Trendy juice maker Sambazon Inc. is looking to grow with some private equity funding.
The San Clemente-based company makes drinks from acai (pronounced “ah-sigh-ee”), a purple berry that grows on palm trees in South America and is touted for its antioxidants.
In June, Sambazon got a $17.5 million investment, mostly from Belgian private equity firm Verlinvest SA, which is backed by a family that also owns shares in An-heuser-Busch InBev, maker of Budweiser, Stella Artois and Beck’s beers.
Pasadena-based private equity firm Rustic Canyon Partners invested about $6 million.
Sambazon, which was started in 2000, has raised about $30 million in funding so far.
Founder and Chief Executive Ryan Black, who grew up in Balboa, said the latest money will be spent to expand sales to more supermarkets.
The company did $25 million in sales last year.
Sambazon sells in thousands of grocery stores, including Albertsons and Vons, as well as in health food stores and juice bars, including Whole Foods Market and Jamba Juice. This year, it started selling in Costco stores.
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Closing the funding didn’t come easy as many companies struggle to find capital these days, Black said.
“The financial crisis didn’t help us,” he said. “But investors are still looking.”
The company has about 135 employees, 30 of which are local. By the end of the year, Black said he wants to have hired about 15 more.
Sambazon gathers acai in the Amazon. The majority of its products are made in the U.S. by companies under contract.
The company’s biggest challenge, according to Black, is informing potential buyers of what his product is.
“People have never heard of what this is,” he said.
Loan Auction
Real estate auction company Newport Beach-based LFC Group of Cos. has started a Web site for trading loans.
The site, dubbed BigBidder, works with community banks, credit unions and hedge funds to find buyers for their mortgages.
In two months, LFC has sold about 100 loans at an average size of $125,000 for a total of about $10 million.
It has about $100 million in loans up for sale now.
“We didn’t build the site with this economy in mind, but it enhances it,” said Paul Lyons, senior vice president.
Institutional investors have traditionally bought the loans. The site makes it easier for individuals.
LFC has been around for 30 years, connecting home and commercial real estate buyers with sellers online. Since 2004, it has sold about $750 million worth of real estate online.
The privately held company says it doubled its sales in the past four years, with estimated annual revenue of less than $15 million.
LFC started working on BigBidder two years ago with little investment, according to Kelly Lovegrove, director of operations.
“We think we’re going to see a lot of competition,” she said. “But everybody has to start from the ground.”
Going After Government
Brea-based Hakanson Construction Inc. is hoping to drum up some work on government contracts. But there’s a learning curve.
Construction has been one of the hardest hit areas of the economy, which has put owner Margaret Hakanson as well as others in survival mode.
Her company does concrete tilt-ups, a technique of casting reinforced concrete panels on site and then tilting them into position.
She’s been attending seminars to help her understand how to do business with the government and what it’s offering in the way of economic stimulus to help the industry.
The government is in the process of figuring out the details of what it’s going to require construction companies to conform to as far as reporting information to them.
“There’s a lot more to learn,” she said. “We’re supposed to meet certain requirements by Oct. 10, but the government is still figuring out what that means exactly.”
Hakanson, who was born in England, took control of her company in 1998 when her husband died.
The company expects to do about $5 million in sales this year, well off what it was doing a few years ago when the economy was stronger.
The employee count for the company has fallen from about 80 to 15, she said.
“We’re staying positive,” she said. “There are many companies out there bidding for one small, little job.”
Potential contracts could come from projects at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, where $4 billion worth of construction is expected to take place in the next several years.
