While poll workers were tallying votes, we tallied up all the mergers, acquisitions, splits and shutdowns that took place in Massachusetts last month.
The highest-value transaction in October, as far as we know, was Exact Sciences' pending acquisition of cancer-screening firm Thrive Earlier Detection, one of BostInno’s 2020 Inno on Fire. The cash-and-stock deal could be worth up to $2.15 billion.
Meanwhile, in a blow to downtown Boston’s coworking scene, two major coworking spaces closed up shop: Fab@CIC and GSVlabs (recently rebranded as OneValley). Both say they hope to reopen one day. Fab@CIC partner the Fab Foundation is retaining most of the equipment from the space, and GSVlabs was able to retain its staff, who will continue to engage Boston-area innovators.
Another twist? Private equity firm BC Partners, which owns PetSmart and its subsidiary Chewy.com, decided to split the pet retailers in two and recapitalize PetSmart.
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Here are the highlights from October 2020.
Burlington-based medtech company Laborie Medical Technologies, in partnership with growth equity firm Signet Healthcare Partners, closed its previously announced acquisition of GI Supply, which develops specialty endoscopy and paracentesis products. No financial terms were disclosed.
Bedford-based software company Progress completed its previously announced $200 million acquisition of Chef, a DevOps and DevSecOps company based in Seattle.
Fab@CIC shut down for good. Cambridge Innovation Center made the decision based on operating adjustments made necessary by the pandemic, per an email distributed to Fab@CIC subscribers. Most of the equipment will return to Fab@CIC’s partner, the Fab Foundation, and a small collection which could constitute a mini fab lab will remain at CIC to “hopefully reincarnate one day in the future.”
WellSky, a health and community care technology company, entered into a definitive agreement with Allscripts to acquire Boston-based CarePort Health, a care coordination software company that connects acute and post-acute providers and payers, for $1.35 billion.
Boston-based Appfire, a provider of apps for software development teams, acquired Innovalog, maker of Jira Misc Workflow Extensions. No financial terms were disclosed.
Ballard Power Systems sold the drone business assets of its subsidiary in Southborough to Honeywell. No financial terms were disclosed.
Focus Technology, a Boston-based provider of IT infrastructure, managed IT services, cybersecurity and cloud solutions, acquired Boston data engineering firm IntegritD. No financial terms were disclosed.
Eli Lilly announced it would acquire Disarm Therapeutics, a Cambridge-based biotech working to “disarm” the SARM1 protein, which plays a key role in neurodegeneration. The deal is worth $135 million up front.
California secure networks company Juniper Networks agreed to acquire Burlington-based software-defined wide area networks company 128 Technology for $450 million.
Three years after saddling PetSmart with debt to acquire online rival Chewy, which is based in Boston and Florida, a group led by private equity firm BC Partners is splitting them in two. The group plans to recapitalize PetSmart with $1.3B of equity and $4.65B of debt raised from institutional money managers, Bloomberg reports.
Boston-based Appfire, a provider of apps for software development teams, is acquiring six business intelligence apps from Navarambh Software. No financial terms were disclosed. As part of the acquisition Navarambh’s founder and AIO apps creator, Harsh Agarwal, will join the company as chief product architect.
Exact Sciences announced plans to buy cancer-screening firm Thrive Earlier Detection, one of BostInno’s 2020 Inno on Fire, in a cash-and-stock deal that could be valued up to $2.15 billion.
GSVlabs, the downtown coworking space that first opened its doors nearly three years ago, announced it would close up shop on Nov. 1 after tenant startups reduced their space needs.
Vedere Bio, a stealthy Cambridge startup focused on restoring functional vision from blindness, was acquired by Novartis for $150 million upfront. The startup will be eligible for up to $130 million in milestone payments, for a total of $280 million.
