Money Moves: Ansys grows via acquisition and Lipella Pharmaceuticals goes public

Money Moves is a column where we chart the funding raises of tech companies across the region. Have a tip? Email us at pittsburgh@technical.ly.

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Happy New Year, readers. Now, we know with the back-to-back holidays and start of the dreaded cold season, keeping up with every acquisition and raise was probably easier said than done at the end of 2022. But Technical.ly is on the case.

From a biotech firm by the name of Lipella announcing its IPO to a pair of acquisitions from Ansys, here are a few Steel City companies that made investments, M&A moves, or are taking other steps to remain leaders in their industry.

Ansys made two acquisitions

Ansys kicked off 2023 with news that it is acquiring Brazil’s Engineering Simulation and Scientific Software subsidiary Rocky DEM.

The Canonsburg-based software simulation company expects that the acquisition of the tool will build on the two entities’ long-term partnership and further Ansys’ growth in South America. Furthermore, execs at Ansys feel that incorporating Rocky’s discrete particle modeling will assist its customers in solving problems in a number of industries.

Financial details weren’t disclosed. By merging the two companies’ teams, engineers will be better able to “design more reliable products, slash development time, and win the race to market,” according to a press release.

“Fully integrating Rocky into Ansys’ portfolio and welcoming its distinguished experts to our team builds upon our demonstrated success and enables Ansys to provide an even more efficient and powerful solution for our customers,” said Shane Emswiler, SVP of products at Ansys, in a statement. “We are delighted to welcome Rocky into the Ansys family.”

This deal comes on the heels of the company acquiring DYNAmore Holding GmbH, a German software company, this past December. By acquiring a company developing simulation solutions to the automotive industry, Ansys hopes adding its expertise will help it operate successfully on an international scale.

“DYNAmore is an amazing company that offers unparalleled automotive crash expertise to the industry,” said Walt Hearn, VP of worldwide sales and customer excellence at Ansys, in a statement. “Adding their invaluable knowledge to Ansys’ direct selling motion will add tremendous benefits to our customers in Europe and across the globe.”

You can catch Ansys at CES 2023 in Las Vegas this week.

In order to combat climate change, companies in all industries are accelerating their sustainability efforts. Discover the many ways Ansys simulation is helping advance world saving technology. #CES2023https://t.co/Zg0ySerLca

— Ansys (@ANSYS) January 2, 2023

Lipella Pharmaceuticals went public

With a focus on cancer survivors, Lipella Pharmaceuticals is developing drugs for new applications by using the active ingredients in generic brands.

The Homewood-based biotech firm announced in mid-December that it was going public with 1,217,391 shares available at a rate of $5.75 per share. Gross proceeds from the shares were expected to total $7 million. The company’s stock price was trading at $3.20 per share as of this Tuesday evening.

Why do IPOs matter? As Pittsburgh tech leaders told us when Duolingo went public in summer 2021 — the first in a wave that included Stronghold Digital Mining, Cognition Therapeutics and Aurora, via SPAC — these big moves could propel the city’s status as a hotspot for further growth, as well as build local wealth that could spawn new companies.

“Healthy ecosystems, right or wrong, are measured by these type of liquidity moments,” tech community leader Kit Mueller said that July. “And so this is just another endorsement of the momentum that’s going on here.”

Wolfe LLC acquired Give InKind

Since the mid-1990s, Wolfe LLC has been making a name for itself in the ecommerce industry by spawning online gift card companies. Now, the Green Tree-based company is branching out.

Through its acquisition of Give InKind, a Tacoma-based company that allows users to raise and send money to loved ones, Wolfe LLC will be gaining a platform that its corporate clients can use for charitable efforts. Give InKind in turn will gain the gift card company’s marketing expertise, card-to-card gifting platform and print-on-demand fulfillment center.

“With this partnership, we’ll be able to leverage our technology to expand Give InKind’s platform and offer Give InKind’s solution to our corporate clients to care for even more people,” said Jason Wolfe, founder and CEO of Wolfe, LLC, in a press release. “Combined, Wolfe and Give InKind will impact millions of people.”

Financial details were not disclosed.

PNC acquired Linga

And PNC Financial Services started the fall with its acquisition of Linga. From the Naples, Florida-based fintech firm, which provides a cloud-based restaurant operating system, PNC as a bank gets to expand its digital resources and increase its ability to serve hospitality and restaurant industry clients.

“This acquisition reflects our continued commitment to expanding our corporate payments capabilities, as well as investing in the solutions and tools our clients need to run their businesses more effectively,” said Emma Loftus, EVP and head of PNC Treasury Management, in a statement.

Loftus said the plan was to merge Linga’s proprietary solutions and PNC’s competitive treasury management platform to improve customers overall experiences. Through the years, Linga and PNC have worked together and seen success with combined payments capabilities.

Linga would retain CEO and founder Onur Haytac to manage its portfolio of channel partners and clients, the companies said, and Linga’s staff in Canada and the US would continue working out of its Naples and Toronto offices.

Check out Technical.ly’s March profile of indi, a company formed out of PNC’s internal incubator and fintech lab numo.

Atiya Irvin-Mitchell is a 2022-2024 corps member for Report for America, an initiative of The Groundtruth Project that pairs young journalists with local newsrooms. This position is supported by the Heinz Endowments.