Philadelphia : Innovation & Job News

The 50th annual National Small Business Week starts Monday and a group of Pennsylvania businesses, businesspeople and development centers are being cited for their contributions to the Commonwealth’s economy and their commitment to their local community and region.  
 
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) National Small Business Week Awards recognize small businesses on a variety of levels including growth of employees, increase in sales, sound financial performance, response to adversity and community contributions.
 
The big enchilada is Zeigler Bros of Gardners, which was named national exporter of the year, the top SBA award for exports. (See accompanying story.)
 
Elsewhere in the SBA’s Philadelphia district, the Widener University SBDC  in Chester won accolades for excellence and innovation, also picking up a regional award covering Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Washington DC and West Virginia. Gresham's Chophouse  in Hawley was named Eastern PA’s family business of the year and David Wise II, owner of G.S. Madison  (owner two 1-800-GOT-Junk? franchises) and BOXAROO  in Reading was named small businessperson of the year.
 
Across the state, Pittsburgh SBA district winners were: Clarion University SBDC, Guy Chemical Company of Somerset, exporter of the year, and Jonathan Miller of Dimples LLC in Ashville, which makes software to save printer ink and toner, as young entrepreneur of the year.
 
The Widener SBDC and Zeigler Brothers will be in Washington DC on June 21 to receive their awards. 
 
Source: Pennsylvania SBDC 
Writer: Elise Vider     
 
 
 

Fans of raw foods, sports, coupon savings and more, rejoice. Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania (BFTP/SEP), celebrating its 30th anniversary, recently approved $1,550,000 in funding for nine early-stage companies.
 
They are:
AgileSwitch, LLC,  Philadelphia, $250,000 (Ben Franklin previously invested $300,000)
AgileSwitch develops power converter technology to produce useful energy from renewable energy technologies, including solar panels and wind turbines. AgileSwitch's products can be fully customized to meet the needs and demands of virtually any customer application, and are better able to monitor and prevent problems such as overheating.
 
Brad's Raw Foods, Pipersville, $100,000 (Ben Franklin previously invested $100,000) 
Brad's Raw Foods, manufactured with an advanced dehydration technology, offers a line of healthy, crunchy snacks made from dehydrated raw, healthy foods such as fresh vegetables, nuts and seeds. The company is developing other raw food products, including dog treats, onion rings, and zucchini sticks.
 
Cocurrent BioEnergy,  Doylestown, $250,000
Cocurrent BioEnergy is creating alternative solutions to landfills that produce renewable energy at competitive rates. The company's plan is to develop and operate renewable energy assets (which repurpose solid waste into sources of fuel) throughout North America over the next 20-30 years.
 
OneTwoSee (Mobile Reactor, LLC),Philadelphia, $75,000 (Ben Franklin previously invested $300,000)
The OneTwoSee platform is a state-of-the-art suite of technologies that augments sports fans' experiences through any screen. The business-to-business platform is licensed to television broadcasters, online publishers, sports arena owners and smart TV manufactures, allowing them to deliver a rich interactive experience to their audience via their connected devices.
 
Real Food Works, Philadelphia, $175,000
Real Food Works provides customers with a subscription plan of meals that are cooked by local partners, restaurants, caterers and personal chefs and delivered fresh. The meals are mostly plant-based and are targeted to those who want to lose weight, enhance their energy levels or improve their overall health or have special dietary restrictions.
 
Smart Structures, Southampton,$150,000 (Ben Franklin previously invested $230,000)
Smart Structures has developed a system that tests and monitors the health of the nation's physical infrastructure, such as highways, bridges, tunnels and buildings. Its technology can also dramatically alter the cost and time dynamics of traditional evaluation programs, by enabling real-time testing of all foundation elements.
 
SnipSnap App, LLC,  Philadelphia, $100,000 (Ben Franklin previously invested $100,000)
SnipSnap is a mobile phone app for scanning, saving and redeeming printed coupons. The technology allows users to more efficiently and effectively organize their coupons, maximize their savings, and be reminded to use their coupons before expiration dates. They are also able to share their coupons both within their own social networks and with all other SnipSnap users.
 
Telefactor Corp., West Conshohocken, $400,000 (Ben Franklin previously invested $230,450)
An offshoot of Chatten Associates, Telefactor is continuing its growth in explosive ordnance disposal, the process of rendering explosive devices safe. Telefactor is procuring the next-generation advanced robotic systems for the Naval Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology division.
 
TicketLeap, Inc., Philadelphia, $50,000 (Ben Franklin previously invested $525,000)
TicketLeap is an e-commerce, do-it-yourself system for ticketing and registration that enables event organizers to sell tickets to their events online. Services include event registration, event promotion, virtual box office software, and social network integration. The company also provides barcode scanning, instant credit card swiping, customized ticket design and ticket tracking services.
 
Source: BFTP/SEP
Writer: Elise Vider
 
 

Two Southeast Pennsylvania biopharma companies have announced significant venture capital investments for continued development and, ultimately, commercialization of their cutting-edge drugs.
 
Trevena Inc., founded in 2008 in King of Prussia, has raised $60 million in its Series C financing round, including a $30 million equity investment by Forest Laboratories of New York. Trevena and Forest have entered into a collaborative licensing option agreement for the development of TRV027 to treat acute heart failure.
 
If the drug hits future development and commercial milestones, Forest can exercise its option and will pay up to $430 million, plus royalties, to Trevena.
 
The potential for the drug is enormous. “Acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) is the fourth leading cause of hospitalization in the United States and there has been no material change in the standard of care for patients with ADHF for decades,” said David Solomon of Forest in a statement. “TRV027 has the potential to be a significant new advance in the treatment of ADHF because it addresses the underlying pathophysiology of the disease, which has been demonstrated in the pre-clinical and early clinical work by Trevena.”
 
Meanwhile, nearby in Doylestown, Callidus Biopharma, has earmarked $4.6 million in new investment to accelerate pre-clinical development of drugs for a range of “orphan diseases,” rare and ultra-rare diseases and those traditionally under-served by the pharmaceutical industry.
 
Dr. Hung Do, chief scientific officer and co-founder, said the investment, Callidus’ first external funding, will be used towards initiating clinical studies in 2014 of drugs to treat lysosomal storage disorders, which cause rare genetic diseases.
 
Sources: Trevena Inc. and Callidus Biopharma
Writer: Elise Vider

Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania presented its 19th annual Innovation Awards this month, after hearing a few words from economist Todd Buchholz on how creative competition drives success.
 
With that it mind, the 2013 winners are:
 
CyOptics, Inc., Breinigsville for entrepreneurial achievement. A maker of optoelectronics, the company survived difficult economic times by building intellectual property and market share. It was recently acquired for $400 million.
 
Computer Aid, Inc., Allentown, named most successful BFTP incubator graduate. Founded in the early 1980s, CAI has grown from concept to successful operation as a worldwide leader in IT metrics, process and productivity -- "a classic incubator success story," says BFTP.
 
Micro Interventional Devices in Langhorne, which has developed a device used in heart surgery, was honored for product innovation.
 
East Penn Manufacturing Co., Lyon Station, an old-line company that produces and recycles lead-acid batteries, was honored for manufacturing achievement.
 
The partnership award, made to an individual, went to Edward Thompson, a Clarks Summit CPA and "a seasoned finance and accounting advisor to a number of Ben Franklin early-stage clients, [who] is enormously helpful, supportive, and proficient," BFTP says.
 
Source:  Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania
Writer: Elise Vider

Shale gas is as old as the earth, but three high-tech innovations have won their companies $25,000 each in the 2013 Ben Franklin Shale Gas Innovation Competition. 
 
"Innovation, research and technological advancements have been and continue to be the catalyst for shale gas development's sustained success," said Kathryn Klaber, CEO of the Marcellus Shale Coalition in a statement. "Without forward-looing thinkers and companies willing to invest in new technologies, the natural gas revolution that we're witnessing today would not have been possible."
 
The winners, chosen from more than 70 applicants, are:
 
Pyrochem Catalyst, New Brighton, which has developed a catalyst technology, known as "Reformer," for converting natural gas and carbon dioxide to hydrogen-rich synthesis gas for use in fuel cells and processes for making chemicals and transportation fuels. The company is the early stages of commercializing its technology for its initial target markets -- fuel cells and refining applications.
 
REV LNG in Ulysses is a full-service, distribution company for liquid natural gas (LNG) as an alternative to traditional diesel fuel. The company is one of the first in the U.S.  to deploy small-scale, mobile liquefaction units that can be hooked up to existing gas pipelines to create LNG.
 
Atlantis Technologies in Richboro has developed a "Radial Deionization System," which is 10 times the speed, 15 times the range and less than half the price of previous technologies that deionize wastewater from oil, gas and mining operations.
 
Sources: Bill Hall, Shale Gas Innovation and Commercialization Center; Jeffrey Harrison, Pyrochem Catalyst; David Kailbourne, REV LNG
Writer: Elise Vider

Whatever you call it – smart home, connected home, Internet of things or M2M (machine to machine) – Malvern's Zonoff is poised for major growth in this booming market.
 
The company recently announced that it has raised $3.8 million in venture capital to support technical and global sales growth of its software platform, available via apps, on the cloud or in the home via a router or other device. Zonoff's technology allows users at home or away to monitor and control thermostats, light switches, locks, motorized window coverings, security systems and more.
 
Mike Harris, Zonoff's co-founder and CEO, says a major target is the mass-market consumer via a do-it-yourself starter kit sold at big-box retailers. But Zonoff doesn't sell direct to consumers. Instead, it sells its products and services through "channel partners" -- mass-market retailers, hardware manufacturers, electronic device makers and service providers such as cable and telephone companies.
 
"The thing we like about Zonoff is that they are not attempting to build a consumer brand, but rather are empowering big name consumer brands who already have deep and long-lasting consumer relationships," said Lawson DeVries, general partner at Grotech Ventures  which is making the VC investment, along with Valhalla Partners. 
 
Zonoff also offers its channel partners an ecommerce platform that combines consumer education and merchandising to deliver ongoing revenue streams as consumers expand and upgrade their homes.
 
Zonoff was spun off in 2011 from Bulogics, a designer and developer of  custom wireless automation systems. Zonoff currently employs 18 and Harris anticipates it could as much as double its workforce in the year ahead.
 
Source: Mike Harris, Zonoff
Writer: Elise Vider
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A state-of-the-art, new helicopter is landing in Philadelphia. AgustaWestland Philadelphia will add a new production line to manufacture the AW169 helicopter starting in May 2014. The plant, located at Northeast Philadelphia Airport, employs over 560.
 
"The arrival of the AW 169 production line will secure and create jobs here in Philadelphia," CEO William Hunt said in a statement. "We have been in Philadelphia for over 30 years and have realized tremendous growth in servicing and supporting the commercial helicopter market over the past 10 years."
 
AgustaWestland is an Anglo-Italian helicopter company owned by Italy’s Finmeccanica. The Philadelphia facility includes assembly lines for two other helicopters, a parts supply depot for the Americas and a repair station. AgustaWestland Philadelphia also performs helicopter customization and provides maintenance for customer aircraft in the area out of its 275,000-square-foot facility on 39 acres at the airport.
 
AgustaWestland says it already has orders for more than 80 of the new helicopters, a versatile, new-generation, twin-engine helicopter that can seat 10 passengers. The first Philadelphia-built AW169 will be delivered in early 2015 and the new production line will ramp up to about 20 aircraft a year by 2017.
 
The Philadelphia Business Journal reports that the Philadelphia unit has been growing steadily over the past seven years, with revenues growing from $217 million in 2005 to $771 million last year.  The workforce has increased from 100 to 560 and the number of aircraft made in Philadelphia annually has risen from 23 to 48. Nearly half the aircraft it makes are exported.
 
Source: AgustaWestland, Philadelphia Business Journal
Writer: Elise Vider
 

Ten startups are getting a healthy boost as part of DreamIt Health, the first, Philadelphia-based healthcare accelerator.

Go figure. FastFig, a startup developed in Easton, launched in Bethlehem and, for the moment, quartered in Philadelphia, has gotten its biggest visibility so far at Austin's recent South by Southwest fest. And it appears poised for exponential growth.
 
Billed as a "word processor for math," FastFig is a cloud-based tool that allows students to do math online – everything from basic arithmetic through algebra to calculus – typing and solving problems in the program without the need to go back-and-forth with calculators, paper and pencil.
 
You almost need high-level math to chart FastFig's progress. Brian Peacock, a 2012 grad of Lafayette College in Easton, began developing FastFig during his senior year. In October, teamed with Jay Hotaling, who serves as CEO (Peacock is chief tech officer), he officially launched FastFig at the Lehigh Valley Tech Meet-Up in Bethlehem.  Next the pair applied to tech accelerator programs; two days after applying, DreamIt Ventures accepted FastFig for a three-month program in Austin, Texas. Two months in, Peacock was pitching FastFig at a Demo Day during the high-profile South by Southwest event.
 
Now Peacock is in Philly, meeting with a number of interested investors. "We're hoping to stay in Pennsylvania," he says. "At the same time, there are investors everywhere and it's important to go where the investment is. So at this point, it's hard to tell."
 
Besides the two partners, the young company has two employees and is actively testing FastFig at high schools in Austin and New York City and at the University of Pittsburgh, which is supplying FastFig to its engineering students. Peacock is unsure when the product will be ready for commercial launch, but says the company is working on devising a revenue model, with the hopes of having a workforce of six to eight in another year.
 
Source: Brian Peacock, FastFig
Writer: Elise Vider
 

When Evan Malone moved NextFab Studio from the University City Science Center to Washington Avenue in late 2012, he left in place several fabrication tools (including a laser-cutter and 3-D printers) and the last two years of NextFab's lease. To reinvent the space, NextFab and Breadboard, who partner on community outreach and artist residency programs, teamed up with  Public Workshop and The Hacktory. The local organizations are developing a combined headquarters and coworking space for tactile projects and education. The partnership, dubbed the Department of Making + Doing (DMD), opens at 3711 Market Street this month.
 
In addition to the high-tech toolage, the space features a full wood shop and electronic workbenches. Initially it will serve as a homebase and workspace for the four partnering organizations, as well as a location for their outreach and educational programming.
 
As schools continue cutting art and music programs, public spaces for tactile learning become critical. "[The school system] is taking away a whole domain of knowledge," says Breadboard's Dan Schimmel. "Essential to understanding these cerebral, book-taught topics is an innate understanding of the physical world."
 
Currently, DMD serves Public Workshop's Building Hero Project, a community design leadership program for young adults. In the fall, DMD plans to offer afterschool programs at the space -- classes will include kinetic sculpture, basic programming and soft circuits (integrating electronics into fabric and clothes). The Hacktory will also host Hardware Freedom Day on April 20.
 
Eventually, DMD hopes to serve the immediate University City neighborhood by offering a space where community projects, such as green infrastructure, can be imagined and built.
 
"It empowers people to believe they have the tools to solve problems," says Michael Darfler of Public Workshop. "We’re coming to this with the attitude that we’re not just talking about how to solve problems, but actually doing it."

The University City Science Center has partnered with Flying Kite to showcase innovation in Greater Philadelphia through the "Inventing the Future" series.
 
Source: Alex Gilliam and Michael Darfler, Public Workshop; Dan Schimmel, Breadboard; Georgia Gutherie and Daniel Bergey, The Hacktory
Writer: Dana Henry

Ardmore's Gregory FCA,  which bills itself as the largest public relations firm in Pennsylvania, and Safeguard Scientifics  of Wayne are on the hunt for the best unknown business in America.
 
"Maybe it's that killer technology startup that has yet to make the radar. Or perhaps it's some new wonder drug that will increase life expectancy. Or could it be that new sustainable business that's doing great financially while doing good for the world," said Gregory CEO Greg Matusky in a blog post.
 
The contest purse comprises $10,000 in cash and a $40,000 PR campaign.
 
The judges include Matusky, Safeguard CEO Stephen T. Zarrilli, Daniel Roitman of Stroll, a Philadelphia-based education e-commerce platform company, and Miles Spencer, an angel investor and co-creator of the reality show Money Hunt.
 
Here’s what they say they're looking for:

* The current operating success, recent growth and future viability of the company.
* The story behind the company and its products or services.
* The company’s current visibility and awareness.
* The likely positive impact of the application of a public relations campaign to the company and its products and services.
* The social shares and number of votes received in support of the company’s nomination as outlined in the contest rules. While this contest is not based on votes or Likes, an applicant’s ability to engage and connect with employees and customers will be considered.
* How well the submission explains why the company should be selected as The Best Unknown Business in America and how it can benefit from exposure.  
 
The contest closes at midnight June 18 and the winner will be announced in July. To learn more and submit an entry, visit Gregory FCA's Facebook page. 
 
Source: Alicia Buonanno, Gregory FCA
Writer: Elise Vider

With its origins in the Mad Men era, one of the Philadelphia region's oldest marketing agencies has undertaken a complete makeover for the digital era.
 
The Conshohocken-based agency, formerly known as Diccicco Battista Communications, has a new name – DDCworks – new ownership, expanded and redesigned office space, a recent acquisition, a growing staff and a new organizational structure.
 
The just-announced changes were two years in the making, says Tim Cifelli, the new president and COO. His partners are CEO Mike Diccicco and Sean Donahue, executive vice president and creative director. "We're a 45-year old start-up," says Cifelli. "We are young, entrepreneurial owners and we are rebuilding the agency to make it relevant for 2013. But we have four-and-a-half decades of experience and infrastructure to back us up."
 
A key aspect of DDCworks' growth strategy was to bring in new talent and develop new positions such as "creative technologist" to meet demand for digital capabilities across all agency operations. DDCworks has almost 30 employees, four of whom filled new positions created in 2012, Cifelli says. He anticipates another four hires this year. In December, the agency also acquired DeFazio Communications to bolster its public relations capacity; Tony DeFazio is the new head of PR.
 
Another big change is a new cross-disciplinary approach, integrating agency services such as creative, media placement, digital and public relations that once operated in separate silos. The agency's expanded and remodeled 12,000-square-foot office is the physical manifestation of the new structure, with a new, open space design that fosters collaboration and brainstorming, says Cifelli.
 
Unlike many agencies, the agency is a generalist. But Cifelli notes that real estate and finance clients, quiet for several years, are starting to return as they emerge from the recession.
 
Source: Tim Cifelli, DDCworks
Writer: Elise Vider