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V O L . X X X N O. V § 2 M A R C H 4 , 2 0 2 4 14 I N N OVAT I O N L ike IDEXX Laboratories and ImmuCell before them, young Portland-area entrepreneurs are innovating further to advance animal health. e new generation includes com- panies like Covetrus, a veterinary phar- macy, supplier and tech company, and ElleVet Sciences, which develops can- nabis products and therapies for pets. But perhaps the fastest-rising star is Rarebreed Veterinary Partners. The company was launched in 2018 by two former IDEXX employ- ees, Dan Espinal and Sean Miller, who felt they could improve animal health by applying lessons from the business of human health. Rarebreed invests in veterinary practices and hospitals, typically taking a majority stake. Just as impor- tantly, the company provides strategic guidance, marketing, staffing, opera- tional support, IT and other help to improve practice performance. Clinicians in human health banded together or sold their practices to larger entities long ago. But practitioners of animal health care — including the country's 90,000 veterinarians — still typically work solo or in small, free- standing groups. ere are few shared resources and little business support. By contrast, CEO Espinal says, Rarebreed is "applying elements of technology, technical engineering, operational engineering and finan- cial engineering to a business model that's historically underserved many of the people who work in it — and frankly, clients as well." With $40 million from two funding rounds in 2019 and then several follow- on rounds, Rarebreed now runs about 120 practices and hospitals, from Maine to Florida. Espinal says the goal is to go national, with as many as 500 locations. Private equity firms themselves are also buying veterinary providers. Recognizing the potential econo- mies of scale, PE investors spent $45 billion on vet practices between 2017 and 2022, according to Pitchbook. But Miller, who is chief strategy officer, believes Rarebreed is doing something — well, more rare. "We are trying to innovate on the model that preceded us, which was largely 'acquire as much as you can, as fast as you can.' ere wasn't much connection to the company, or another practice down the street," he says. "Our role, first and foremost, is really about building a community." How the field grew in Maine The Portland area has recently sprouted as the Silicon Valley of ani- mal health, but that distinction took root back in the early 1980s. At the time, the world's biotech- nology pioneers were scaling up, attracting investment, and generat- ing buzz about the potential of new sciences to improve human health. Meanwhile, a Maine startup was quietly beginning to apply biologi- cal innovation in a different health field, veterinary medicine. David Shaw created IDEXX Lab- oratories in 1983, after working for Gov. James Longley and as an agri- business consultant in Massachusetts. Shaw recognized a need for bet- ter diagnoses in livestock care, and how new technology could help. He launched IDEXX with four employ- ees and the help of a recently founded Breeding innovation Rarebreed grows out of Maine's animal-health hub B y W i l l i a m H a l l F O C U S Sean Miller, left, and Dan Espinal of Rarebreed Veterinary Partners in their Portland office. P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY

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