As companies continue to integrate cloud computing and data analytics into their services, IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM) looks to improve its capabilities by acquiring Explorys.
The Cleveland-based target, a portfolio company of Heritage Group, specializes in managing health care data — a key focus for many companies since the Affordable Care Act was put in place. Heritage invested in Explorys in 2012 with capital from a $167 million fund. Terms of the deal with IBM were not disclosed. Other Explory investors include Sante Ventures and Austin Ventures.
Explorys, which currently has about 145 employees, announced that it wants to hire an additional 80 people in 2015. CEO Stephen McHale, who co-founded the company in 2009, will be joining IBM as part of a new division dubbed the IBM Watson Health Cloud.
Explorys’ services stem from technology designed by Anil Jain, the company’s senior vice president, which consists of software for scanning electronic medical records. McHale notes that the company coincides with the changing way health care is delivered.
The Explorys purchase comes on the heels of IBM’s recent acquisition of Phytel Inc., a Dallas-based developer of health management software. In March, the Armonk, New York, technology company picked up AlchemyAPI Inc., a Denver-based developer of natural language processing software. For more on what dealmakers are saying about the health care sector, see the most recent edition of Mid-Market Pulse.
