StarFish Makes First Acquisition in 7 Years

StarFish Medical said it has acquired Omnica, a specialist in medical device design and engineering. This is the second acquisition StarFish Medical has made in seven years.

The acquisition brings together these two highly complementary businesses and allows StarFish Medical to expand its local footprint to California, a key market for medtech innovation. 

StarFish Medical intends to retain the remaining team at Omnica, thereby adding the expertise of employees at this 40-year-old company to its repertoire. 

The acquisition also includes Omnica's 25,000-square-foot facility in Irvine, CA where the firm develops medical products like disposables, diagnostic products, hand-held instruments, monitoring equipment, point-of-care products, and surgical devices. 

"Adding Omnica to the StarFish family brings us closer to our clients in California and makes us even better placed to lead North America in medtech innovation," said Scott Phillips, StarFish Medical CEO and Founder. "Omnica offers a team of experts in custom medical device development with a strong, local connection to their clients that rivals our own. Omnica's prototyping capacity is unparalleled in the industry.  I'm looking forward to joining forces to amplify the support we can offer to medical technology companies.

Related:H.B. Fuller Establishes European HQ with Acquisitions in Medical Adhesive Space

Omnica's co-founder, Earl Robinson, has announced his retirement. 

"When Rex Bare and I started this company 40 years ago, no one had the vision of where technology might take us. Medical device design and development was, and is a fertile environment," Robinson said. "Our biggest strength has always been our people — the experts our clients rely on for their design, engineering, and prototyping needs. Joining the StarFish team broadens our network of proven industry experts, and our clients get extraordinary access to meet their needs."

In 2017, StarFish acquired Kangaroo Group in Toronto. StarFish said with a presence in Victoria, Toronto, and Irvine it now has 250 full-time staff serving the entire North American market.