Quick Take

Two former Apple engineers operating out of Scotts Valley will have their invention in stores across the country, the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission has a new (interim) boss and facts, figures and dates to know across local business.

As we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic and its lingering effects on economies everywhere, we’ll be taking a closer look at the movers and shakers, the growth of industries, and what’s really driving the Santa Cruz County economy. I’ll be spotlighting some of the biggest areas for opportunity, updates on local development and all things underpinning the regional business scene, each Wednesday.

Got ideas? Send them my way to news@lookoutlocal.com with “Business News” in the subject line.

Scotts Valley-based BlenderCap by Cruz gets major retail deal as company strives to transform household gadgets with Apple-inspired design

What if you applied the same design ethos that Apple is known for to objects beyond the tech sphere, like, say, a blender?

That’s the mission behind Cruz, a company started by two ex-Apple employees with a passion for reinventing daily objects. The pair introduced their first product, BlenderCap, earlier this year, and now they’ve struck a deal with kitchen and household retailer Williams Sonoma. And they just so happen to be backed by investment from Jony Ive, the designer who played a huge role in just about every Apple product on the market. BlenderCap was also selected by Time magazine as one of the top inventions of 2023.

BlenderCap by Cruz, a sleek portable gadget made for creating smoothies on the go.

Matthew Moore and Dakota Adams met while working at Apple and started creating a prototype portable blender in Moore’s garage in Saratoga a couple of years ago. The idea came from something Adams had started working on when he was a college student making his own smoothies between CrossFit workouts. The product they came up with, the aptly named BlenderCap, is a high-powered, battery-operated cap that fits snugly onto a bottle to allow you to make smoothies and margaritas in any location.

After coming up with a working prototype, they eventually quit their jobs to launch their company and now work out of the former CrossFit headquarters in Scotts Valley. While the BlenderCap is their first product, their innovation doesn’t stop there.

“Think about anything in your kitchen, any device or consumer good – we really want to build the next best version of it,” said Adams. “In the spirit of Apple, what we’ve learned and what we were raised on is this idea that you need to think through the whole user experience when you’re designing a product. It’s not all about cost optimization or making it beautiful; it has to work.” 

Currently, the BlenderCap is priced at $129, which includes the cap (which charges via USB), a blade cover and a stainless steel, 32-ounce vacuum-insulated bottle. The gadget is available through the company’s website but will be in Williams Sonoma stores next year, and Adams and Moore are working on other retail partnerships. 

Read more here.

ICYMI: Former Watsonville Community Hospital owners accused of siphoning almost $4 million for personal use

A new lawsuit accuses three former Watsonville Community Hospital executives of gross mismanagement and poor oversight between the time they took ownership in 2019 and when the hospital filed for bankruptcy in December 2021. The three executives of Halsen Holdings are alleged to have transferred almost $4 million from the hospital to themselves, along with friends and family. Read Hillary Ojeda’s full piece here.

Ch-ch-changes: Openings, closings and other developments

  • Light therapy business opens in Santa Cruz: In recent years, red light therapy has gained in popularity as a potential treatment for everything from acne to wrinkles, hair growth and even pain relief. Santa Cruz Light Therapy recently opened at 540 Soquel Ave., offering a full slate of medical-grade LED light therapy services.
  • Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission appoints interim director: The RTC has named Mitch Weiss as interim executive director of the agency, taking over from Guy Preston, who retired as executive director Dec. 1. Weiss, a former executive director of the California Transportation Commission, will head up the RTC while the agency seeks a permanent executive director.
  • Santa Cruz Community Credit Union branch prepares for move: The Santa Cruz branch of the Santa Cruz Community Credit Union is moving to 55 River St. The last day of operation for the 324 Front St. facility is Friday, Dec. 22; the new location is expected to open no later than Jan. 10. Members can conduct transactions at the credit union’s Soquel and Watsonville locations during the transition.

Got hires, promotions or departures to report? Send them to news@lookoutlocal.com with the subject line “Career changes.”

Looking at the numbers

Homes along Aptos' Beach drive represented by the Rio Del Mar Beach Island Homeowners Association.
Homes along Aptos’ Beach Drive represented by the Rio Del Mar Beach Island Homeowners Association. Credit: Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz
  • $4.8 million: That’s the amount an Aptos homeowners association has been fined by the California Coastal Commission for what the state says was an attempt to privatize a coastal pedestrian path along Seacliff State Beach. Lookout’s Christopher Neely has more here.

Save the date

  • Jan. 10: Santa Cruz Works will honor people who have contributed to the growth of the local tech and entrepreneur community at the 2023 Titans of Tech event from 6 to 8 p.m. at Kuumbwa Jazz Center. Details and tickets available here.
  • Jan. 19: CruzHacks marks its 10th anniversary next month. The three-day hackathon at UC Santa Cruz will bring together more than 400 high school and college students to develop innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges in four categories: health, sustainability, justice and education. Organizers are still seeking judges, too. More info here.

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Business news worth reading

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Jessica M. Pasko has been writing professionally for almost two decades. She cut her teeth in journalism as a reporter for the Associated Press in her native Albany, New York, where she covered everything...