# RockStep Solutions

> RockStep Solutions is a Portland, Maine life-sciences software company whose cloud platform, Climb, organizes non-GLP in vivo research - study design, scheduling, animal and vivarium management, sample tracking, data capture, audit trails and collaboration. Founded by software engineer Chuck Donnelly and microbiologist Julie Morrison, RockStep grew by rebuilding an academia-oriented product around pharmaceutical workflows, reached more than 50 companies worldwide, and was acquired by Instem in July 2025 to connect exploratory research with GLP study management and regulatory submission.

- **Founded:** 2013
- **Headquarters:** Portland, United States
- **Founders:** Chuck Donnelly (CEO and Co-Founder), Julie Morrison (President and Co-Founder)
- **Team size:** 11-50 employees before brand integration; an additional dataset supplied for this profile listed 7 employees.
- **Products:** Climb, Climb Animal and Vivarium Management, Climb Data and Integration Layer
- **Notable:** Launched Climb commercially in 2017 after NIH-backed development., Won three innovation awards and was nominated by Maine Technology Institute for the federal Tibbetts Award in 2020., Reported use at more than 30 pharmaceutical companies and research institutions by 2020 and more than 50 companies worldwide by 2026.

## Products & services

- **Climb** — Cloud-native SaaS for non-GLP in vivo study design, scheduling, execution, data capture, reporting and collaboration.
- **Climb Animal and Vivarium Management** — Tools for animal receiving, breeding, cages, census, genotyping, health observations, treatment plans, alerts and compliance reporting.
- **Climb Data and Integration Layer** — Centralized study data, audit trails, REST API connections, scanner support and harmonized datasets for downstream analytics and AI/ML workflows.

## Achievements

- Launched Climb commercially in 2017 after NIH-backed development.
- Won three innovation awards and was nominated by Maine Technology Institute for the federal Tibbetts Award in 2020.
- Reported use at more than 30 pharmaceutical companies and research institutions by 2020 and more than 50 companies worldwide by 2026.
- A customer projected a 70% efficiency gain in a 2021 founder interview.
- A large CRO case study reported 45% faster study design, 90% less paper use and zero hours of manual scheduling.
- Raised a disclosed $5.3 million Series A in 2022.
- Acquired by Instem on July 28, 2025 and integrated alongside Provantis.

## Latest updates

- **2025-07** — Instem acquired RockStep Solutions for an undisclosed amount to combine Climb's non-GLP workflows with Provantis GLP study management.
- **2025-10** — Climb added global severity scoring, more precise task assignment, international date and CSV formatting, and mid-study animal replacement controls.
- **2026-01** — RockStep Solutions, Xybion Digital, Autoscribe Informatics and Strong Tower Solutions began unifying under the Instem brand.
- **2026-07** — Instem's current Climb product page describes adoption by more than 50 companies worldwide and positions the product as its cloud-native non-GLP study-management platform.

## Links

- Website: https://rockstepsolutions.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rockstep-solutions
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/rockstep_climb
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV-F7DrG2rBl5KS_3H0kXWg
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rockstepsolutions/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/rockstep-solutions
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-22