💸 CourseStorm raises $1.15M, Covetrus to create 900 jobs in Portland, and more...

Feb 11, 2019

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Good morning. It was only a one-week hiatus, but it feels like forever since I sent out the last newsletter. We're back with a look at what's going on in Maine's startup and innovation-focused community.

Vets First Choice is now Covetrus, debuts on Nasdaq, plans 1,200 jobs in downtown Portland

Vets First Choice on Thursday closed its previously announced merger with the animal health division of Henry Schein Inc. (Nasdaq: HSIC). The new company, named Covetrus, debuted on the Nasdaq on Friday with the ticket symbol CVET, with CEO Ben Shaw ringing the opening bell at the exchange.

Click the link below for the full article, or just take away these bullet points:

Covetrus will be headquartered in Portland, Maine
It currently has more than 5,000 employees, including Vets First Choice's core workforce of 300 in Portland
Ben Shaw, co-founder and CEO of Vets First Choice, is the CEO of Covetrus
Shaw said the company plans to add 900 jobs in Portland over the next three years, including in high-tech fields such as software engineering, biotech, R&D, pharmaceuticals, and data security.
Has ≈100k customers in more than 100 countries
Pro forma 2018 revenue of more than $4 billion, making it the largest publicly traded company in Maine when measuring by revenue
Covetrus' market cap is $4.56 billion (compare to Idexx's market cap of $18 billion)
Ben Shaw's take: “To take a company from formation to the public markets and operate at a global scale is a really awesome journey and I think we’ve demonstrated that you can do something like that from Portland, Maine, and I hope others follow in our footsteps."

CourseStorm raises $1.15M in early financing

CourseStorm, the Orono-based company that sells course-registration software to small- and medium-sized organizations, has raised $1.15 million in a Series B financing. The company is gaining traction, now claiming customers in 44 states. It plans to hire 20 people over the next 36 months.

Briefly Mentioned

+ Great interview with Katie Shorey, president of Startup Maine, on Marty Grohman's The Grow Maine Show. Give a listen.

+ Speaking of Startup Maine, the organization is now accepting proposals from people that want to offer workshops at the annual conference, which will take place in Portland on June 20 + 21. Application deadline is March 1.

ICYMI

A few recent MSI articles you may have missed:

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Jobs

Seeking a full-stack engineer? A technical co-founder? A sales or biz dev superstar? Send me your job postings to make this a great resource!

+ CourseStorm, an education-based SaaS company located in Orono, is hiring a digital marketing specialist and a support team member.

+ Walch Education, a venture-backed company in Portland developing a cloud-based "curriculum-as-a-service" platform for education organizations, is hiring a director of finance and a director of engineering.

+ Guideline, a California-based fintech startup with an office in Portland, is hiring senior ruby engineers and customer success associates.

+ Rapid Insight, a data analytics software firm, is hiring for positions in sales, marketing, data analysis, and software development.

+ Colby College is hiring a web operations manager.

+ Freeport Metrics, a software development firm, is hiring a UX/UI designer, a UX/UI design lead, and a business analyst in its Portland office (though remote work is a possibility).

+ MedRhythms, the Portland-based healthcare startup, is hiring a mobile and front-end application developer, a full-stack developer, and a VP of business development.

+ Taylor Stitch, a San Francisco-based online clothing retailer, is opening a Portland office and is actively hiring a customer experience associate and a senior financial analyst.

+ Theory and Principle, a new legal-tech product design and development startup in Portland (you can read about it here), is hiring a UX/UI designer and a senior front-end developer.

+ Wet Chip, a nascent startup developing a smartphone chemical analyzer that uses the magnetometer to read liquids, is looking for a wireless engineer and artist. If interested, email Founder Roy Rike.

+ CashStar, now part of the Blackhawk Network, is hiring for a number of software and engineering roles

+ Defendify, a cybersecurity startup in Portland, is hiring for sales and business development roles.

+ Dream Local Digital in Rockland is hiring for a host of marketing positions.

Sponsor message from Cloudport

Calendar

Selling Software: Legal Issues
Mon., Feb. 11, 6-7:30 p.m. — Cloudport in Portland
This workshop will go over critical legal issues that web developers and owners of software-as-a-service businesses or software development firms need to be aware of in order to grow, increase revenue and avoid liability. The workshop will be led by Adam Nyhan, a business attorney at Opticliff Law, and sponsored by SCORE. For more information and to register.

Please send me your event or calendar item for possible inclusion.

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Thanks to MSI's inaugural Community Benefactors. If your organization is interested in becoming a Community Benefactor, please send me an email.

Maine Startups Insider