A Durham health care staffing startup has become the latest Triangle firm to score an exit – and as employees had equity, 62 people got checks from the deal.
That's according to Robert Crowe, CEO of Durham-based Matchwell, which was recently acquired by Nebraska-based Medical Solutions, a workforce solutions firm. He declined to give financial specifics, but said the deal was "very good" for both investors and employees.
"In the current economy, it's kind of like being Santa Clause," he said.
Initially, Matchwell was on the hunt for more investors. It hit the pitch trail last Fall and had its "pick," Crowe said.
"Everybody wanted to write a check into what we were doing, but this acquisition came about because what we realized is, it wasn't just the money," he said. "It was the infrastructure. How do we grow fast?"
With Medical Solutions, the company gains thousands of new clients in one fell swoop. Crowe anticipates doubling the team in the coming months.
"We're already hiring a lot more," he said, noting the firm's reach is about to get a lot bigger. "There won't be a health care organization in America that doesn't know who we are."
Matchwell's goal is to help health care organizations better tap into their communities to fill contract or per diem work efficiently. Crow describes it as automating the staffing problem, eliminating the middle man.
According to the companies, the Durham operation – which is largely remote – will stay put. 15 percent of the team is located in Durham.
Matchwell has raised more than $6.4 million in outside capital, according to securities filings, though Crowe said last year the total is actually about $10 million since inception.
The firm last closed on capital in 2021. At the time, Crowe said to expect growth. The firm was at 25 employees with plans to add “one to two [people] a month,” he said in February 2021.
Crowe, a Georgia native and 20-year veteran of the staffing industry, founded the company in 2018.
“After 20 years of doing it the hard way, I finally left to build a better process,” he told TBJ last year. “The staffing industry is anything but efficient. It’s awful. I knew technology had to be the answer. … I just really woke up one day and realized I was on the wrong team.”
