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V O L . X X I X N O. X X I S E P T E M B E R 1 8 , 2 0 2 3 14 H E A LT H C A R E / W E L L N E S S T he room has a chill vibe, with Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" on the sound system, goat-yoga wooden figurines and minimalist décor. is isn't some hipster hangout. Rather, it's the waiting room for Portland's PetMedic Urgent Care Vet Clinic, sand- wiched on Marginal Way between two clinics for human patients. PetMedic is owned by Rarebreed Veterinary Partners, a Portland-based network of 130 veterinary practices in the northeastern U.S. and Florida. Urgent care marks a new direction for the company, ranked No. 35 on the Inc. 5000 list of America's fastest- growing private companies. It recently opened its seventh PetMedic clinic, in Vienna, Va., with plans for more. "I think we can continue to grow really fast," says CEO Dan Espinal, a former corporate dealmaker at Westbrook-based IDEXX Laboratories Inc. who teamed up with colleague Sean Miller to start Rarebreed, adding to the Portland area's reputation for pet and livestock medicine. "I wouldn't be sur- prised if there were more really exciting animal health companies to come out of Portland," predicts Espinal, a former venture capital investor in early-stage technology companies. "I call it a Silicon Valley for animal health." Like the original Silicon Valley, the southern Maine version is home to innovative companies from established players to startups pursuing new markets and products. While the handful of firms form a small sub-group of Maine's 484 life sci- ences companies, they're all expanding and hiring, creating fertile ground for further entrepreneurial endeavors. Westbrook-based veterinary diagnostics firm IDEXX leads the pack, joined by ImmuCell Corp., Covetrus and, of more recent vintage, Rarebreed and ElleVet Sciences. e sector has attracted investors including private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, which took Covetrus private in a $4 billion deal in 2022, and U.K.-based Dechra Pharmaceuticals, which acquired Portland-based generic pet-medicine maker Putney Inc. for $200 million in cash from Jean Hoffman, the company's founder and CEO, in 2016. Today, "given the continued growth of IDEXX, Covetrus and Dechra … not to mention Rarebreed and others, there is a nucleus of people with experience in animal health in the greater Portland area," Hoffman says. "Add in proximity to the Boston and Route 128 biotech corridor and attraction of Maine as a place to live and raise a family, the talent to start and build other animal health-related companies is here and can be recruited to scale here." Dan Espinal is the co-founder and CEO of Rarebreed Veterinary Partners, a Portland-based network of 130 veterinary practices ranked No. 35 on the Inc. 5000 list of America's fastest- growing private companies. F O C U S We'd love to be national at some point, maybe even international. — Dan Espinal Rarebreed Veterinary Partners P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY growth 'Unleashing' Maine emerging as 'Silicon Valley for animal health' B y R e n e e C o r d e s

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