AVIATION
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in Arlington, Va., awarded Boeing Co.’s operations in Huntington Beach a $30.7 million contract to support development of a system to use aircraft for satellite launches at a cost savings compared to rocket-fueled launches.
EDUCATION
Orange County School of the Arts has started a fund-raising campaign to build a $20 million facility on its campus in Santa Ana. The 60,000-square-foot teaching center will house science labs and studios, dressing rooms, and other rooms to support dance and music instruction. The school also plans to add an outdoor stage for student productions, and make exterior improvements on other buildings. The campaign had raised $9.5 million as of last week. Marybelle and Paul Musco, Sandy Segerstrom Daniels and Matthew Morrison are campaign co-chairs. The school said it expects to start construction this summer and finish by next summer.
FINANCE
A company in the portfolio of Newport Beach-based entrepreneurs Victor and Janie Tsao debuted on the New York Stock Exchange. The Tsaos’ Miven Venture Partners reportedly invested in A10 Networks in 2006. The size of Miven’s current stake hasn’t been disclosed. The couple founded Linksys Home Networking and sold the company for an estimated $500 million to Cisco in 2003. Cisco recently sold Linkys to Belkin International Inc.
HEALTHCARE
Sonendo Inc., a Laguna Hills-based dental device company, closed a $10 million venture debt financing with Alexandria, Va.-based Oxford Finance LLC. Sonendo makes devices used in root canal procedures. The company said it would use the funding, in combination with a $27 million venture investment that closed last year, to help commercialize its Multisonic Ultracleaning.
CHOC Children’s Hospital’s Bill Holmes Tower received kudos this month through an Alliant Build America Award given to general contractor McCarthy Building Co. by the Associated General Contractors of America. The association honored the seven-story tower in Orange as the best new building project. The $560 million structure opened last year.
RESTAURANTS
The owners of Costa Mesa-based El Pollo Loco Holdings Inc. are looking to take the company public, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal that cited an unidentified source and didn’t include other details. The company has more than 400 restaurants and has spent the past few years retooling store operations and its executive team.
Baja Fresh Mexican Grill named Roberto “Pepe” Lopez, formerly top chef at Cypress-based Real Mex Restaurants, its director of product development. The Baja Fresh chain is based in Irvine.
RETAIL
Officials at The Source retail and entertainment project under construction in Buena Park said they struck a deal with South Korea-based record label and talent agency YG Entertainment on a “strategic and financial” partnership to bring recording studios and a 2,000-seat concert venue. The Source is being developed by Lynwood-based M&D Properties. The deal marks YG Entertainment’s entry into North America. Its project at The Source will be called YG Land and provide an avenue to promote the company’s artists, which include recent pop sensation Psy and Big Bang, according to a news release.
TECHNOLOGY
A Garden Grove manufacturer took a minority stake in Beijing-based 3-D printing company TierTime Technology Company. OK International will co-develop a line of 3-D industrial printers scheduled to be launched this year with TierTime subsidiary Delta Micro Factory, also known as PP3DP. Details of OK International’s investment were undisclosed. The company, a unit of Downers Grove, Ill.-based Dover Corp., also announced it launched brand Quant 3D, which will focus on 3-D printing for the professional and industrial markets. The company posted $8.7 billion in sales last year.
Martha Daniel, president and chief executive of Information Management Resources Inc. in Aliso Viejo, was honored by the White House as one of 10 Women Veteran Leader Champions of Change. About 12% of her 70 employees are military veterans. The 12-year-old company provides cyber security, technology, program management and engineering services to commercial businesses and federal government agencies.
