The New $28M GO PA Fund Means Collaboration Between All 4 Ben Franklin Tech Partners, Led By Philly

The fund comes amid a uniquely innovation-minded moment for Pennsylvania, said Scott Nissenbaum, head of the statewide org’s southeastern arm.

Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania is leaning into statewide collaboration with the other Bens and state government with the new Global Opportunity Pennsylvania (GO PA) Fund II.

The Philadelphia-area arm of the state-backed investment network announced the fund’s initial close this week after raising $28 million.

Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern PA, headquartered in Philly’s Navy Yard, and Lancaster-based Fulton Bank are anchor investors. Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority, WSFS Bank, Robin Hood Ventures and Investors Circle also contributed.

This fund takes after a previous fund the Philly Ben created to support portfolio companies in southeastern Pennsylvania: the 2019-launched Global Opportunity Philadelphia Fund, aka GO Philly. That fund made 18 investments in 11 companies in its home region — some of which have reached almost $100 million in revenue over the past few years, Scott Nissenbaum, president and CEO of Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern PA, told Technical.ly.

Nissenbaum cited digital health management company Tridiuum as one of the successes from that earlier fund. The company was acquired for $100 million less than a year after receiving a maintenance investment from the GO Philly Fund, he said.

“Ben Franklin made a good return that will be recycled back into the community from our not-for-profit investment,” Nissenbaum said. “And we made an even bigger return from the for-profit that goes back to the not-for-profit to be recycled.”

The new GO PA fund is in collaboration with the three other Ben Franklin organizations across Pennsylvania — Ben Franklin of Northeastern Pennsylvania, Ben Franklin of Central and Northern Pennsylvania, and Innovations Works of Southwestern Pennsylvania, headquartered in Pittsburgh. The growth-stage venture fund will be used to invest in technology companies that are part of Ben Franklin’s statewide portfolio.

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