This story is part of our "Inno Under 25" series, which spotlights rising innovators aged 25 and younger who are making big moves in the Sacramento region.
Charles Chen began writing computer code before he started high school, which is why, at 25 years old, he’s a 12-year software veteran.
In 2016, Chen and Mathew Magno founded Japa Inc. when they were computer science majors in an engineering entrepreneurship class at the University of California Davis.
What started as a class project has developed into a company that aims to make parking lots more efficient. Chen is chief technology officer at Woodland-based Japa, and Magno is CEO.
Their intelligent parking software uses sensors on the ground along with Japa software to let users know where parking spaces are available. The technology has many applications, and depending on the goal, users don’t need to use a smartphone. At the small, steep parking garage in the historic headquarters of the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, for example, an electronic reader board lets drivers know whether parking is available in the upper floors without driving around in the narrow lot.
The software allows for real-time analytics of every parking space, and it also offers historical analytics to find trends. The city of Woodland is using Japa to manage street and public parking in its downtown.
“We want to see ourselves as making the entire parking process frictionless,” Chen said. “Our goal is to delight our customers.”
Chen worked on campus at Davis as a programmer and application developer. He also joined on-campus hackathons, where entrepreneurs come up with ideas and try to create businesses. While in college, Chen had internships at Amazon in Seattle and at Tesla Inc. in Fremont.
He said those stints helped him gain confidence in developing complex systems, and also the confidence to launch Japa.
He acknowledges he could have probably walked into a career at any number of established tech firms, but he sees potential for Japa.
“I wanted to continue working on our startup,” Chen said. “Over the years, we are achieving results and getting customers.”
The company doesn’t release revenue, but it does have ongoing revenue, Magno said.
Japa was supported in its launch by raising startup capital through local tech contests, including the $10,000 top prize at both the UC Davis Big Bang contest in 2018 and the Sacramento Kings Capitalize contest in 2019.
Asked about challenges, Chen cited two: First, running a startup keeps him very busy, and second, getting customers takes a long time. “I wish we could get more accelerated adoption to get the product in more people’s hands.”
Chen was born in Taiwan and attended bilingual school until he moved with his family to Bellevue, Washington, at 13. He moved to Davis to attend UC Davis, and he now lives in Woodland.
The Essentials
Co-founder and chief technology officer at Japa Inc.
Age: 25
Career: Co-founder, Japa, 2016 to present; data science intern at Tesla, 2017-2018; software development engineer intern at Amazon.com Inc., 2017; junior application developer, UC Davis Information and Educational Technology, 2016-2017; programmer, Associated Students UC Davis Creative Media, 2015-2016.
Education: Bachelor's degree in computer science and engineering, University of California Davis, 2018.
Personal: Lives in Woodland.
