In a recent board meeting, Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Central and Northern PA (Ben Franklin CNP) proudly unveiled its latest investments in six exceptional tech enterprises situated in central and northern Pennsylvania, totaling $725,000. These carefully chosen strategic investments are poised to further these startups, propelling them to explore new frontiers and bring their revolutionary products, processes, and software applications to fruition.
More than just financial backers, Ben Franklin CNP is actively fostering the aspirations of promising startups, guiding them through the dynamic landscape of technological advancement. The funding provided by Ben Franklin is a catalyst for rapid growth and innovation. It fuels various aspects of startup development, including prototype creation, rigorous product testing, recruitment of top-tier talent, and boosting overall sales.
The December Board meeting approved funding for the following companies:
Athlon, Inc, located in Mechanicsburg, was created to solve the national and global pandemic of kids struggling to be physical and mentally fit. Athlon’s “Rallee” is a youth fitness platform that gamifies movement and mental health through an augmented reality mobile app. At 5 minutes per session, its fun and bite sized for kids to learn healthy habits by turning their bodies into joysticks for active screen play and building a healthy relationship with tech.
CiviLink, LLC, located in Spring Creek, is developing a state of the art Government Management System (GMS) to address the unique performance and process management needs of local governments. The platform addresses the issues of poor or undocumented processes in local governments, which leads to inconsistency, inefficiency, noncompliance, and liability due to a lack of standardization of policies and procedures.
Keffer Development Services, LLC (dba The Athletic Trainer System, located in Grove City, is a HIPPA compliant Electronic Medical Records (EMR) software for sports medicine. Athletic Trainer System collaborates with athletic trainers in a variety of environments. This includes schools of all sizes and education levels, hospital/clinics; professional leagues; and industrial plants. The company has the requisite experience and expertise in the sports medicine market to provide and support the electronic documentation that athletic trainers and their school need to be compliant with other medical providers.
Gig and Take, Inc., located in Mechanicsburg, helps manufacturing companies attract and manage a truly flexible workforce with a SaaS platform that configures the schedules of on-demand workers, with varying availabilities and skills to satisfy the employer’s real-time labor demand. This allows manufacturers to unlock new talent pool of people seeing non-traditional and flexible schedules. Offering this type of innovative and relevant work schedule leads to faster job fill rates, lower attrition and a workforce model that can sustain the high/low demand cycles often experienced in manufacturing.
TEAMology, LLC (PSU Affiliated), located in Chambersburg, is on a mission to understand, support, and improve social, emotional, and mental wellbeing for every child enhancing their ability to succeed in school, career, and life. Following more than 15 years of research and classroom experiences, TEAMology launched TEAMtalk – a student-facing platform that utilizes humans and AI to provide scalable and sustainable support to students in grades K-8. TEAMtalk is sold to school districts on an annual subscription basis.
OK2StandUp, Inc., located in Bedford, uses artificial intelligence (AI) to sense problems that could lead frail seniors toe experience falls before they stand up, providing caregivers with a valuable window of time to reach the older adult and prevent a fall from occurring altogether. While OK2StandUP’s competitors employ wall-mounted hardware such as cameras and beacons for fall detection, OK2StandUP stands out by utilizing a discreet, band-aid0like health wearable. Their AI model delivers timely notifications to caregivers, providing proactive alerts before it is too late. Founding team members have lived in assisted living facilities while iterating on the solution. Revenue is generated through reimbursements from medical and life insurance companies.
