The visionary folks at Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern PA have been as busy as the companies they support.
The highly successful economic development program announced on Monday a total of $1,975,000 to seven early stage companies with promising technology innovations. The companies included Ambler's
Bioconnect Systems Inc. ($500,000), Glen Mills'
Holganix LLC ($250,000), Devon's
LiftDNA Inc. ($250,000), West Chester's LoSo Inc. ($125,000), Bala Cynwyd's
Orion Security LSP, LLC ($200,000), Malvern's
Quanta Technologies, Inc. ($250,000), and Malvern's
Valence Process Equipment ($400,000).
Last Thursday, 21 other companies strutted their stuff in front of potential money as Ben Franklin partnered with
Greater Philadelphia Venture Investors and the
University City Science Center to host its annual Early Stage Venture Showcase at the Navy Yard. The event was open only to investors; angels, venture capitalists, and individual investors packed the room. Upstairs, the highly popular IT/Physical Science/Clean Technology track companies presented; downstairs, Life Sciences entrepreneurs told their stories to a much smaller crowd.
Ryan Caplan, of
ColdLight Solutions, opened with a strong presentation highlighting his company's impressive proprietary Neuron platform, which offers automated data analysis derived from artificial intelligence, leading to highly targeted recommendations for retail, pharmaceutical and communications applications. Another standout was
Holganix, a Glen Mills-based organic fertilizer company which is already servicing some massive lawns in its first year of business, including Longwood Gardens. The Holganix process unlocks already existing nitrogen from the soil and air through biological means and dramatically reduces the need for pesticides.
Downstairs a smaller but tougher crowd checked out Science Center tenants
BeneLein Technologies, which uses a bioprocess to create generic antibiotics, and
Vascular Magnetics, which hopes to develop a magnetic nanotechnology treatment for peripheral artery disease.
Doug Leinen, founder of BeneLein, says that he has not received direct feedback from investors. Richard Genzer, who attended the Venture Showcase on behalf of the
Mid-Atlantic Angel Group, reports that he has taken further action with three companies.
Source: Doug Leinen, BeneLein, Richard Genzer, Mid-Altantic Angel Group
Writer: Sue Spolan