Who Owns Vocera?

Robert Shostak and Brent Lang founded Vocera Communications in 2000 in San Jose, California, to solve a hospital communication problem: nurses spent excessive time tracking down colleagues and information. Their solution was a wearable, voice-controlled hands-free badge enabling instant communication without phone or pager.

The Vocera Badge launched in 2002 and found adoption in hospitals where mobility and hands-free operation were critical. The product expanded into a communication platform connecting voice, text, and alert systems across hospital staff.

Vocera went public on NASDAQ in 2012. Through the following decade, it evolved from a device company into a clinical communications platform: the Vocera platform unified nurse call, alarm notification, messaging, and workflow management across hospitals. Acquisitions including Extension Healthcare (2016) and EASE Applications (2020) expanded into alarm management and patient-family communication.

Stryker announced the Vocera acquisition in January 2022 for $79.25 per share, approximately $2.97 billion, closing in February 2022. The deal gave Stryker the leading clinical communications platform and a digital health software business complementary to its physical medical devices.

Under Stryker, Vocera continues to operate under its brand name, integrating with Stryker's Medical division's broader hospital technology stack including beds, equipment, and Sage patient-care products.