Business

The longtime owner of Donna’s Tavern & Restaurant has decided to put the Dundalk business up for auction as she prepares for retirement. The fully-operational restaurant at 6607 Pine Ave. and all its equipment will be auctioned off live and on-site on Jan. 27. A 7-day liquor license, outdoor dining space, indoor entertainment license and three, fully-leased second-floor apartments are also part of the listing on W. Wachter Auctions’ website.

Stephen Ritterbush was practically born on the water. After moving to Annapolis from Long Island in the 1950s, Ritterbush’s earliest memories were of catching glimpses of the city’s waterfront on his way to Green Street School (now known as Annapolis Elementary School) and later as a teen shredding coconuts at Jack Schley’s delicatessen inside Market House. He soon found himself skittering around Spa Creek and the Severn River in a progressively larger series of boats, even using the water to get to high school.

An Ohio-based distributor of construction materials and supplies has opened a new warehouse in Baltimore County. Nash Distribution leased the 6,000-square-foot warehouse at 601 N. Hammonds Ferry Road in Linthicum Heights to help meet consumer demands and address ongoing global supply chain shortages and backlogs. The expansion is also a response to the 30% year-over-year growth the company has observed in the mid-Atlantic region over the past two years, according to a statement from Nash Distribution President Jeremy Cantor.

The final numbers are still being tallied, but one thing is already clear: 2021 was a record-breaking year for venture capital fundraising in Maryland. The BBJ reported earlier this year that Maryland companies only needed three quarters to raise about $1.6 billion, surpassing the $1.26 billion raised in all of 2020, according to figures provided by the PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor report. The Greater Baltimore area was on the cusp of shattering its record, too, with more than $500 million in VC funding as of September.

What does your diamond shape say about you? Which engagement ring suits your astrological sign? What does a 3-carat diamond look like on your hand? These are just some of the video prompts that have helped Baltimore-based Smyth Jewelers rack up nearly 19,000 followers and more than 420,000 likes on TikTok. The company joined the popular social media video platform in late 2020 as a way to try and reach new, and younger, customers.

Could it get any more Baltimore than this? It was a beautiful day in Charm City when James C. Foster took a Midwestern investor to Nick’s Fish House, overlooking the Patapsco River. Foster had an idea for his company, ZeroFox, one of the biggest cybersecurity firms in the area. He wanted ZeroFox to acquire another cybersecurity firm in Oregon and go public — at the same time.