San Antonio—Watershed Idea Foundry, a life science incubator operated by a San Antonio venture capital firm, has acquired a similar product development and commercialization business, Encinitas, CA-based Additive Innovations.
Watershed, which offers startups services such as proof-of-concept testing and prototype manufacturing in exchange for equity, is keeping its name but making Additive’s founder Nick Cordaro the CEO of the combined company. Both Watershed and Additive focus on startups, and have paying customers that are later-stage businesses. Watershed sells those companies regulatory, legal, and prototype design services on a contract basis, according to founder Brian Kieser.
Additive, meanwhile, focuses on medical device manufacturing and offers services such as product development, business consulting, and commercialization, Watershed said in a statement. Before Cordaro founded Additive in 2014, he worked in biomedical product development for companies including SeaSpine and the spine division of Integra LifeSciences.
Watershed was founded in 2016 by Fountainhead Investment Partners, a firm that started in 2014 as an angel fund. Fountainhead has raised a $3 million initial fund, which it is looking to expand, and plans to use Watershed as a pipeline for investments, says Kieser, a managing partner of the venture firm.
Watershed is keeping offices in both California and Texas with headquarters in San Antonio. The combined companies will have about 15 clients. Terms were not disclosed.
