Iron Meadow founder and CEO Steve McGarry has found a home for his company at\u00a0St. Petersburg-based incubator spARK Labs by ARK Invest. For the entrepreneur, the decision was easy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The organization acquires niche online businesses and utilizes artificial intelligence to enhance operations and support growth. McGarry and his team moved into the ARK Innovation Center last month.\u00a0<\/p>\n
McGarry has been in the mergers and acquisitions space for about 10 years. Prior to creating Iron Meadow, he scaled multiple businesses.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The entrepreneur has served as managing partner of real estate investment firm McGarry Ventures and founded gaming analytics company SandStorm, which was acquired by Kissmetrics Holding in 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Through McGarry\u2019s various experiences, he has learned the \u201cins and outs of deal making,\u201d and more importantly, \u201cwhat it takes after the close of a transaction\u201d for a business to succeed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One of the major trends that McGarry noticed was artificial intelligence. His goal was to try to figure out how the technology could help improve and optimize companies.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw the opportunity to apply various different AI tools to mergers and acquisitions,\u201d McGarry explained. \u201cI started doing it just on smaller deals.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Iron Meadow completed the acquisition process for its first company, a logistics provider, in May.\u00a0<\/p>\n
AI has allowed McGarry and his team to evaluate a business\u2019s bookkeeping and technology stacks. It can also help determine what the company needs to continue to thrive.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the easiest things for people to implement is going through and figuring out what are the newest pieces of technology that you can just build yourself,\u201d McGarry said.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cWhen you have a subscription business where you\u2019re already paying $5,000 a month in subscriptions for all of the different softwares that you need to run it, with the advent of AI, people are basically rebuilding these tech stacks from the ground up for a fraction of that cost.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
McGarry and his team can reconstruct tech stacks within 30 to 60 days. Subscription costs can be reduced by 60 to 70%.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Before moving to St. Petersburg, McGarry was a resident of San Francisco. He has followed ARK Invest founder and CEO Cathie Wood for multiple years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The St. Petersburg-based investment management firm focuses on five core themes: artificial intelligence, robotics, blockchain, energy storage and multiomics biology.\u00a0<\/p>\n
McGarry appreciated ARK Invest\u2019s \u201cfrontier approach\u201d to AI. After learning about the spARK Labs by ARK Invest incubator, he realized that the program could be an invaluable opportunity for Iron Meadow.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe level of technology at spARK Labs very much reminds of San Francisco and these big accelerator programs out there,\u201d McGarry added. \u201cIt is very community driven.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
To exemplify, he discussed the incubator\u2019s Lunch and Learn events. These gatherings give founders the opportunity to connect and network.\u00a0<\/p>\n
McGarry explained that the spARK Labs by ARK Invest team has created a \u201ccommon ground\u201d for members. AI is one of the key topics. Business leaders frequently share ideas with each other.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWithin our first week or so of being there, I learned about three different new AI tools that I hadn\u2019t heard of before,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve already integrated them into our stack that we use for optimizing businesses. So, there\u2019s just a lot to be said about being around people that are in your space, and they\u2019re also willing to learn.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Since Iron Meadow announced its first acquisition, McGarry added, more than 15 companies have expressed interest in a potential partnership. The entrepreneur hopes to eventually purchase five businesses.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAI is fundamentally reshaping how businesses are built, scaled and ultimately create value, and Iron Meadow represents another example of that transformation,\u201d said spARK Labs by ARK Invest CEO and president Becca Brown in a statement prepared for the Catalyst. \u201cTheir approach to AI-driven mergers and acquisitions adds a unique dimension to our ecosystem and reinforces our commitment to supporting founders who are defining what\u2019s next.\u201d<\/p>\n