Software, social media, sales and storage are some of the sweet spots for eight companies receiving $315,700 in new investments from the Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania’s (BFTP/NEP).
These five early-stage companies will receive loans:
Bison Analytics of Lewisburg, $35,000 to complete development of its business intelligence software for small businesses that use QuickBooks™ accounting software. Bison will continue software enhancements, develop a sales strategy for the company’s cloud-based product, and analyze follow-on funding tactics.
Cerora Inc., a resident of Ben Franklin TechVentures business incubator in Bethlehem, $50,000 to re-engineer software and hardware, and commercialize the Cerora brainwave sensor, a medical-grade, portable, and affordable electroencephalogram (EEG) that measures and records the electrical activity of the brain.
EggZack another TechVentures firm, $48,000 to complete efforts to improve the inbound sales process, which promotes EggZack through informative social media content marketing. EggZack markets a patent-pending software as a service (SaaS) solution aimed at marketing small businesses.
Everest Business Services in West Wyoming, $50,000 to establish brand recognition and sales by leveraging partnerships and Internet sales strategies. Everest utilizes proprietary software to provide short-run, digital print products.
Dunmore's GiveGab, $35,000 to implement a sales and marketing strategy to begin commercializing premium features of GiveGab's proprietary web-based software platform that facilitates communications between volunteers and nonprofits networks.
BFTP also named three established manufacturers as recipients of 1:1 matching funding for work with a college or university partner on technology-based manufacturing innovation. They are:
Consolidated Storage Companies, Inc., of Tatamy and Lehigh University’s Enterprise Systems Center, $25,000 to help complete a plant-wide production analysis at this manufacturer of storage systems and tool chests in order to optimize manufacturing processes.
EcoTech Marine of Allentown and Lehigh University’s Enterprise Systems Center, $22,700 to complete implementation of a new Enterprise Resource Planning system with features to accommodate expansion and maintain quality. EcoTech makes pumps and lighting for hobby reef aquariums.
Hydro Recovery, Blossburg and Penn State, $50,000 to investigate the economic extraction of useful materials from residual “frac” water, used in the development of natural gas wells.
Source: BFTP/NEP
Writer: Elise Vider