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Technical.ly: These 12 Baltimore Startups Got Acquired in 2017

Thursday, December 21, 2017

A string of exits was one of the defining stories for Baltimore's tech community this year. Startups such as Parking Panda, RedOwl and Harpoon Medical are among those with new owners.

While 2016 was marked by a changing landscape as the city’s tech community expanded into new neighborhoods, 2017 was defined by moves from the companies themselves.

Namely, the Baltimore startups that exited this year. There was a notable uptick in such deals, and they involved some recognizable local names.

A string of acquisitions in 2017 saw some big payouts, some company names disappear from the scene and some big players who came to town as the buyers. Let’s look back at a dozen that turned heads in the community:

Maryland’s cybersecurity community is seeing lots of movement, and the year started with some deals, as MacAulay-Brown purchased Enlighten IT Consulting and VOR Technology brought on Columbia’s Sintel Group.

The scene shifted to Baltimore city in the spring, where a trio of companies that were all around five years old and saw growth around Federal Hill exited.

Parking Panda was scooped up by fellow off-street parking reservation company SpotHero in April in a deal that saw Parking Panda’s office remain open.

Baltimore’s edtech scene also saw a shift. Betamore grad Citelighter’s technology was purchased by Sylvan Learning. About a month later, bookish AccelerateBaltimore grad Unbound Concepts was acquired by Massachusetts Certica Solutions.

A late October deal saw what Guy Fillipelli called a “great day” for Baltimore as cybersecurity startup RedOwl was acquired by Raytheon subsidiary Forcepoint. The $54 million deal kept RedOwl’s office and team intact under the Forcepoint name.

In August, Mt. Vernon–based agency Enradius was the buyer a deal for Changeup Marketing.

 Startups in the city’s university community also saw plenty of exits.

Click here to read the rest of the story via Technical.ly Baltimore.