For many innovation-focused organizations, the end of the year will also be the beginning for a number of new executives in Tampa Bay.
We rounded up the promotions, new hirings and company acquisitions that occurred in the region through November. And if you want to see how many funds were raised in November, you can see that here.
• Rachel Feinman, previously the executive director of the Florida-Israel Business Accelerator, will be moving to Tampa General Hospital. Feinman will serve as the hospital's vice president of innovation and also head its new $15 million innovation-focused fund. Get those full details.
• Rakefet Bachur-Phillips will now serve as co-executive director for the Florida-Israel Business Accelerator, along with Pam Miniati. The duo has big plans for FIBA, including raising its own fund and adding new corporate partnerships. Read more here.
• Perch Security, a Tampa-based cybersecurity company, was acquired by ConnectWise. For background: In 2018, the Tampa software giant led a $9 million Series A fund for Perch Security. Financial details of the acquisition are undisclosed, but you can see what the deal means for both companies here.
• Ramit Singh was hired as the Tampa Bay Wave’s director of startup and entrepreneurship programs, with the main goal to be helping the startups that have gone through the Wave's accelerator program continue to grow, in both connections and funding. Singh previously served as director of operations for New York-based Via and also worked for three years at New York-based SelectMinds, which was later acquired by software giant Oracle.
• Marcus Howard, the co-founder of ProjectMQ, has rebranded it to become St. Petersburg-based MetArena. MetArena's aim is to partner with schools and universities that can leverage esports as a way to increase community engagement. It recently closed a deal with the University of Kentucky, which will launch its platform in the spring. Learn more about the new company here.
• GI Partners, a San Francisco-based private investment firm, has acquired Valet Living, a Tampa-based company. Valet Living offers housing units a number of services, including doorstep waste and recycling, maintenance and pet solutions.
