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The Venture Codex

Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania

4801 S. Broad St., Ste 200, Philadelphia, PA, 19112, United States

Overview

We’re (not just) investors. We’re (more than) advisors. We’re (beyond) connectors. Ben Franklin Technology Partners combines the best practices of early stage investing with a higher purpose – to lead the region’s technology community to new heights, creating jobs and transforming lives. For over 30 years, Ben has been the leading seed stage capital provider for the region’s technology sectors, investing over $170 million in more than 1,750 regional technology companies, many of which have gone on to become industry leaders. Ben Franklin has also launched university/industry partnerships that accelerate scientific discoveries to commercialization, and has seeded regional initiatives that strengthen our entrepreneurial community.

Total investments
34
Lead investments
21
Investments · 12mo
1
Active investors
8

Sector focus

  • Commercial Real Estate
  • Financial Services
  • Government
  • News
  • Venture Capital
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Investment portfolio

  • Meduloc

    Participated · Series B · Aug 2026

    Meduloc develops an FDA-cleared, sterile, single-use flexible nitinol intramedullary implant and delivery system for long-bone fracture applications in adult and pediatric patients. The platform is positioned to provide fracture stability while preserving anatomy and avoiding joint violation in certain applications. Following regulatory clearance, the company is moving into controlled commercialization and plans an alpha launch in early August 2026 with select surgeons and institutions to build clinical experience and collect feedback. Meduloc intends to use recently raised capital to generate additional clinical evidence and to build the commercial infrastructure required for broader adoption. The company is headquartered in West Chester, Pennsylvania, and has attracted regional investor support from Greater Philadelphia and statewide life-sciences funding organizations.

  • LoanStar Technologies

    Participated · Equity · Jan 2024

    LoanStar Technologies operates an embedded-lending platform called MerchantLinQ that enables lenders to provide instant point-of-sale finance through local merchants, with control over loan underwriting and branded products. The company positions its technology to help lenders and merchants expand customer bases and drive new business growth via embedded lending. LoanStar serves over 55 lenders and maintains relationships with roughly 7,000 merchants. It raised $28M in funding, with approximately $12M being deployed to expand sales and marketing, continue investment in its technology platform, and deepen strategic partnerships. The company plans to strengthen its balance sheet to support future growth opportunities and expects to close the remaining ~$16M of the round in the next two months to repurchase shares from early investors. Leadership includes CEO Andy Turner and CIO Craig Haynes.

  • CareAlign

    Participated · Seed · Jul 2020

    CareAlign provides a HIPAA-compliant task management system designed for health care providers and led by CEO Subha Airan-Javia, MD. The platform was initially validated in acute care settings, where it reduced the amount of time clinicians spend in the EHR and improved patient outcomes. This year the company expanded into post-acute and outpatient care and has begun offering solutions to value-based care organizations to help manage patient transitions across care settings. Key features include an integrated, real-time progress note format, a common communication thread linking users who share patient caseloads, and the ability to create checklists during rounds to avoid errors. CareAlign raised additional financing and intends to use the funds to expand both its sales force and its technology offerings. The company is based in Philadelphia, PA. TrekIT Health provides a HIPAA-compliant, secure, real-time workspace that synthesizes information across EHRs and care teams to improve clinician workflows. Its platform has been integrated at major health systems across the United States. The product is in use by over 150 different clinical services and more than 5,000 users a month. The company is led by CEO Subha Airan-Javia, MD. TrekIT announced the appointment of Rick Valencia as executive chairman; Valencia previously led Qualcomm Life and oversaw healthcare-focused funds. The company recently closed additional seed financing to support its growth and deployments.

  • Navrogen

    Led · Convertible Note · Sep 2019

    Navrogen is a Cheyney, Pa.-based preclinical biotechnology company focused on discovering tumor-produced Humoral Immuno-Oncology (HIO) factors linked to suppressed humoral immunity and poor response to cancer therapies. The company employs proprietary screening and engineering technologies and diagnostic assays to identify patients whose tumors produce HIO factors. Its pipeline includes a lead HIO-refractory anti-mesothelin antibody drug conjugate, NAV-001, and NK cell activator platforms targeting HIO-suppressed cancers and immune-mediated diseases. Navrogen’s mission is to develop first-in-class agents that overcome the immunosuppressive effects of HIO factors and to advise physicians on therapeutic options via diagnostics. The company is led by CEO Nicholas Nicolaides, Ph.D., and intends to advance its HIO discovery platform and preclinical therapeutic programs with the newly raised capital. Financially, Navrogen completed a $3.0M equity financing to fund these activities. Navrogen is a Philadelphia-based biotechnology company focused on discovering tumor-produced Humoral Immuno-Oncology (HIO) factors associated with cancer prognosis and response to immune-mediated therapies. Its core approach centers on an HIO discovery platform and a preclinical therapeutic pipeline targeting specific HIO-factors. The company’s stated mission is to develop diagnostic assays to identify patients whose tumors produce HIO-factors to advise physicians on therapeutic options. It also aims to develop agents that can overcome the immunosuppressive effects of specific HIO-factors. Navrogen is led by CEO Nicholas Nicolaides, Ph.D., and CSO Luigi Grasso, Ph.D. Following the financing, the company will use the funds to support operations, its HIO discovery platform, and preclinical pipeline activities.

  • RoundTrip

    Participated · Series A · May 2019

    Roundtrip operates an online and mobile digital transportation marketplace that connects care coordinators, social workers, nurses and other transport requestors with non-emergency medical transportation providers. Its platform supports all levels of transport — medical cars, wheelchair vans, stretcher vehicles, ALS/BLS ambulances — across all payers and delivers trips when and where needed. Founded in 2016 and led by CEO and founder Mark Switaj, the company has built partnerships in over 40 states and is used across the healthcare landscape. Clients include health systems such as Lifespan Health and the National Institutes of Health, and payers including Community Health Plan of Washington and Contra Costa Health Plan. Roundtrip completed a $4M strategic funding round that brought total financing to date to $10.5M. The company plans to use the proceeds to geographically scale and specialize its sales, implementation and account-management model, expand its health-plan portfolio and technology integrations, and grow the Roundtrip Community marketplace. Roundtrip provides patient ride-ordering software that makes available a community of ride providers who complete non-emergency medical transports for healthcare personnel such as care coordinators, social workers and nurses. Its platform supports all levels of transport, including Lyft, facility-owned vehicles, volunteer drivers, medical cars, wheelchair vans, stretcher vehicles and ALS/BLS/SCT, and works with all payors. The company has built partnerships spanning over 20 states and operates from Philadelphia, PA and Richmond, VA. Founded in 2016, Roundtrip employs 26 people and is actively recruiting to support growth. The company intends to use its recent funding to enhance software capabilities and to attract sales, engineering and account management talent. Management plans to more than double the team as part of its growth strategy. RoundTrip operates a technology platform that connects patients to a slate of medical-transportation providers, including ambulances and specialty wheelchair-accessible vehicles, and handles billing for multiple payers within the same system. The company currently offers services in 15 states across the Northeast and plans to expand that footprint, with the CEO projecting a possible doubling of states over the next one to two years. RoundTrip employs the equivalent of 19 full-time staff at its WeWork Northern Liberties location and aims to grow that to 24 within three months; the recent capital raise is earmarked for expanding sales, marketing and engineering teams. Product development priorities include building additional features such as pharmacy stops after doctor appointments to create more patient value. The platform is positioned to integrate different vehicle types and payer sources to simplify recurring medical-transport needs, such as frequent chemotherapy trips. The company was founded to address transportation barriers that impede patient care, and management said the new funding will support both geographic expansion and technology build-out.

Team

  • Scott Nissenbaum

    President & CEO

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  • RoseAnn B. Rosenthal

    CEO Emeritus & Director Emeritus

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  • Adare McMillan

    Chief Administrative Officer & Asst. Treasurer

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  • AnnMarie Rutherford

    Office & HR Assistant

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