OmniSync is a PhD founders-driven San Diego startup, backed by ex-Googlers, fmr. USAF/NASA contracting officers, and a Brex-executive. 

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OmniSync Cool Company Award 2021

SAN DIEGO, March 16, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- OmniSync, a company that helps deep tech and life science companies raise debt-free and equity-free funds from the government, closed their oversubscribed seed round led by Govtech Fund - the first-ever venture fund dedicated to government technology startups. The San Francisco-based investor's mission is to harness transformers, technology, and capital to enable governments to become more efficient, more responsive, and better able to serve society. "We invest in founders who are obsessed with software that streamlines and modernizes government processes," said Ron Bouganim, Managing Partner at Govtech Fund. "OmniSync is taking a unique approach to modernizing and unifying Federal grants in a way that is not only <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3097029-1&amp;h=460840238&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.turbosbir.com%2Fnsfsbir%3Futm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Dpress%2Brelease%2Bin%2Bmar%2B2021%26utm_campaign%3Dpromo%26utm_content%3Dsponsored%2Bcontent&amp;a=democratizing+access+to+these+funds+for+non-traditional+applicants+like+startups" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">democratizing access to these funds for non-traditional applicants like startups</a>, but they're also making the process much more efficient for the governments themselves to quickly access and acquire new technologies from sources that they may be completely unaware of."



"Finding the right source of government funding can be a cumbersome, expensive, and inefficient task," said Denise Longley, partner at Longley Capital, also a San Diego-based venture firm that participated in the round. "Rupak and team have built a powerful solution that not only makes the application process more efficient and automated, but the solution increases the likelihood of success." Other strategic VCs included General Inception that invests in and often co-creates new companies with emerging science and engineering pioneers from university research, national labs, FFRDCs, and industrial R&D centers around the world. "We are very well-acquainted with the problem OmniSync's TurboSBIR platform solves. It's a game changer for the innovation economy," said Paul Conley of General Inception.



The round also included early-stage seed investors like Keshif Ventures, founded by Taner Halicioglu, the first real 'employee' of Facebook outside its founders, and funds startups working to grow the San Diego data-science ecosystem, Fine Day Ventures (previous investments in Blade, Hyperloop One, etc.), Excel Ventures, and strategic angels like SBIR Advisors (former contracting officers from Federal agencies like DoD and NASA) and Richard Lin (founder of Explora BioLabs, and Chairman of the Board at LaunchBio), who said "As a long-standing member of the local biotech community, I know many of my colleagues heavily rely on SBIR grants to fund highly innovative, and thus risky, research that would otherwise not be funded by regular investors. These companies can really benefit from a much more streamlined platform enabled by TurboSBIR".



OmniSync's successful fundraise follows their consistent ~10% week-over-week customer growth, despite the pandemic. The company will utilize the funds to scale TurboSBIR and add new capabilities to make grants more inclusive and accessible to applicants nationwide. OmniSync is currently supported by the venture studio, Launch Factory, and premier accelerators, Capital Factory and EvoNexus. Learn more about <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3097029-1&amp;h=2960617526&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.turbosbir.com%2F%3Futm_medium%3Dpress%2Brelease%26utm_source%3Dpress%2Brelease%26utm_campaign%3Dfundraising%26utm_content%3Dpress%2Brelease&amp;a=TurboSBIR" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">TurboSBIR</a>. Contact Rupak Doshi (<a href="mailto:rupak@omnisync.io" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">rupak@omnisync.io</a>) for inquiries.

18-month old San Diego startup that is simplifying the process of finding and applying for Federal government grants, closes oversubscribed seed round.

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OmniSync Raises $1M in a 100% Oversubscribed Seed Round to Streamline the Federal Grants Ecosystem

Hear about our story from our founders here. 

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Launch Factory - Interview with Rupak Doshi

Ex-Google executive Brad Chisum, who created a startup studio in San Diego earlier this year, has picked the first outsiders to join him in leading his debut tech company.

After a rigorous six-week hunt, Chisum’s foundry — called Launch Factory — chose two local scientists to lead its first venture. The result is unexpected, considering Launch Factory’s focus is software, not science.

Created earlier this year, Launch Factory is a hybrid between a business incubator and an investment firm, sinking $300,000 into startup ideas and helping the fledgling companies grow. For now, the business ideas are thought up by Chisum and his co-founder James Hereford. Once they land on a concept for a new startup, the duo hunts for outside talent to come in and lead the new company as co-founders and top executives.

The group put out a call in June for interested parties to apply to lead their first venture, which was initially named Vestra Solutions but recently renamed OmniSync. The startup plans to develop software that will take some of the tedious, time-consuming administrative work off the plates of startups and small businesses. The tech will handle things like setting up incorporation documents, payroll or human resource services, among other tasks. Essentially, the startup will act as a “general contractor” for all your startup needs.

After a grueling and ultra-competitive interview process that lasted six weeks (and included 80 applicants), local scientists Rupak Doshi and Norman Huang were selected.

Doshi, 34, will lead OmniSync as founder and CEO. He has no experience in software. Instead, he holds a Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Cambridge and has worked as a research scientist at UC San Diego and InhibRx. His new co-founder, 28-year-old Huang, will soon serve as chief operations officer at OmniSync. But for now, Huang is still a Ph.D. candidate at UC San Diego, where he’s studied bio-luminescent bacteria — those glowing critters in the ocean — and worked in the fields of antibody research and the early detection of cancer.

These two men have been deeply entrenched in academia but have always loved the idea of being entrepreneurial. When Doshi saw a Union-Tribune article in June about Chisum’s new startup studio, he admired the ex-Google executive’s belief that executive talent can be found in unlikely places. Back in June, Chisum told the Union-Tribune that he was open to hiring someone who was still in “learning mode,” and who had not yet proven his or her ability as an entrepreneur.

“It was strange for me to read that he thought founders could be anyone — whoever could take their ideas up,” Doshi said. “They were looking for agnostic business founders, which means we could fit the bill.”

SharkTank meets business school. How ex-Google guys design an interview
Launch Factory is emphatically committed to making decisions based on data rather than allowing flawed human prejudices to influence their choices. (You should see the painfully detailed spreadsheet Hereford designed to rate and measure the qualities of different business names before choosing “OmniSync”). Rather than taking resumes and viewing LinkedIn profiles, Hereford and Chisum instead designed an application process that would measure a person’s aptitude for the role.

“We wanted to put an emphasis on their work product — what they actually can do instead of the impression you get from them during an interview,” Chisum said. “We didn’t want to dismiss somebody because their resume wasn’t as attractive as someone else’s.”

Applicants were required to apply in pairs because research suggests that co-founders are more successful than solo founders. As a preemptive screening process, candidates were asked to take lengthy personality tests, cognitive performance and logic tests, and even a typing assessment. Twenty-one teams made it through the screening and moved on to the first stage of the interview process.

In phase one, the teams were asked to create a branding package for OmniSync. They designed logos, wrote company slogans, and were required to respond to a Harvard Business School case study.

Being bench scientists, Doshi and Huang were utterly out of their comfort zone. The teams weren’t allowed to hire any outside help for things like designing logos or choosing company color palettes.

“We were not good at any of those things,” Doshi said, laughing. “The feedback we got was, ‘You guys made it, but we’d like some more rigor moving forward.’”

In the next stages, teams were asked to do market research, then come up with a detailed plan for OmniSync’s business model and design a financial plan to support it. Here, Doshi and Huang excelled. With their science backgrounds, they came up with a unique business pitch. OmniSync would target the massive life science industry, serving biotech startups who have more nuanced needs than your average small business.

“Scientists are so engrossed in their product development that they often forget what else must be done,” Doshi said.

Biotech startups need to consider patent applications, health and safety regulations and a whole host of biotech-specific paperwork. But instead, they’re often knee-deep in scientific experiments. Doshi and Huang pitched that OmniSync could tailor their product and services to this niche rather than being a mass-market tool for all small businesses.

Chisum and Hereford said they had no intention of starting a tech company that would target the life science industry. “Quite the opposite, really,” Hereford said.

But Doshi and Huang had the most compelling business plan, and they even secured a customer before the interview process was complete.

Candidates say process was wearying, but worth it
The duo said the entire interview process was draining, pushing them to their limits. Both Huang and Doshi have full-time jobs. Doshi has a two-year-old daughter at home.

“The last six weeks we basically operated on like four hours of sleep,” Doshi said.

Still, they both said the experience was rewarding and extremely helpful in understanding what they were getting into. Plus, Launch Factory is rewarding Doshi and Huang for their efforts. Unlike many startup incubators, Launch Factory actually awards the founders with money when they get in. The startup gets $300,000 total. Out of that, the founders can take $50,000 each for a salary, and use the rest to grow the business.

That’s critical, Doshi said. Most people can’t attend startup incubators or accelerators without taking time off from a real, paying job. Not everyone can do that.

“The only reason I’m able to do this is because there’s money so I can pay for bills,” Doshi said. “It’s such a rare opportunity. Where do you hear about an organization that pays you to start a company?”

Hereford and Chisum said their next round of applications will begin sometime around the first quarter of 2020. Follow Launch Factory through their website.

Grueling six-week interview process ends with the selection of two local scientists. Can these biotech guys run a tech startup?

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Ex-Googler’s startup studio picks 2 San Diego scientists to lead first venture

Every year Connect, San Diego gathers applications from tech and lifesci startup companies around the region and selects the COOLEST COMPANIES to introduce to VCs across the country. These companies represent the best of the best in San Diego. 

OmniSync has now, for the 2nd time in a row, been selected as one of the top San Diego Cool Companies in tech.

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OmniSync is selected as one of the top 25 San Diego Cool Companies in Tech 2 years in a row! 

OmniSync is a high-growth tech startup that uses a combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML)-powered research tools, process workflow automation, and services to help democratize access to government grant and contract funds.

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AI and ML innovation contract for AFRL completed by OmniSync

SAN DIEGO, April 20, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- OmniSync helps deep technology and life science companies raise debt-free and equity-free funds from the government through its unique product, <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3134711-1&amp;h=10222565&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.turbosbir.com%2F%3Futm_medium%3Dpress%2Brelease%26utm_source%3Dsttr%2Bpress%2Brelease%26utm_campaign%3Dfundraising%26utm_content%3Dsttr%2Bpress%2Brelease&amp;a=TurboSBIR" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:TurboSBIR" class="link rapid-noclick-resp" data-rapid_p="7" data-v9y="1">TurboSBIR</a>. Omnisync was competitively awarded a Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) contract from the <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3134711-1&amp;h=2671346982&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.afwerx.af.mil%2Findex.html&amp;a=US+Air+Force%27s+AFWERX+program" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:US Air Force's AFWERX program" class="link rapid-noclick-resp" data-rapid_p="8" data-v9y="1">US Air Force's AFWERX program</a>.



STTR, a sister to the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, is a highly competitive award that encourages domestic small businesses to engage in research and development, in collaboration with a non-profit research institution, with the potential for commercialization.



For its Air Force STTR, OmniSync has partnered with researchers from the University of North Texas on an exciting project that will enable more technologies to be transferred from universities into the commercial space. OmniSync is particularly interested in bringing new and revolutionary technologies to the US Air Force to solve their most pressing needs, through a highly streamlined process of technology assessment, team building, rapid commercialization, and acquisition.



"Most research that occurs at universities never sees the light of day beyond obscure papers and conferences. One of the core reasons for this is not that the research isn't commercially applicable; rather, it's because most professors leading those research projects have very little interest in quitting their tenured positions and starting a company, which has financial and career risks", said Dr. Rupak Doshi, CEO of OmniSync Incorporated and Principal Investigator on the Air Force STTR contract, who has spent his fair share of time at universities like University of California, San Diego.



Rupak continued, "Our goal with this Air Force contract is to create tools that will enable better visibility into commercially-applicable research being conducted at universities, as well as provide an easy pathway for professors to partner with risk-taking entrepreneurs to commercialize their academic research through the SBIR/STTR programs."



Over the next few months, OmniSync aims to bring partnerships, pre-seed funds, and operational teams to professors across many universities in the country to help create a constant stream of exciting, deep technology spin-off companies.



OmniSync's success in the SBIR/STTR program follows its <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3134711-1&amp;h=338017339&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.prnewswire.com%2Fnews-releases%2Fomnisync-raises-1m-in-a-100-oversubscribed-seed-round-to-streamline-the-federal-grants-ecosystem-301247911.html&amp;a=successful+fundraise" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:successful fundraise" class="link rapid-noclick-resp" data-rapid_p="10" data-v9y="1">successful fundraise</a> from venture capital investors. OmniSync is backed by the venture studio, Launch Factory, and premier accelerators, Capital Factory and EvoNexus. Read more on <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3134711-1&amp;h=10222565&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.turbosbir.com%2F%3Futm_medium%3Dpress%2Brelease%26utm_source%3Dsttr%2Bpress%2Brelease%26utm_campaign%3Dfundraising%26utm_content%3Dsttr%2Bpress%2Brelease&amp;a=TurboSBIR" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:TurboSBIR" class="link rapid-noclick-resp" data-rapid_p="11" data-v9y="1">TurboSBIR</a>.



Media Contact:
Rupak Doshi
858-264-6546
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SOURCE OmniSync Incorporated

OmniSync helps deep technology and life science companies raise debt-free and equity-free funds from the government through its unique product, TurboSBIR. Omnisync was competitively awarded a Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) contract from the US Air Force's AFWERX program.

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