Members of the Erie community came together to celebrate some of the local innovators who’ve successfully made the leap from start-up to up-and-running and recognized the efforts of some of Ben Franklin Technology Partners’ newest portfolio clients.
Sixteen companies either received or paid funds forward to contribute to new startups, totaling an amount of more than $3.4 million.
Ben Franklin’s investments– along with the valuable expertise of the leadership and staff at both the Erie Technology Incubator and Small Business Development Center at Gannon University– have helped support the development of new products and processes in many local startups.
The success of each of these companies, which either resulted in a sale or merger, created the opportunity for Ben Franklin’s original investment to be repaid and the dollars re-deployed into our community. Among these were MIDEO (end-of-life health care directives), InnovaTel (virtual services for psychiatric care), and Lojic.
Emerging startups were all able to receive Ben Franklin funding as a result of this. These companies included Alex & Thea, Data Inventions, Elements Aligned, PSNergy, WaveClear Vascular, Altered State Distillery, Bling Tiger, OhanaLink Technologies, Glacier Scalp Cooling, My Readiness Coach, Werkberry, Anova Innovations, DSE Global.
Every year dozens of startups like these get their start with funding and business support services offered by local and regional entrepreneurial support resources, including Ben Franklin Technology Partners, the Erie Technology Incubator and Small Business Development Center at Gannon University, Erie County Gaming Revenue Authority, Erie County Redevelopment Authority, Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership and the Hartman Innovation Fund in partnership with Ben Franklin Technology Partners and The Erie Community Foundation.
