Eagle Speak startup sells to health care tech firm

Eagle Speak LLC, one of the most prominent businesses in the burgeoning Springfield startup community, has sold to a health care technology firm.

Hearo Technologies LLC closed on the purchase of Eagle Speak for undisclosed terms, said Jason Arend, CEO of the Springfield voice and video technology company.

“To us, this is a testament that Midwest tech is on the rise and cities like Springfield can play just as vital a role as any coastal region,” said Myke Bates, co-founder and chief technology officer of Eagle Speak, in a news release.

Eagle Speak will keep its name and efactory location — though Arend said an expansion is planned — through the deal. Hearo Technology will use Eagle Speak’s services in upcoming health care products, which were not named in the release. The products are scheduled to be released in the next few months.

Hearo’s website only currently features its logo. Missouri secretary of state records point to a September 2018 creation for the company.

“Hearo gives us a great opportunity to continue our work on Eagle Speak while creating entirely new technologies in areas we care deeply about,” Arend said in the release. “When we started Eagle Speak, we never could have imagined the journey it would take us on.”

Arend co-founded Eagle Speak with Chief Technology Officer Myke Bates in 2015, when the company emerged victorious in the second Startup Weekend event. The company went on to win the Spin 66 Pitch Pit in 2016 and be a part of the efactory’s first business accelerator later that year.

The release indicates Eagle Speak will remain under the leadership of Arend, Bates and Jim Carr. Carr’s Mayhem Development LLC invested an undisclosed amount in the company, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting.