Ben Franklin News
Virtual Crowdfunding-Style Event on November 9, Free to Attend
- 1 has already exited at a valuation of more than $70 million
- 3 have raised more than $5 million since presenting
- 4 have raised more than $1 million since presenting
- 4 others are generating revenue or nearing clinical trials
Ben Franklin Venture Idol is a cross between Shark Tank® and American Idol®. After earning their way through the selection process held earlier in the day, three technology entrepreneurs will briefly pitch their start-up companies to investors and attendees. Audience members will “invest” 100 “Ben Bucks” among the companies.
Ben Franklin Technology Partners will later award a total of $15,000 in real dollars to the companies based on the “crowd-funded” audience vote. The event will also include a keynote panel discussion, “The Changing Face of Investing in Technology Companies.” Ben Franklin Venture Idol registration is now open and free-of-charge at https://ventureidol.ticketmambo.com/. Get a sneak peek at the event program at https://online.flippingbook.com/view/912779203/.
Eight Ben Franklin Venture Idol contestants were selected competitively from among BFTP/NEP’s early-stage clients. The 2021 competitors are:
Build My Team, LLC, Honesdale – Build My Team provides a reliable, scientific process for hiring medical and dental healthcare professionals. Build My Team is a new way to hire incredible team members based on strengths & talents NOT resumes.
Cliquify Inc., Macungie – Cliquify is an Artificial Intelligence-powered, employer-branding Software-as-a-Service made for recruiters and hiring managers to engage relevant and diverse candidates across social media channels – LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and soon Instagram and TikTok. Our customers see 10x faster cycle times and 79% cost savings while driving 4x more candidate engagement as compared to traditional approaches.
Coexist Build LLC, Blandon – Coexist Build, LLC, is committed to designing and manufacturing natural building materials for sustainable and healthy homes. It recently developed the first hemp block that is manufactured in Pennsylvania. It has have developed and is selling the Traveler, a do-it-yourself 140-square-foot backyard office, or tiny home kit, that can be assembled with simple tools.
IntelliGreen, West Hazleton – IntelliGreen offers products and services focused on technology that enables society to maintain its well-being better. The company’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform works with its Intelli-Temp Facial Recognition Temperature Scanner, which can detect and identify a face, including for an individual wearing a mask; direct a person to put on a mask as a requirement to entry; detect a reference temperature within 0.5 degrees accuracy; and provide alerting for fever conditions; all within one second.
Mussel Polymers, Inc., Bethlehem – Mussel Polymers utilizes Poly catechol-styrene (PCS) to develop new adhesives and adhesive primers that have superior performance when used underwater or on wet surfaces. PCS- based adhesives and primers have applications in the medical, dental, electronics, roofing, automotive, defense, and marine sectors.
Paro AI, Inc., Bethlehem – Paro is an enterprise voice and chatbot assistant that makes accessing systems and databases easier than ever. Paro was developed with efficiency, productivity, and compliance in mind. With Paro’s AI-enabled insights, teams will be able to create more meaningful and personalized interactions with customers. Paro intelligently suggests the next best actions based on call plan attainment goals, priority, location, trends, and many more factors. This helps optimize valuable time and maximize sales impact.
Planguru, Wilkes-Barre – Planguru helps small/mid-sized businesses make better business decisions by providing them with the skills and tools needed to project and interpret their financial results and key performance indicators. It provides affordable and easy-to-use planning and performance review tools that make these critical exercises attainable to all businesses and advisers regardless of their size.
Precision POS, Jessup – Precision POS is a complete software solution for restaurants that provides technology solutions that help optimize and grow the brand. Whether a client is replacing its legacy system or building a new IT infrastructure, Precision POS has intelligent responses to all of its clients’ restaurant technology needs in a non-fragmented way. Its goal is to completely revolutionize the restaurant-related software industry. Precision POS supports and manages the business and consumer-facing technology for clients.
PROGRAM
6:00 pm Keynote Panel Discussion- “The Changing Face of Investing in Technology Companies”
Moderator: Elizabeth D. Sigety, Esq.- Fox Rothschild and Delaware Crossing Investor Group
Keynote Panel:
Jennifer Ciarimboli- studio BE
Gerri Henwood- Baudax Bio
Gina Tedesco- Golden Seeds
Deb Zajac- Touchdown Ventures
6:30 Venture Idol Competition – Watch three finalist entrepreneurs pitch their companies to our investor panel, who will provide feedback and insight into what investors are looking for in a business.
Emcee: Don Yount, Activate Ventures
Investor Panel:
Clark DeHaven- SoundBoard Venture Fund
Wes Jamison- Lehigh Valley Angel Investors
Holly Flanagan- Gabriel Investments
Susan Yee- Broad Street Angels
7:45 Audience Vote and Winner Announcement
8:00 Networking – Interact virtually with the entrepreneurs and each other after our virtual event. We’ll close out the evening with virtual networking rooms, where the participating companies and Ben Franklin staff will host conversations and attendees can make connections.
Ben Franklin Venture Idol registration is now open and free-of-charge at https://ventureidol.ticketmambo.com/. Via Lehigh Valley Business
