Fingerpaint Announces Strategic Investment in Leaderboard Branding

— Supports Fingerpaint’s Continued Expansion of its World-Class Healthcare Commercialization Capabilities

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. and CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Fingerpaint, a full-service health and wellness marketing agency, has executed a strategic investment in Leaderboard Branding, a leading global naming and branding business headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., to grow its portfolio of companies. Details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Brannon Cashion

Fingerpaint is known for its innovative and data-driven approach to providing integrated marketing services to a growing roster of healthcare clients, specifically in the pharmaceutical, rare disease, and gene therapy sectors. The investment in Leaderboard Branding is expected to increase Fingerpaint’s global reach and expand services to better support clients in earlier stages of the commercialization process.

As part of the transaction, Brannon Cashion, a Managing Partner at Leaderboard Branding, will join Fingerpaint’s operating board. He brings over two decades of leadership experience in the global healthcare naming and strategic branding space.

“Brannon and his team have built a best-in-class business that aligns with Fingerpaint’s people-first values and mission, and we are pleased to welcome Leaderboard Branding to the Fingerpaint family,” said Ed Mitzen, Founder of Fingerpaint. “Partnering with Leaderboard Branding is an investment in our never-ending commitment to continue adding services to meet the needs of our clients, allowing us to continue building out a world-class company within the healthcare marketing industry.”

Ed Mitzen

“We love the work Fingerpaint does and its people-first culture,” said Mr. Cashion. “We are excited to align ourselves with a company with similar values that is doing innovative and exceptional work and can offer an expanded set of services to our clients. This is an opportunity to bring together two businesses that complement each other in unique ways.”

Knox Lane, a private equity firm based in San Francisco, is a strategic investor in Fingerpaint.

Shamik Patel, Partner at Knox Lane, commented, “Leaderboard Branding supports the Fingerpaint team’s continued commitment to being a best-in-class commercialization services provider for biopharma. We are confident the addition of Leaderboard Branding will accelerate Fingerpaint’s growth initiatives and enhance its reputation as a value-added partner to its clients.”

Leaderboard Branding joins Fingerpaint companies 1798, a market access and commercialization firm that specializes in healthcare consulting services including patient and provider access services, financial impact analysis and analytics, competitive intelligence, and pull-through solutions; and Photo 51, a consultancy focused solely on advanced therapeutics, such as gene and cell therapies.

About Fingerpaint

Reset your expectations of a health and wellness agency. Independent by design and built on a foundation of empathy, Fingerpaint is biopharma’s commercialization partner for integrated solutions. At its core is an award-winning global team of more than 450 people who are committed to creating and executing meaningful brand experiences for healthcare providers, care partners, and patients.

In 2021, Fingerpaint made a strategic investment in Leaderboard Branding, a leading global naming and branding business. In 2020, Fingerpaint acquired 1798, a market access and commercialization firm located in La Jolla, Calif., adding to its portfolio of services in support of biopharma customers. The agency also launched Photo 51, a gene therapy consultancy. Fingerpaint was named 2019 Agency of the Year by Med Ad News, and in 2018, it won the Heart Award from Med Ad News for its commitment to philanthropy and social causes. Additionally, it has been on Inc. Magazine’s list of the 5,000 Fastest-Growing Companies for the past eight years. Visit us at Fingerpaint and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

About Leaderboard Branding  

Leaderboard Branding, a Fingerpaint company, is a global naming and branding firm that delivers strategic insights and world-class creativity to every client, on every engagement. Built on the tenets of put people first and take pride in your work, Leaderboard Branding has developed strong and strategic partnerships with healthcare, biopharma, consumer, and B2B companies.  

In the biopharma and healthcare space, Leaderboard Branding supports clients in the early phases of clinical development. The expert strategists at Leaderboard Branding have a unique ability to optimize a brand’s commercial potential while mitigating safety concerns and aligning to regulatory guidelines. With expertise in nonproprietary naming, clinical trial branding, global trade name development, and visual design, Leaderboard Branding provides creative solutions through each phase of the drug development process. Leaderboard Branding’s drug safety consulting and assessment capabilities help clients make crucial commercial decisions and regulatory submissions with confidence. Connect with us at Leaderboard Branding and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

About Knox Lane

Formed in 2019 and based in San Francisco, Knox Lane is a middle-market investment firm led by and comprised of a team of accomplished investors and operators with a shared work history and a strong track record of partnering with leading companies to accelerate transformational growth. Knox Lane employs an investor-operator mindset and seeks to provide support across a number of business components, including human capital, brand management, end-to-end digital transformation, sourcing, supply chain and logistics, strategic acquisitions and business development.

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