Charlottetown-based Discovery Garden, which specializes in the digital preservation of cultural artifacts, has acquired its U.S. competitor Born-Digital for an undisclosed price.

The two parties are treating the transaction as a merger, with both parties retaining their employees and culture, but the combined entity will continue to be called Discovery Garden, headquartered on P.E.I., and led by Discovery Garden CEO Gerry Lawless. Born-Digital Founder Noah Smith will become CTO of the merged company. The deal closed Sept. 5.

Discovery Garden was created to help GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives, and museums) clients use the open source Islandora system to digitally preserve artifacts, such as old newspapers, photographs and films. Mark Leggott, the librarian at the University of Prince Edward Island, developed Islandora with help from the community and $2.5 million in financing from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency’s Atlantic Innovation Fund.

"This merger is a strong commitment to the future of digital repositories purposely built for organizations in the GLAM sector," said Lawless in a statement. "By combining our custom Islandora development depth with Born-Digital's product innovations and customer-centric approach, we're strengthening and investing in the larger cultural heritage ecosystem. We know these institutions need solutions informed by and for the community, and not generic platforms adapted to fit our sector."

Based in Hadley, Mass., Born-Digital has also been working with the Islandora system for more than a decade, and has been especially strong in digital products, consulting and support services. The American company has developed Aurora, a subscription-based product that helps GLAM clients preserve their artifacts in the cloud. The addition of this product will help Discovery Garden offer a broader suite of products to clients.

Aurora provides a full-featured repository with hosting, maintenance, and support for a single monthly fee, eliminating the need for in-house IT teams. The merged company intends to pair Aurora’s standardized service with Discovery Garden’s expertise in large, customized projects.

In an interview, Lawless said the current administration in the U.S. has cut funding to several institutions that use Islandora, so many of the Discovery Garden clients are reluctant to undertake big projects right now. However, Aurora has a lower price point than other services, and the company is hoping it will be an attractive option to some clients.

“Now that we do have a U.S. office – and the U.S. is by far our biggest market –  we want to get much more in-market,” he said. “We’re excited about Aurora and plan to attend more conferences in the U.S.”

Leading up to the acquisition, Discovery Garden has experienced revenue growth of 20 to 25 percent in each of the last two years, and the company was profitable. The merged company now employs 26 people, and envisions adding six to eight employees in the next 12 to 18 months.

Said Noah Smith about the merged company: “We've spent 10-plus years solving the same problems as competitors, and now we're excited to have the opportunity to do it together going forward."