FINANCE
Frost Data Capital, a San Juan Capistrano-based investment firm and startup incubator, joined other venture investors to back Maana, a developer of big-data search engine technology. Palo Alto-based Maana drew $14 million from a group of corporate backers, including Chevron Technology Ventures, ConocoPhillips Technology Ventures, GE Ventures and Intel Capital.
Irvine-based banking and wealth planning firm First Foundation Inc. launched a property and casualty insurance brokerage unit to provide commercial and private client insurance brokerage services. It said it “secured agreements with several highly rated insurance carriers” and tapped Tony McIntosh as a managing director to head the new unit. He previously was a marketing director and a client executive at Barney & Barney in Aliso Viejo, an insurance brokerage firm that was acquired by Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC last year.
National accounting firm Marcum LLP named John Eckweiler, a partner in its Irvine office, partner-in-charge of tax and business services for its California operations. New York-based Marcum provides accounting, tax and advisory services and has offices in Irvine, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Eckweiler, who’s expected to continue working from the Irvine office, will oversee tax services to Marcum’s clients in California.
HEALTHCARE
Irvine-based Biolase Inc. named Harold Flynn Jr. its new chief executive officer, effective July 13. Biolase makes laser devices for dentistry and other medical applications. Current Chief Executive Jeffrey Nugent will step down from the role in July and remain on Biolase’s board as a director. He was originally installed last year in an acting capacity during a time of transition following the departure of Federico Pignatelli and took the permanent position last September. Flynn, 50, was most recently president of Zimmer Dental, a unit of Warsaw, Ind.-based device maker Zimmer Holdings Inc.
Irvine-based Edwards Lifesciences Corp. said it’s voluntarily halting enrollment in an early clinical trial for an experimental, less-invasive mitral heart valve. It’s said it temporarily stopped the study because evidence of valve thrombosis, or blood clot formation, was observed and that the development warrants more investigation. Edwards has treated more than 20 patients with the Fortis valve.
Children’s Hospital of Orange County announced it’s developing a children’s mental health inpatient center as part of an initiative that will be supported by a $5 million gift from Sandy Segerstrom Daniels. Segerstrom Daniels is a partner in South Coast Plaza, C.J. Segerstrom & Sons and HTS Management, all in Costa Mesa. CHOC said the center will have 18 beds in a building that will be renovated on its main campus in Orange. Construction is scheduled to start this fall and be completed in late 2017. A fundraising campaign has a goal of taking in an additional $11 million to complete the center. The hospital also plans to establish a $16 million endowment.
MARKETING
Irvine-based automotive marketing company Autobytel Inc. acquired Dealix Corp. from CDK Global Inc. in Hoffman Estates, Ill. for $25 million. Redwood City-based Dealix provides sales leads for new and used cars to dealerships and car manufacturers. It also runs the auto-buying site UsedCars.com, a market share Autobytel is looking to expand into. Autobytel said it expects the “acquisition to be accretive to net income in 2015.”
OTHER
Irvine was the only city in the U.S. to rank among the top 15 for both overall population growth and the pace of its increase last year, according to estimates released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. The city gained 11,420 residents to take its total population to 248,531, a gain of 4.8%. The latest census data also served as the basis for an analysis that identified Irvine as the most racially integrated city in the U.S. The ranking came from FiveThirtyEight, a blog that’s part of ESPN.com. Santa Ana ranked No. 7 on the blog’s list of the least diverse cities. Santa Ana is the second largest city in Orange County, and Irvine is the third largest.
