Three tech startups have received investments from Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Central and Northern Pennsylvania.
Located in Harrisburg, Hatchback, Inc. has developed a B2B platform that integrates with mobile apps, allowing marketers to collect, target and engage with audiences based on their actual travel patterns. The company offers retailers, restaurants, etc., the ability to engage with consumers, creating sales opportunities that would otherwise likely not exist.
“Power players like Google and Facebook rely on manual check-ins at Point A and Point B to learn about users,” explains the company’s website. “Hatchback persistently gathers information about users' travel patterns to understand their tendencies, whereabouts and habits as consumers. In other words, Hatchback captures the invaluable moments happening between Point A and Point B that the 'big guys' simply don't access.”
Atoptix, located in State College, is developing a smart-phone integrated health sensor. It offers individuals the ability to track and monitor their health and wellness by accurately measuring the levels of various tissue components such as hemoglobin, oxygen and glucose. The patented miniature optical spectrometer technology allows for completely non-invasive, real-time monitoring and early warning for health concerns such as anemia, diabetes, inflammation and even cancer.
“Atoptix was formed to turn exciting technology developed by researchers at Penn State University into solutions that can have a meaningful and marketable impact outside of the research laboratory,” says the company's website; the enterprise was recently awarded an SBIR Phase 1 grant by the National Institutes of Health.
In Boalsburg, Sensor Networks has developed a safe, patented digital solution for measuring and monitoring wall thickness in pipes, tanks, vessels and heat exchangers. This technology replaces the need to send technicians into physical locations such as refineries, chemical plants, rail and tank trucks, storage tanks and offshore drilling platforms. In February, the company was awarded a $50,000 grant from Ben Franklin’s Shale Gas Innovation and Commercialization Center.
Source: BFTP/CNP
Writer: Elise Vider