Fingerpaint Acquires Splice, Boosting the Company’s West Coast Presence
The California-based healthcare communications firm will be fully integrated into Fingerpaint.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. and EMERYVILLE, CALIF.—Fingerpaint, a full-service health and wellness marketing firm with a global team of more than 580 people, has acquired Splice, a healthcare communications business based in Emeryville, California. Details of the transaction were not disclosed.
Fingerpaint is known for its innovative and data-driven approach to providing analytics-enabled, integrated marketing solutions to a growing roster of healthcare clients, specifically in the pharmaceutical, rare disease, and gene therapy sectors. The acquisition and full integration of Splice into the Fingerpaint brand will bolster the company, which was just named Agency of the Year, Category I, by Med Ad News, give it a footprint on the West Coast, and support its continued commitment to being a best-in-class commercialization services provider for biopharma.
“Splice has built a great company filled with top healthcare communications talent who we are looking forward to welcoming into the Fingerpaint family,” said Bill McEllen, a Fingerpaint Partner who also leads the firm’s advertising group. “As Fingerpaint continues to partner with biopharma earlier in the commercialization process, this move will help us grow in a geographical area where biopharma companies are booming.”
According to the California Life Sciences Association’s 2020 California Life Sciences Sector Report released in October, there are 3,766 life sciences companies, up 348 from the prior year, in California, with 1,380 new therapies in the development pipeline.
As part of the transaction, Splice Co-Founder Paul Hagopian will continue to lead the group’s day-to-day operations, reporting directly to McEllen. Hagopian has nearly 25 years of healthcare communications expertise and held a number of leadership positions prior to founding Splice.
“Fingerpaint’s people-first culture and its award-winning work made for the perfect combination,” said Hagopian. “Integrating into Fingerpaint will allow us to provide new and enhanced services to our clients and growth opportunities for our employees while still maintaining our West Coast roots.”
Knox Lane, a private equity firm based in San Francisco, is a strategic investor in Fingerpaint.
“We are confident that this acquisition will continue growing Fingerpaint’s roster of best-in-class talent and services as they continue to hold their spot as the premier commercialization partner for biopharma,” said Shamik Patel, Partner at Knox Lane.
In March, Fingerpaint announced a strategic investment in Leaderboard Branding, a leading global naming and branding business based in Charlotte, North Carolina. It joined other Fingerpaint companies: 1798, a market access and commercialization firm that specializes in healthcare consulting services, including patient and provider access services, financial impact analysis and analytics, competitive intelligence, and pull-through solutions; and Photo 51, a consultancy focused solely on advanced therapeutics, such as gene and cell therapies.
About Fingerpaint
Reset your expectations of a health and wellness firm. Independent by design and built on a foundation of empathy, Fingerpaint is biopharma’s commercialization partner for analytics-enabled integrated solutions. At its core is an award-winning global team of more than 580 people who are committed to creating and executing meaningful brand experiences for healthcare providers, care partners, and patients.
Fingerpaint was named 2021 Agency of the Year by Med Ad News, and in 2018, it won the Heart Award from Med Ad News for its commitment to philanthropy and social causes. Additionally, it has been on Inc. Magazine’s list of the 5,000 Fastest-Growing Companies for the past eight years. Visit us at Fingerpaint.com and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.