Utah Business is proud to present the 2023 year in review. This recap features notable news, M&A activity and closed funding rounds within Utah’s business community in August 2023.

News

Kiswe and NBA join forces to stream Utah Jazz games via SEG Media’s new subscription-based service. 

Recursion digitally evaluated more than 2.8 quadrillion small molecule-target pairs in the Enamine REAL Space chemical library to successfully predict the protein target(s) for approximately 36 billion chemical compounds.

American Packaging Corporation celebrates the grand opening of its 275,000-square-foot Center of Excellence in Cedar City, Utah, and is expected to create over a hundred new jobs.

Instructure and Khan Academy announce a groundbreaking partnership, introducing Khanmigo, an AI-powered tool designed to enhance teaching and learning within the Canvas learning environment.

Utah Valley University science professor Joshua Lothringer, who was part of an international planetary exploration team, helps discover the presence of carbon dioxide on an exoplanet 700 lightyears from Earth using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.

Meta, V School and IMPACT Magazine unite to provide a full-ride UX/UI Design scholarship for a Black woman and $500K in partial scholarships for other qualifying applicants. 

Deer Valley Resort announces a transformative partnership and massive expansion, introducing the “Expanded Excellence” program. This multiyear initiative aims to more than double the resort’s skiable terrain, adding 3,700 acres, 16 new chairlifts and a 10-passenger gondola. 

Elizabeth “Betsy” R. Cantwell becomes the 17th president of Utah State University. Cantwell transitions to Utah from her role as SVP for research & innovation at the University of Arizona, where her responsibilities included an $825 million annual research portfolio and the 1,268-acre UA Tech Park.

Salt Lake Community College and the University of Utah unite to launch the Juniper Building in Herriman City, offering students a streamlined path from an associate degree to a bachelor’s degree, all in one location.

UTA celebrates the completion of the Ogden Express (OGX) Bus Rapid Transit line, managed by HNTB Corp. By 2030, the 5.3-mile route will service approximately 4,000 average daily student riders on the campus shuttle and approximately 3,700 average daily riders on the line between Ogden FrontRunner Station and McKay-Dee Hospital.

Quansys Biosciences partners with The Michael J. Fox Foundation to expedite Parkinson’s disease research. This partnership aims to develop advanced immunoassays to monitor disease progression and evaluate therapeutics in clinical trials.

Davis Technical College and the Utah Department of Corrections introduce three new certification programs for women at the Utah State Correctional Facility: automation and robotics, information technology, and web and graphic design. 

Northrop Grumman manufactures the first set of solid rocket motor cases for the Missile Defense Agency’s Next-Generation Interceptor program. 

Maverik, alongside Swire Coca-Cola, donates $686,576 to the National Park Foundation, supporting the “Open OutDoors for Kids” program. 

Myriad Genetics and Intermountain Precision Genomics collaborate to provide oncology test results, enabling access to ComboMATCH trials. This initiative, sponsored by the National Cancer Institute, aims to identify effective anti-cancer drug combinations for patients with advanced solid tumor cancers.

The One Utah Health Collaborative forms a pioneering task force to establish Utah’s inaugural health care spending growth target. 

The South Valley Chamber initiates a two-month pilot program to provide complimentary period products in guest rooms of five local hotels.

Funding

Recipient	Funding Amount	Led By
MotionOps	$1.2M	Alpine 100
Nodal Power	$13M	Spacestation Investments
Nursa	$80M	Drive Capital
Pageport	$1.2M	2048 Ventures
Parallel	$1.85M	Penny Jar Capital
PCF Insurance	$400M	Blue Owl
Pest IQ	$600K	Startup Ignition Ventures
Qualiti AI	$6.5M	Sierra Ventures, Epic Ventures
Rasa Legal	$1.1M
Zaymo	$700K	Handshake, Peak Ventures

M&A Activity

Acquisitions of Utah companies

• Turner Staffing Group acquires The HR Group
• Extendly acquires Noomerik
• Omega Morgan acquires IRH
• NFP acquires Divergent
• Tendit Group acquires Precision Asphalt
• MicroCare acquires ICT
• Bently acquires Blyncsy
• SavaTree acquires Atlas Tree Service
• Pye Barker acquires AAA Fire
• Domes Pharma acquires Sentrix
• Gibson acquires Brisk Advisors
• Grander Acquisition LLC acquires PolarityTE

Acquisitions by Utah companies

• Mobility RE acquires Bonzo
• Cynosure Partners acquires Latimer Wealth Management
• CandyMachines.com acquires SmartClaw
• FJM acquires Kum & Go
• Maverik acquires Solar Transport
• Intermountain Health acquires Advent Home Health Services