More than 15 Tampa Bay tech companies had exits in 2022

The local companies went beyond funding rounds or massive partnerships and instead entered into exit deals.

Getty Images / Andy Roberts

By Lauren Coffey - TBBJ & Inno Reporter

December 21, 2022, 06:49am EST

Plenty of companies found success in 2022 through fundings, partnerships or an influx of customers and sales.

But some tech startups surpassed that, hitting what many consider the pinnacle of success: an exit.

We rounded up every local tech company acquired over the last year. Check them out below.

Tampa-based Sixwatch, a cybersecurity and IT services firm, acquired Sarasota Support, a technology support organization, in February. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed, but Sixwatch stated it was the "first of many" acquisitions for the company.
One of Tampa's longtime startup standouts, Peerfit, was acquired for an undisclosed amount. The exercise technology company was bought by LA-based FitOn. Get all the details you need.

The Peerfit team at a workout

(Provided/Peerfit)

Sarasota-based Generations Wealth Planning LLC was acquired by Atlanta financial services firm OneDigital Investment Advisors. The company is a subsidiary of OneDigital and announced the deal closed in February for an undisclosed amount.
Omnivore, the Silicon Valley-turned-Tampa-transplant restaurant company, was acquired in February by Olo, a publicly traded online ordering provider. Olo cited Omnivore's library of apps and relationships with more than 100 tech suppliers as main drivers for the deal. Get the full story.

The Omnivore platform can be used by restaurant owners to better integrate and use technology that is exploding in the food industry.

Provided

St. Pete-based Big Sea acquired Tampa-based Sparxoo for an undisclosed amount in March. Both entities are local marketing technology firms and, at the time of the deal, had a combined 42 employees with roughly $6 million in annual revenue. Get the story.

Leaders of Big Sea and Sparxoo: left to right, David Capece and Rob Kane of Sparxoo with Andi Graham and Dzuy Nguyen of Big Sea.

Big Sea

Barry Shevlin, the co-founder behind Tampa-based tech firm Vology, launched CAVU Capital in December 2020 as a way to invest in midsize tech companies. In May, it merged with Tampa-based Hyde Park Capital. CAVU will retain its name and Shevlin as CEO. It will focus on investing in companies hitting between $2 million to $5 million in EBITDA, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. Get the full details.

Barry Shevlin

Nola Laleye

Brandon-based CyberPeak Solutions was acquired by UNS Inc., a Minneapolis-based IT consulting services provider, for an undisclosed amount in May. CyberPeak was founded in 2015 and is a managed security service provider.
Startup-focused Hunter Business Law merged with Tampa-based Trenam Law in May. Founder Sheryl Hunter said it will help leverage her growing number of clients as the startup scene continues to grow in the region. Get the story.

Sheryl Hunter

Courtesy of Hunter Business Law

BlocHealth CEO Jared Taylor moved his company from Boston to St. Petersburg last year and, in June, announced it was acquired by St. Louis-based SteadyMD for an undisclosed amount. See Taylor's next plans for St. Pete-based tech firms.

BlocHealth's Jared Taylor (left) with SteadyMD's Guy Friedman and Yarone Goren

SteadyMD

Lakeland-based DSM, an IT provider to government agencies, was acquired by Massachusetts-based Thrive for an undisclosed amount in June. The new partnership will allow DSM customers to access Thrive’s managed services like cybersecurity and cloud capabilities.
Chicago-based talent consulting group Addison Group acquired Tampa tech firm Harmony Healthcare for an undisclosed amount in July. It was the consulting firm's first foray into tech, according to Addison Group.
Quote.com, a Tampa marketing tech firm with a focus on insurance, acquired fellow Tampa martech company Ring2Media for an undisclosed amount in July. Quote.com is a portfolio company of Tampa-based Osceola Capital. Ring2Media, while a marketing tech firm, specializes in Medicare enrollment.
Local IT giant Vology was acquired by ATSG, a New York-based managed service provider, in August. The deal was closed for an undisclosed amount, although Vology plans to keep its Clearwater headquarters. Get the story.

Clearwater-based Vology's local presence will remain intact following the deal with Manhattan-based ATSG.

Vology

Clearwater-based cybersecurity company KnowBe4 is in the process of being bought by Austin-based Vista Equity Partners for a staggering $4.6 billion. The deal was initially announced in October and would be among the largest corporate deals in the region’s history. Get the story.

The team at KnowBe4

Robert LaFollette

Cognitive Research Corp., a St. Pete-based health care company, had a majority stake in its company acquired in October by Cincinnati-based RC Capital. The undisclosed investment is for recapitalization and growth, according to the company.
Tampa-based software company Third Wall was acquired from Orlando area-based ThreatLocker in November for an undisclosed amount. Both focus on the managed service provider industries.

ThreatLocker on Dec. 9 held a grand opening for its 42,000-square-foot headquarters at 1950 Summit Drive in Maitland.

Alex Soderstrom/OBJ

Culture Partners, a California-based portfolio company of Indianapolis private equity firm HKW, acquired Paradigm Learning, a Seminole-based edtech company, in November for an undisclosed amount.