Aerospace
Boeing Co. won a Department of Defense contract to design a robotic plane to place satellites in space, according to the Orange County Register. The plane would be able to make 10 trips in 10 days at a cost of $5 million per trip. Boeing will work on the project at its Huntington Beach Phantom Works plant.
Education
University of California-Irvine tapped the angel investor who heads Chapman University’s entrepreneurship center to direct its Institute for Innovation. Richard Sudek, who leads Chapman’s Leatherby Center for Entrepreneurship & Business Ethics in Orange, will assume his new duties at UCI on Sept. 1. He’s an active angel investor in more than 20 companies and has been on the board of governors for Los Angeles-based Tech Coast Angels.
Healthcare
Mission Viejo-based nursing home operator Ensign Group Inc. agreed to acquire four care facilities in Los Angeles County from nonprofit Keiro Senior HealthCare on undisclosed terms.
Laguna Hills-based Metronom Health Inc. raised $4.8 million in seed funding, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company, which makes glucose monitoring systems for diabetes patients, is part of the investment portfolio of Fjord Ventures, a venture capital firm and accelerator in Laguna Hills.
Brea-based laboratory instruments maker Beckman Coulter Inc. agreed to acquire the microbiology unit of German conglomerate Siemens AG. Terms of the deal were undisclosed. Earlier reports indicated the unit could fetch between $300 million and $600 million. Beckman Coulter is part of Washington, D.C.-based machinery manufacturer Danaher Corp.
Newport Beach-based surgery center operator Starpoint Health Inc. received $14 million in a credit facility for recapitalization from Monroe Capital LLC in Chicago. Starpoint operates outpatient surgery centers in Irvine, Studio City and Victorville.
Manufacturing
Kaiser Aluminum Corp.’s executive vice president of strategy resigned a month after his promotion to the post, according to a July 11 filing with Securities and Exchange Commission. Peter S. Bunin took the job June 4 after two years as senior vice president of operations at the Foothill Ranch-based company.
I-5 Publishing LLC in Irvine acquired San Francisco-based Say Media Inc.’s Dogster and Catster websites, which attract a combined 2.5 million visitors each month, according to the company.
Services
Irvine-based CoreLogic Inc. said it’s closing its Charlotte, N.C. office in October, cutting 46 jobs. Operations will be consolidated into other CoreLogic offices in North Carolina and Texas, according to the company.
Irvine-based engineering and supply chain management services provider Verify Inc. is opening an office in Manchester, England, in order to establish connections with aerospace and defense firms and to strengthen existing customer relationships.
Irvine-based Electronic Manufacturing Technology was acquired by Illinois-based Sparton Corp. subsididary Sparton eMT LLC on undiclosed terms. Electronic Manufacturing is a contract services company specializing in electromechanical controls and electronic assemblies.
Orange-based engineering firm J.L. Patterson & Associates Inc. received a $7 million contract from Oceanside-based North County Transit District to provide bridge inspection and management services and oversight of upcoming bridge construction projects.
Technology
Newport Beach-based Qliktag Software Inc. acquired two companies on undisclosed terms, a data aggregation software unit and a mobile app called Nutrifacts out of bankruptcy from epcSolutions Inc. in Virginia, and Buzzfactory Interactive Pvt. Ltd. in Pune, India. Nutrifacts is an app that allows shoppers to scan groceries barcodes with their smartphones to get nutrition information. Buzzfactory is a social media and content creator that Qliktag plans to use in mobile merchandising campaigns for clients. Qliktag was an angel investor in Buzzfactory in 2013.
Irvine-based chipmaker WiSpry Inc. raised $8 million in a funding round and could raise another $5 million, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
