There’s
more evidence Pittsburgh is firmly established as a “high tech” locale. This past week, two Pittsburgh start-ups were
purchased by publicly traded “new economy” behemoths. Thar Pharmaceuticals was purchased by
privately held pharmaceutical company Grunenthal GmbH. Headquartered in Aachen, Germany, Grunenthal
has operations in Europe, Australia and Latin America, and reports 2015
revenues of approximately US$1.3 billion.
That news was followed by Pittsburgh-based startup FacioMetrics being
purchased by Menlo Park, CA based Facebook which needs little introduction.
The
acquisition of innovative startups by larger, more established and better
capitalized companies is one of the ways technology progresses. Acquisition of
the region’s creative startups by large, established companies is one of the
ways that Pittsburgh’s high tech community progresses, growing larger and
establishing its bona fides in the global economy. Here’s hoping that both acquisitions result
in the establishment of local Pittsburgh offices for Grunenthal and Facebook. Equally as important, let’s hope an additional
outcome of these purchases will provide Thar Pharmaceutical’s and FacioMetrics’
founding entrepreneurs with new capital to pursue future ideas and dreams here
in western Pennsylvania.
