Synzi, a St. Petersburg-based company focusing on the telehealth industry, has been acquired in a $42 million cash deal.
San Diego-based AMN Healthcare (NYSE: AMN), which provides workforce services for health care facilities, closed the deal in April.
Synzi's CEO Lee Horner told the Tampa Bay Business Journal the two organizations had a relationship over the last year when AMN began using its technology. "They started to use our technology to deliver solutions to their clients, and it was a natural fit to leverage the relationship," he said. "To help them expand and move into the post-acute market which they had been working to get into."
Horner said the acquisition would essentially leave the company to do "business as usual." It will keep its name, brand, office in St. Petersburg and all 35 current employees. One of the few changes will be a new title for Horner, set to be known as the head of telehealth technology solutions for AMN Healthcare.
"I'm excited to see where we can grow the company; AMN's big belief is to maintain the people who know the product the best," Horner said. "My expectation is to continue to expand our footprint and grow."
Synzi was founded in 2018 and provides remote patient monitoring and virtual care platforms for the outpatient and home health sectors. Health care organizations can use the platforms for doctor-to-doctor and doctor-to-patient communications through messaging, texts and email.
“The impact of severe shortages of talent within health care will have lasting effects," Susan Salka, CEO of AMN Healthcare, said in a statement. "To ensure AMN is well-prepared to continue ... delivering on our promise of total talent solutions, we are increasing investments in our team and technologies, in particular our digital capabilities."
According to an earnings call, AMN Healthcare had its highest revenue and earnings in company history. In Q1, the company had $885.9 million in revenue, up 47% from Q1 2020, and a gross profit of $288.9 million, up 43% from Q1 2020.
"I think [the news] will do a couple of things; it will help continue to drive exposure into the St. Pete market and resources into the St. Pete market," Horner said. "A lot of people are looking at Florida, and it drives additional resources into the market itself. It's very good from a St. Pete market perspective and that we're getting exposure in the marketplace."
The company is the latest of several throughout Tampa Bay that were bought this year. Last week, technology company Vector Solutions was acquired by San Francisco private equity firm Genstar Capital. In April, education technology startup Script was acquired by a North Carolina company. Q1 acquisitions have already outpaced the entirety of 2020 acquisitions in the region.
