OC’s top innovators are also fast innovators.
Kurt Busch, CEO of 3-year-old chipmaker Syntiant, said during last Thursday’s Business Journal Innovator of the Year Awards program that his Irvine firm’s ultra-low-power chips—designed for always-on Internet of Things devices like an Alexa—just shipped out its 1 millionth unit.
As OC’s established collection of semiconductor makers well know, Busch noted, it’s tough for a company to reach that figure in five years, let alone three.
For more on Busch and the event’s four other winners, see next week’s edition. And go to ocbj.com/bizevents to watch the Innovator program.
At the same time as Thursday’s event, Palmer Luckey—an IOTY winner last year—said that his Irvine tech-focused defense firm Anduril Industries was among a group of companies selected by the Department of Defense for new contracts, worth up to $950M per company, to develop an “Advanced Battle Management System” that can be used by the Air Force across the “air, land, sea, space, cyber and electromagnetic spectrum.” Not bad for another 3-year-old firm.
There are no direct flights from John Wayne Airport to Riyadh, Saudi Arabi. But if the flow of OC business toward the Persian Gulf keeps up, expect to see more charter flights heading in that direction.
See this week’s technology column (page 6) from Kevin Costelloe on how Kingston Technology’s fast-growing gaming unit HyperX is making strides in the region, with new Arabic keyboards and other products. OC’s largest private company by sales says HyperX is seeing Middle East growth in the neighborhood of 50% annually.
OC’s fastest-growing fitness company, Irvine’s Xponential Fitness, last week said it opened the first of what’s expected to be more than 50 fitness studios in Saudi Arabia.
Brands under the company’s umbrella—including Club Pilates, Pure Barre, CycleBar, YogaSix and AKT—will have separate facilities for men and women in the country, officials said.
Closer to home, a foundation set up by Irvine’s pro soccer team, Orange County Soccer Club, recently said it made a $15,000 donation to the Second Harvest Food Bank of OC to provide relief for residents experiencing food insecurity as a result of the pandemic.
The donation was funded with help of a grant from Qatar’s embassy in the U.S.; Qatar will host the World Cup in 2022.
Who says there’s no humor in politics this year?
Consider the high-level trolling by supporters of Larry Agran in his bid to return to Irvine’s City Council, who have placed a good amount of their campaign signs in and around the Great Park Neighborhoods.
Agran “gets things done,” the signs say of the city’s former mayor, who did more than just about anyone to keep the Orange County Great Park’s development largely shelved for years, while squandering over $200M in the process—well more than $700 per resident in the city.
Also not getting done any time soon, due in good part to Agran’s efforts blocking its most logical and financially viable location: a veteran’s cemetery in the city.
