As the end of the year nears with Q4's kick off, Tampa Bay companies continued stacking their teams, partnership lineups and building their acquisition portfolios. In case you missed any of it, we've got the rundown below.
• Spectrio, a Tampa-based audio visual marketing company, acquired Pennsylvania-based Industry Weapon for an undisclosed amount. The deal will allow Spectrio to continue building and enhancing its customer engagement technology.
• Knack teamed up with Lakeland-based Florida Polytechnic University to help bolster the STEM talent pipeline. Knack, the online tutoring service, will be used by Florida Poly students to work with nine high schools across the Tampa Bay region. The students will help tutor the high schoolers in science, engineering, math and technology.
• Tech Data acquired Singapore-based Innovix Distribution, a technology distributor for Asia. The acquisition helps Clearwater-based Tech Data expand into Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. The acquisition also adds more than 500 new colleagues to the company.
The company also hired Bonnie Smith as its new chief information officer. Smith has worked for six Fortune 250 companies over her career, including DuPont, Thermo Fisher Scientific and Abbott Laboratories. She most recently served four years as the CIO and vice president at Michigan-based Lear Corp. Inc.
• A-LIGN, a Tampa-based cyber compliance company, hired Tribridge co-founder Mike Herdegen as its new chief technology officer. Tribridge was one of the region's largest privately owned companies before DXC Technology Co. acquired it in 2017. A-LIGN also hired Brian Gladstein as its new senior vice president of marketing. Learn more about the hiring here.
• Tampa-based Venuetize made new shifts in four positions within its organization and has its eye on filling at least four more spots soon. Ben Reubenstein will join the company as chief advisor to the office of the CEO; he was the former CEO of POSSIBLE Mobile, which is now Wunderman Thompson Apps. Todd San Jule was hired for the role of VP of strategy, after serving at sports betting entity PointsBet. Internally, Adam Keller was promoted to VP of product and portfolio with Asim Thakker promoted to VP of software engineering.
• The University of South Florida's College of Marine Sciences teamed up with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to use innovative technology to further map the world's oceans. Some of the innovative tech on deck include autonomous surface vehicles, underwater robots and underwater satellites. Learn more about what the partnership means for the region here.
• Florida Funders-backed Trash Butler, which was created by College Hunks Hauling Junk founders, has made its first acquisition. The company acquired Texas-based WellKept for an undisclosed amount. The deal helped nearly double Trash Butler's 'doors under contract' to 170K doors and added 20 new corporate employees that will remain in Texas. This is the first acquisition for the founders in general, but has laid the groundwork for 2021. See their plans here.
• KnowBe4, a Clearwater-based cybersecurity firm, expanded to the Middle East with a new Dubai office. This marks the tenth country the company is now in, including Japan, Australia and Germany.
• New Jersey-based Pacira BioSciences Inc. is opening a 20K sq. ft. innovation and training center in Tampa. Aptly named The Pacira Innovation and Training Center of Tampa, the space will allow clinical training to occur that focuses on reducing patient exposure to opioids. The center will be nestled inside the Lincoln Center on West Kennedy Boulevard and have seven ultrasound stations, a lecture hall and a green-screen broadcast studio to create content.
• MyAreaNetwork, a Tampa-based marketing technology company, hired Aaron Watkins as its chief revenue officer. Watkins previously served 15 years at Tampa-based Actsoft Inc.
