FLASH: ImageTrend Acquires Triangle Tweener BioSpatial + a Local VC Hat Trick!
First (of a ton?) M+A deal for the Triangle is a big one!
At the end of 2024, I mentioned that there was a lot of buzz about exits coming in the Triangle. Well, here are are with the first ‘Monday back’ and the news just dropped seconds ago!
Lakeville, MN based technology firm ImageTrend, announced today they have acquired Biospatial for an undisclosed amount.
We have the inside scoop for you…
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About Biospatial
Founded in 2017, Biospatial is a healthcare analytics company that specializes in collecting, analyzing, and leveraging electronic Patient Care Reports (ePCR) from Emergency Medical Services (EMS) providers across the United States. Founded through a research program sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security and the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health , the company has developed a unique data platform that pulls together a ton of data around EMS incidents across the country.
In today’s AI LLM, Biospatial is essentially sitting on a veritable data goldmine and (this is my pure speculation) I’m sure that was one of the key drivers of this deal.
Biospatial: The Triangle Investor Hat Trick!
One of the other really interesting aspects of biospatial, is they have raised $7.5m since the 2016 founding (according to Crunchbase):
June 2018 - Seed round of $1.1m with 500k and $1.8m coming in 2019 and 2020
May 2022 - E3.4m led by Cofounders Capital
Feb 2024 - Unnamed round of 710k
Biospatial’s venture investors include;
Wolfpack Investor Network - Another Win for WIN! 🐺💪
IDEA Fund Partners - I believe this is Lister’s deal
Bull City Venture Partners (BCVP) - David Jones is the LP
Cofounders Capital - Tim deal?
Front Porch Ventures - Friends of Tweener Fund and all around great folks
Alerion Ventures -out of Charleston, SC, but also good friends of the Triangle area as they invest heavily here.
To my knowledge, biospatial is the first and only company that had BCVP, IDEA Fund AND Cofounders all in one deal making it a rare hat trick and, if we count Front Porch and WIN - a 5-fund hit for the Triangle!
GITTY UP!
Biospatial’s Founders
Finally, the founders of Biospatial are:
Jon Woodworth (Co-founder and CEO) - Jon has a BS and MS from NCSU in Electrical Engineering.
Paul Runkle (Co-founder and Exec Chairman)
Chris Lunsford (Co-foundera and CTO)
Looks like they all worked at BAE together, which I’m betting is where they came up with the idea.
Jon had this to say in the press release: (note the ‘data assets’ piece 🤔)
“By integrating our products and data assets, we are not just merging technologies, but also solidifying our combined ability to deliver unparalleled insights,” said Jon Woodworth, biospatial CEO. “This strategic acquisition unlocks new potentials for innovation, driving our mission to serve our customers better and foster data-driven decisions in emergency services and healthcare.”
About ImageTrend
The acquirer, ImageTrend, focuses on the EMS segment with wide variety of efforts. They took an undisclosed amount of funding (probably a majority buyout I’d guess) from one of the biggest HealthTech PE firms called Welsh, Carson, Anderson and Stowe in Feb of 2023. Again, speculation on my part, but I beet the WCAS folks played an active role here, putting together two great assets.
Here’s what their CEO said about the deal→
This strategic move combines the greatest strengths of two industry leaders bringing together best-in-class data collection with analytics and insights for the healthcare and emergency services space,” said Patrick Sheahan, Chief Executive Officer of ImageTrend. “ImageTrend collects 80% of the U.S. incident data, which when combined with biospatial’s intuitive and accessible platform will deploy powerful insights to drive community health and safety. This move also brings an abundance of opportunities to both of our customers who want to consolidate software providers.”