MindSea Development has been acquired by Reuben Hall, who has served as the CEO of the Halifax-based mobile apps developer for the last two years.

Hall is buying the company for an undisclosed price from Bill Wilson, who founded MindSea in 2007 and served as CEO for 11 years. In late 2018, Wilson stepped aside from executive management of MindSea to launch the Software-as-a-Service company SalesRight. He sold SalesRight last November, so he has now logged two exits in five months.

Hall, who previously served as the company’s Vice-President of Product, has spent the last two years focusing MindSea’s business on the health and wellness market, and plans to grow in that segment now that he owns the company. He said the Business Development Bank of Canada helped to finance the purchase.

“MindSea wants to empower people to take control of their health and wellness, both mentally and physically, and we believe digital applications are a powerful tool to help them accomplish this,” said Hall in a statement

Wilson began MindSea in the middle of the century’s first decade, when people were beginning to understand the financial potential of conducting business or personal relationships using smart phones. Hall was one of the first hires, and the company grew as the team gained experience. Soon it boasted a diversified book of clients, from newspaper apps for the National Post and the Chronicle-Herald to eCommerce apps for the apparel company Klothed and the location-based app for the Trans-Canada Trail.

Read about other recent IT exits in Atlantic Canada:

Halifax-based Manifold Is Aquired by Snyk 

Charlottetown-based ScreenScape Bought by Spectrio

After Hall assumed the CEO roll, the team began to consider a field of specialization that not only offered a financial opportunity but brought meaning to the work.

“A few years back, we took a look inwards and asked ourselves, ‘What are the projects that the team is really passionate about?” said Hall in an interview. “What will motivate people to do their best work? We looked at the health and wellness applications that we were working on and that was what the team was most excited about.”

The company still works with legacy clients in a broad range of fields, but it is concentrating more on health and wellness apps. Its apps in this field include Constant Health (built in partnership with the Bariatric Medical Institute), which helps users achieve their best weight, and 99 Walks, a tracking app that includes walking fitness classes, podcasts, meditations, and workout music.

MindSea is also working on a new smartwatch and tablet app in partnership with Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto, designed to help patients and physiotherapists speed up recovery times.

The company now has between 25 and 30 employees, and its revenues have increased 20 percent in both of the last two years. Hall said the pipeline is “solid” and it is attracting new clients.

Wilson, meanwhile, started SalesRight in 2018 to build a SaaS platform that could help IT companies with multiple products figure out and simplify their pricing. SalesRight was acquired for an undisclosed price in November by Santa Barbara, Calif.-based FastSpring.

“I want to make sure Bill is recognized for everything he’s done,” said Hall. “Bill built MindSea from the ground up. He built the framework that has allowed MindSea to grow and be successful.”