LOS ANGELES, January 9, 2020 – Marlin Equity Partners (“Marlin”) is pleased to announce that it has acquired Blue Mesa Health, Inc. (“Blue Mesa”), a leading mobile-first Diabetes Prevention Program (“DPP”) technology platform that enables pre-diabetic employees and health plan members to more effectively manage their health and achieve sustained lifestyle transformations. The company’s DPP solution, which has received full recognition by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, delivers a robust twelve-month behavior change program through a combination of software, remote monitoring, and both individualized and group-based health coaching. Blue Mesa will be merged with Virgin Pulse, a Marlin portfolio company, accelerating Virgin Pulse’s expansion into the digital therapeutics space and better positioning Virgin Pulse to more effectively address the unique needs of members with chronic conditions.
The acquisition of Blue Mesa facilitates the launch of Virgin Pulse Transform, a digital therapeutic solution for DPP built upon Blue Mesa’s Transform platform and curriculum. The platform is immediately available to Virgin Pulse’s existing customer base of over six million members, as well as existing users within Blue Mesa’s broader customer base.
“As employers, employees and health plans embrace technology to help reduce and reverse chronic conditions, digital diabetes prevention programs represent one of the largest opportunities to positively impact health and reduce healthcare costs,” said David Osborne, CEO of Virgin Pulse. “By combining Blue Mesa’s clinically-proven Diabetes Prevention Program with Virgin Pulse’s high daily engagement rates, we can reach a greater share of the prediabetic population and sustain their engagement over meaningful periods of time.”
“This acquisition further highlights our ongoing investment in the Virgin Pulse platform and represents an exciting milestone as Virgin Pulse expands into the digital therapeutics market with proven, scalable solutions that help address customers’ most pressing health concerns,” said Michael Anderson, a managing director at Marlin.
About Marlin Equity Partners
Marlin Equity Partners is a global investment firm with over $6.7 billion of capital under management. The firm is focused on providing corporate parents, shareholders and other stakeholders with tailored solutions that meet their business and liquidity needs. Marlin invests in businesses across multiple industries where its capital base, industry relationships and extensive network of operational resources significantly strengthen a company’s outlook and enhance value. Since its inception, Marlin, through its group of funds and related companies, has successfully completed over 160 acquisitions. The firm is headquartered in Los Angeles, California with an additional office in London. For more information, please visit www.marlinequity.com.
About Virgin Pulse
Founded in 2004, Virgin Pulse is the world’s largest, most comprehensive digital health and wellbeing SaaS company focused on driving real outcomes for employees, employers, health plans and their members. As the industry’s only digital health and wellbeing company to fuse high tech with high touch, Virgin Pulse engages users every day in building and sustaining healthy habits and lifestyles and managing chronic disease. The company’s wellbeing offerings include benefits navigation, claims analysis, digital and live coaching, condition management and diabetes prevention to support more than six million Virgin Pulse members around the world across the entire wellbeing, health and health care lifecycle — from prevention to intervention to reversal. To learn more, please visit www.virginpulse.com.
For additional information, please contact Peter Spasov at (310) 364-0100 or via e-mail at pspasov@marlinequity.com.