Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide’s recent sale to Douglas Acquisitions LLC may provide the runway and resources to finally put the Lake Forest-based company on solid financial ground after years of tweaking its business model and product lines.
The Northern California family-owned private-equity firm manages $1 billion in assets, including Canadian auto parts manufacturer KSR International Inc., which posts annual sales of $300 million.
Quantum, which shifted its strategy in recent years from a variety of renewable energy business lines to primarily producing and selling natural fuel tanks, posted revenue of $34.1 million and a net loss of nearly $15 million in 2014.
The company had supplied Costa Mesa-based hybrid luxury automaker Fisker Automotive—now known as Karma Automotive LLC—with components and drive systems for its flagship Karma sedan. Quantum owned wind farms and part of a German solar-panel maker before focusing on fuel tanks, which comprise most of its sales.
KSR in 2014 was part of a consortium that launched Alternative Fuel Containers LLC, which aimed to develop natural gas storage tanks to minimize refueling time and maximize mileage. The design relies on a “metal organic framework adsorbent” to capture natural gas at the molecular level.
Quantum, which had struggled for months to meet listing standards on NASDAQ, now trades on the Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board.
It’s the latest publicly traded technology company based in OC to be acquired in the past year or so, joining Broadcom Corp., Ingram Micro Inc., QLogic Corp., Newport Corp., Kofax Ltd., Multi-Fineline Electronix Inc. and Emulex Corp.
Financial terms of the Quantum sale weren’t disclosed.
Human Intelligence Sought
BrainChip Inc. is looking to hire a chief executive to commercialize its artificial intelligence technology, with the ultimate goal of taking the Aliso Viejo startup public.
The company is aiming to boost sales and marketing for its new Spiking Neuron Adaptive Processor software, which is billed as being capable of learning autono-mously, associating information and acting upon it.
The unit of BrainChip Holdings Ltd. is traded on the Australian Stock Exchange and was established in 2013, though its technology was developed more than a decade ago by founder and Interim Chief Executive Peter van der Made, who created one of the early high-resolution color graphics accelerator chips for IBM’s personal computer.
BrainChip recently acquired Spikenet Technology, a French maker of pattern recognition software that detects unauthorized movements, 3-D facial features and loitering. Customers include Bordeaux-Mérignac Airport, the French Interior Ministry, police in Shanghai, China, and numerous Las Vegas casinos.
The $580,000 strategic buy, which included Spikenet’s product library and patents, provides a revenue path for BrainChip’s SNAP product to be integrated into Spikenet’s core software.
The computer vision hardware and software market is forecasted to grow from $6.6 billion last year to $48.6 billion by 2022, according to Colorado-based Tractica LLC.
Blizzard Controversy
Noted Hindu clergyman Rajan Zed has urged Irvine-based Blizzard Entertainment Inc. to remove a character’s alternate appearance in its hit first-person shooter video game “Overwatch.”
The Devi skin, which can be applied to the character Symmetra, trivializes and denigrates Hinduism’s highly revered goddesses known by the same name, according to Zed, the president of the Universal Society of Hinduism.
Blizzard didn’t respond to inquiries regarding Zed’s statements or whether it intends to make any changes to the game.
“Overwatch,” Blizzard’s first new franchise in 18 years, has amassed more than 7 million players since its May 24 release on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows.
