Impact

Sports Sponsorship Company LeagueSide Has Been Acquired By TeamSnap

November 28, 2022

The deal widens both companies’ footprints to 40,000 sports organizations and 11 million families. Sportstech company LeagueSide, which planted its Philly roots when cofounders Evan Brandoff and Zubin Teherani met at training camp for Venture for America, is expanding its reach via an acquisition by sports software company TeamSnap. The 2015-founded, Center City-headquartered company matches youth sports leagues across the country with brands that […]

Mentorship Program In Philly Is Working To Make The Entrepreneurial Journey Less Lonely

October 18, 2022

Behind a successful entrepreneur is often another seasoned entrepreneur that has served as a guide. In Philadelphia, industry leaders are putting this into practice through a mentorship program for the city’s founder ecosystem. Ben Franklin Technology Partners and Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technologies (PACT) have joined forces to create Mentor Connect, a program that partners entrepreneurs with teams […]

App + AMEX = Millions For Good

October 12, 2022

Keith Leaphart’s Philanthropi has partnered with American Express to let 25,000 members round up their purchases to give to charity. Keith Leaphart has a big dream for Philanthropi, the doctor/entrepreneur’s four-year-old company that works to turn everyday people into individual foundations: He wants a nonprofit from every zip code in the U.S. to have received a donation […]

A Bold Effort To Cure HIV—Using Crispr

October 11, 2022

An experiment tests whether the gene-editing technology can stop the virus from replicating, which would ultimately wipe out the infection. IN JULY, AN HIV-positive man became the first volunteer in a clinical trial aimed at using Crispr gene editing to snip the AIDS-causing virus out of his cells. For an hour, he was hooked up to […]

Biomeme To Launch Portable Sample-To-Answer PCR System, Host-Response Testing

October 4, 2022

The pandemic wrought remarkable changes in diagnostics, some of which may improve healthcare for future generations. It also precipitated a dramatic expansion for Philadelphia-based mini PCR instrument and assay developer Biomeme. The company is now using revenues from CAP and CLIA accredited testing labs it owns to create a sample-to-answer instrument and further differentiate itself […]

Social Impact Has Value. Are You Capturing It?

August 26, 2022

The first step for your business is “to understand what impact you are having and be able to articulate it.” Start with ImpactPHL’s new Investable Impact Toolkit. What is the purpose of business? Many will suggest that the purpose is to create value. Traditionally that means creating a product or service that customers will pay […]

Generation Change Philly: The Impact Investor Evangelist

August 25, 2022

Engineer-turned-angel investor John Moore helped launch ImpactPHL with the goal of making Philly the social impact investment capital of the country. Five years later, he may be succeeding. Agame of darts brought angel investor John Moore to Philadelphia in 2003. A Harrisburg native trained as an engineer, Moore lived with his family in Wilmington, Delaware, from […]

Hair Scarves And Sea Life Savers Won Big At Pennovation Accelerator’s 2022 Pitch Day

August 2, 2022

Ten founders shared their startups at the accelerator’s fifth annual pitch event. Here’s how it went down. Peach Brown, founder of Sledge Scarves, drove home the strength of her non-slip hair scarves by lifting a bowling ball with one in front of pitch judges. The feat of strength came during Pennovation Accelerator’s fifth annual pitch day on Wednesday. […]

Science Center’s New Startup Development Program Is Aimed At First-Gen STEM Students

July 29, 2022

The STEM Founders Fellowship will give 10 postgraduate degree candidates $50,000 and a full year of support to turn their research or idea into a business. As Philadelphia expands its reputation and capacity for the life sciences industry, it’s also folding in efforts toward accessibility. A unique program coming to the University City Science Center in the form […]

‘Is It The Right Time To Do This?’

July 28, 2022

Omar Mencin, Ben Franklin Technology Partners’ managing director of tech, has some suggestions on whether now is the best moment to build a company — and how the investor can help. As a founder or entrepreneur, when you concentrate hard on the headlines, you’re bound to get a headache. Even amidst the seemingly strange news […]