Neal Koch, an award-winning, experienced business journalist, has been selected to be the Orange County Business Journal’s next Editor-in-Chief. Trained as a lawyer, Koch has been deputy editor of the Los Angeles Business Journal, executive editor of the Pacific Coast Business Times, which covers Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties, and acting business editor of the since-closed Los Angeles Herald Examiner, which was the Hearst newspaper chain’s competitor to the Los Angeles Times. “The Business Journal has been blessed with superb editors from Rick Reiff forward,” Business Jou ..read more

This edition of the Orange County Business Journal marks its last with Mark Mueller serving as Editor-in-Chief. Beginning in mid-May, Mueller will be taking on a new, less time-intensive role at the Business Journal. As Community Editor, he will be assisting the OCBJ in ensuring the newspaper remains well connected with the area’s business and community leaders, and that the print edition of the paper remains a must-read publication. He will continue to write the popular OCBJ Insider column in his new role. An Irvine resident, Mueller joined the Business Journal in 2005, initially as the paper ..read more

Sustainability has long paid dividends for Earth Friendly Products. The maker of cleaning products, better known as ECOS, has seen annual revenue rocket well over $100 million the past decade, by focusing its efforts on creating environmentally friendly products with plant-powered formulas, while also emphasizing sustainable production design and manufacturing methods. The ECOS line of over 200 products—including dish soap, treeless paper towels, window cleaners and furniture polish—are carried in more than 81,000 stores in 60 countries through major retailers including Walmart, Whole Foods, T ..read more

Software maker Ecotrak LLC didn’t have to wait long for its latest funding round. The Irvine-based firm, whose enterprise software allows restaurants and other businesses to automate repairs and maintenance work orders, said earlier this month that it received $30 million in funds, pushing its total funding past $50 million. Its last financing round took place about a year ago. The latest round of financing was led by Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Respida Capital, with participation from Carver Road Capital and existing investor Gala Capital Partners, which is based in Costa Mesa. Gala Capital—w ..read more

A new, well-funded defense technology upstart, founded by a teenager, has moved its base of operations to Orange County, the Business Journal has learned. Mach Industries, which aims to make a variety of hydrogen-powered platforms for the military, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), weapons and aerial protection devices, has inked a lease for the entirety of a new, 110,000-square-foot industrial building in Huntington Beach, real estate sources tell the Business Journal. The company, which has largely operated in stealth mode since its founding a little more than three years ago and co ..read more

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology does, indeed, have a football team: The Engineers, who play in Division III of the NCAA. Last year, they finished with three straight wins, boosting their record to 4 and 5, though who knows how their season could’ve turned out if they had the services of Ethan Thornton, a wide receiver from Texas’ Boerne Samuel V. Champion High School, who in 2022 signed a national letter of intent to play at MIT. Thornton, a 2022 National Merit Scholarship winner, and a member of the Academic All-State Team, never played for the team after dropping out of the school ..read more

CareTrust REIT Inc. (NYSE: CTRE), a real estate investor that focuses on skilled nursing homes, senior housing and other healthcare-related properties, is prepped for an investment-heavy 2024. “We have never had this amount of dry powder,” Chief Executive Dave Sedgwick told analysts during a conference call in February. The San Clemente-based real estate investor in healthcare facilities ended last year with $600 million available on its line of credit and nearly $300 million of cash on the balance sheet, according to Sedgwick. “We expect 2024 to be a strong year of investments, and we positio ..read more

Restaurant365, a restaurant manager software company, has acquired ExpandShare, which provides training content for food service workers. Restaurant365 said its goal is to increase the efficiency of its clients’ 40,000 outlets. The Restaurant365 platform combines accounting, inventory, scheduling, payroll  and HR solutions into one system. The deal marks the first reported buy for Restaurant365 since it joined the ranks of Orange County recent unicorns—private firms with a valuation of $1 billion or above—following its largest-ever funding deal last year. The Irvine-based company, which last y ..read more

Roland DGA Corp. says its new EU-1000MF high-volume flatbed printer is now available in the U.S. and Canada, with a wide range of applications including signs, displays and interior décor. The printer, which can handle sheets up to 4 feet by 8 feet, was already available in Mexico and the Caribbean as well as Central and South America. A flatbed printer uses a flat surface that holds the material to be printed on. Irvine-based Roland DGA is the marketing, sales, and distribution arm of parent company, Hamamatsu, Japan-based Roland DG Corp. The locally based unit is responsible for marketing an ..read more

Staar Surgical Co. surprised Wall Street earlier this month by saying its U.S. sales were taking off faster than expected. The Lake Forest-based maker of implantable lenses for myopia, astigmatism and presbyopia (Nasdaq: STAA) on April 4 reported preliminary first-quarter revenue would top $77 million, when analysts were expecting $72 million. Importantly, U.S. sales were expected to be $5 million, the company’s highest quarterly Implantable Collamer Lens (ICL) sales in the U.S. since it obtained Food and Drug Administration approval two years ago for its newest ICL product, called EVO. “U.S ..read more