Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories Inc. is investing $150 million in a Post Falls manufacturing facility to meet the company's high demand for power grid protection products.

Primarily driven by outside capital and nationwide corporate interest, a wave of business acquisitions and early-stage investments has swept through the Inland Northwest this summer. From Missouri and South Dakota to Georgia and Utah, out-of-town buyers and national firms are acquiring and investing in established Spokane-area companies across a variety of industries.

Kristopher Pockell is a software engineering manager at Liberty Lake-based OpenEye by day and the co-founder of Spokane Valley-based Elixir Sauce Co. by night.