Turn your brown eyes blue — permanently.

Reserve everything from a kayak to a hot air balloon online.

Make young kids active and like it.

These are just three of the hot young companies that made their pitch at VC in the OC, the premier local venture investing showcase put on by Orange County Venture Group Sept. 17 at the Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach.

One of the nice things about such a showcase is the glimpse it gives at some of the fun, creative and forward thinking going on in the neighborhood.

Here’s a sampling (I’m only linking to Web sites that actually have something to look at besides a placeholder page.):

Lumineyes LLC - OK, so you can change your eye color with contact lenses. But this Beverly Hills firm is working on a laser to permanently change the color of your iris. It only seems to lighten dark eyes.

The technology seems to work in rabbits but they don’t have brown eyes. The company thinks it can make $1.2 billion a year at $5,000 per procedure.

InterActive Activities LLC is a Laguna Beach startup that plans to be the Travelocity of recreational activities. It owns hundreds of urls for location-based Web sites including CalActive! where you find things to do in a particular location and pay for confirmed reservations.

Founder Billy Fried wants to raise $2 million to $4 million to become the national go-to site.

Wanzo in Irvine was the second place winner in this year’s UCI Business Plan competition. Wanzo is a motion-sensing electronic toy that combines gaming, fitness and social networking for the 5 to 13 age group. It’s a sort of Wii on the go.

With all the concern about childhood obesity, this company’s research indicates parents would pay $98 for this gizmo. Projected price is $69. What a bargain. Wanzo is seeking $1.1 million in equity investment.

AccioNet LLC in Newport Beach will be better known as SmartStops, a program to help investors protect themselves from the stock market dogs.  The analyzes individual stock performance to allow you to sell it before it plunges. With 25 million stockholders in the United States and the Dow plunging hundreds of points at a clip, Chief Executive Brent Collins says the market potential for SmartStops is huge.

Pyron Solar Inc. in San Diego wants to capitalize on venture capitalists’ fascination with clean tech. The company is developing patented technology to double the efficiency of regular solar panels.

The company has already raised $3 million from a Swiss investor and has a customer in Spain. It’s now seeking another $7 million to $14 million in equity investment.

AdaptiveARC Inc. in Carlsbad is another go-green startup, developing machinery to turn trash into synthesis gas — a biofuel — to create electricity.

“Waste is a $40 billion market,” John Martineau, VP of sales told the audience.

Aktino in Irvine had to be the star of this future stars showcase. The firm, which makes copper wiring for high bandwidth and fiber optic-like reliability, has already received three rounds of equity funding totaling $45 million. It has been shipping product since 2005.

OTHER STORIES:

• O.C.-L.A. grab bigger slice of venture capital
• Who’s stealing our seed corn?
• Tech IPO market is ‘awful’
• Aktino raises $14.2 million
• RF Nano raises $8 million venture capital
• Irvine biomed firm raises $20.1 million
• Irvine firm breaks drought of IPOs
• Funding for start-up firms in crisis, venture capitalists say
• Bad year for young companies, O.C. investor says

Posted in: Top posts |

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.