some of the TCA members who are also leaders in the San Diego life science community clearly understood our product and need in the marketplace. They shared their insight and enthusiasm with other biotech investors which led to a huge amount of momentum,” said Eugene Cho, CEO of Echo Labs.
Dean Rosenberg, co-lead investor for TCA added, “Most early stage investors are taught to bet on the jockey (the founder or CEO), not the horse (the product). With Echo Laboratories we got both. Eugene is a very talented and innovative leader who has built a great team. And he has also built a product that has inspired customers and has caused our life sciences members to say, ‘I want that microscope!’”
Echo Labs recently won TCA San Diego’s Quick Pitch contest, beating out 146 other competitors for the $15,000 first-place prize. The company’s microscope was not only the judges’ favorite; it also won over a diverse 500-member audience that included seasoned investors and even elementary school children.
Jeff Friedman, MD, PhD and chair of TCA’s life science committee, stated after the Quick Pitch event, “As a physician/scientist who has worked with and purchased microscopes for laboratory research, I never ever thought that a microscope could be cool. I was astounded by Revolve. Echo Labs has created a capable, cost-effective machine that has the potential to disrupt the microscope market.”
Echo Labs also received a Most Innovative Product award in Life Science Diagnostics and Research Tools from Connect, a San Diego non-profit that supports entrepreneurship, earlier this month.
“From an investment perspective, Echo Labs checks all of the boxes that we typically look for in an early stage financing,” continued Rosenberg. “In addition, they transformed a sleepy product category into something very cool, and it’s been fun to work with Eugene and his team to raise their $2M financing.”
“2016 has been a thrilling year for us–to say the least,” continued Cho. “And we look forward to facing exciting challenges in 2017: we received an international order that doubled our expected revenue which we will be fulfilling, and we will need to scale up to meet demand in sales, production and in R&D while continuing to ensure product excellence. We’re also currently working on a higher end platform for Pharma/Academia, and an entry level system for the STEM marketplace.”
For more information on Echo Laboratories, please visit www.echo-labs.com
About Tech Coast Angels:
Tech Coast Angels (TCA) is one of the largest and most active angel investor networks in the nation, and a leading source of funding for seed-stage and early-stage companies across all industries in Southern California.
TCA members are accredited investors who collectively invest in startup companies in the range of $250k to $2M as a group. The companies TCA invest in go through well-structured, transparent, and time efficient screening and due diligence. TCA members are themselves founders and executive level business leaders who have extensive knowledge in the investment process and world-class business practices. TCA members thus provide companies with more than just capital; they also contribute counsel, mentoring and access to an extensive network of investors, customers, strategic partners and management.
TCA is a catalyst in the growth of the thriving Southern California entrepreneurial ecosystem of innovation, funding mostly emerging technologies and life science companies.
The most recent Halo Report rated TCA as #2 nationally in a number of funded deals. A recent analysis by CB Insights ranked TCA #1 out of 370 angel groups on “Network Centrality” and #5 overall in “Investor Mosaic.”
Since its founding in 1997, TCA has invested over $176 million in more than 300 companies and has helped attract more than $1.5 billion in additional capital/follow-on rounds, mostly from venture capital firms. For more information, please visit www.techcoastangels.com.
