PROVIDENCE – Virgin Pulse has acquired local corporate wellness program provider Preventure. The transaction adds a group of proprietary wellness programs and technologies to Virgin Pulse’s portfolio in addition to Preventure’s more than 200 clients and 10 million members across the United States.
David Osborne, CEO of Virgin Pulse, said the company expects to keep a “core team,” roughly 60 percent of Preventure’s current staff, right away. But since Virgin Pulse is still working out its integration plans, he could not provide a specific number of employees.
Retained Preventure employees will be moved from Coventry into Virgin Pulse’s Providence office.
Preventure’s CEO Mark Correia will not be making the transition to Virgin Pulse. Laura Walmsley, previously chief client officer of Preventure, will become senior vice president of business development at Virgin Pulse.
Osborne also noted that Virgin Pulse had 40 open positions at its Providence office and would be working to match Preventure employees not on the immediate transition to those existing position that match their skill sets.
Preventure will no longer be a standalone brand, but will be folded into the Virgin Pulse brand. Osborne said that Virgin Pulse is now reaching out to Preventure clients to try to convert them over to the Virgin Pulse platform, which he said will benefit from the acquisition due to the company’s ability to invest in innovation, and research and development.
He said the two companies had no overlap in clients, but noted that the two companies offered very similar services.
In addition to being named often to PBN’s Fastest Growing Companies lists, Preventure landed at No. 4,589 in Inc. magazine’s 2017 Inc. 5000 list for the fastest-growing companies, with 2016 revenue of $16.4 million and 80 employees.
Virgin Pulse is eligible for $2.5 million in Qualified Job tax credits, which do not take effect until a company’s agreed-upon number of employees are hired and pay state taxes. The agreement is based on 292 jobs with a median wage of $73,000 per year. However, jobs added through mergers and acquisitions do not count towards the tax credit job requirements, according to a spokesman for R.I. Commerce Corp.
Virgin Pulse moved its global headquarters to Providence in 2017, less than two years after it acquired Providence-based wellness program ShapeUp. It employs about 133 people at its offices in the Providence Journal building downtown.
“We are thrilled that Preventure is now part of Virgin Pulse,” said Osborne in a statement. “Not only are we neighbors in Rhode Island, our companies share a similar passion for helping clients recognize how investments in employee health and wellbeing are driving broader workplace benefits. As early pioneers in corporate health promotion and fitness, Preventure brings a wealth of knowledge and experience that we are eager to tap.”
“Virgin Pulse has been a strong and worthy competitor of Preventure’s for several years,” said Correia in prepared remarks. “They have truly become the industry leader and the wellbeing company everyone is chasing. Joining forces ensures that we will have the size, scale and the necessary resources to deliver the very best technology, solutions, user experiences and results to our clients.”
Added Walmsley, “We couldn’t be happier to join the Virgin Pulse team. This is positive news for Preventure customers who now have access to software solutions that will allow them to further enhance and extend their employee wellbeing initiatives,”
