DreamIt Ventures Teams With Ben Franklin Technology Partners to Keep Successful Startups in Philly
Joe Petrucci |
Thursday, July 14, 2011
There's no denying the success of
DreamIt Ventures,
the intensive, three-month business accelerator that includes tech
stalwarts like scvngr and Notehall in its portfolio, which now numbers
nearly 50 successful early-stage-and-beyond companies.
But the impact of the wildly successful (and growing) program in Greater Philadelphia is another story.
scvngr
settled up in Boston almost as quickly as it left Princeton, N.J., in
2008 to do its interactive mobile gaming thing with DreamIt. And
Notehall, which was acquired just last week by
soon-to-go-public Chegg, bolted its Manyaunk digs for San Francisco a year or so after DreamIt worked over its online marketplace for college students.
That
could change thanks to a new partnership between DreamIt and Ben
Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern PA, announced in a news
release earlier this month. DreamIt Plus is a program that will partner
BFTP/SEP with area angel investors to keep DreamIt's most successful
graduates in Greater Philadelphia.
In addition
to mentorship, office space, donated legal and financial services, and
various educational worskhops, companies participating in DreamIt's
accelerator will have increased access to additional funding and support
services once the three-month program is over. According to
Gigaom, those companies could receive up to $60,000 apiece thanks to the new partnership.
"The
startups coming out of the DreamIt program have great momentum," says
RoseAnn B. Rosenthal, BFTP/SEP's president and CEO. "However, since the
entrepreneurs come from around the world, the lack of quick follow-on
capital can cause them to leave the area.
Kerry
Rupp, DreamIt's managing partner, says: "DreamIt Plus extends the path
startups participating in our accelerator to continue to take advantage
of the Pennsylvania connections they ahve already made to build their
business."
DreamIt will wind down its current
session in New York next month. Its fall program in Philly will accept
15 startups and runs from September through December.
Joe Petrucci is managing editor of Keystone Edge. Send feedback here.