Cancer diagnosis startup plans $25M investment

TAMPA -- A medical administration company founded after a Tampa medical conference in 2013 will make its home in the city, generating up to 70 jobs.

The company, Inspirata Inc., streamlines and automates the process involved in determining cancer diagnoses. Entrepreneur Satish Sanan attended the MediFuture 2023 conference two years ago, hosted by the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corp., where he heard a presentation by Mark Lloyd, the scientist in charge of the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute's analytic microscopy core laboratory. Sanan was intrigued by Lloyd's work in the area of digital pathology and computational image analytics, according to a release.

The two met, and decided they could commercialize cancer diagnostics services. They formally launched Inspirata last March at the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology annual conference in Boston.

Each of the new jobs -- which includes positions in research and development, sales and marketing and administrative and regional management support -- will have an average annual salary of $86,000, the company says.

“While we initially investigated other locations, Tampa really was our top choice when considering a location for Inspirata's corporate headquarters, especially given the fact that the state of Florida and Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corp., were so supportive in helping us locate here,” Sanan says in a release.

Sanan previously sold an information technology services outsourcing firm he founded in Clearwater, IMRGlobal, in 2001 for $438 million. He later invested in STI Knowledge, an Atlanta-based health care revenue cycle management company, which changed its name to Zavata Inc. and sold in 2007 for $170 million.

Inspirata has leased more than 9,300 square feet at One North Dale Mabry Highway, with plans to invest up to $25 million in research and development there.

Hillsborough County commissioners and Tampa city council members approved a performance-based incentive package of $140,000, supporting a commitment of $560,000 from the state through its Qualified Target Industry program. It will provide Inspirata up to $10,000 per job created, distributed over a period of six years for jobs that match the announced wages.