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Technical.ly
2 days ago
- Business
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Circular Philadelphia launches interactive tool to find donation and recycling sites, thanks to a $20k grant
Funders made significant investments in good causes like local sustainability and STEM education initiatives this past month. Circular Philadelphia announced the launch of its new tool, ResourcePhilly, a search engine to reduce waste in the city, made possible by a $20,000 grant from a local nonprofit. Biopharmaceutical company GSK donated $450,000 to Philadelphia public schools for STEM education programming. Plus, biotech company Vivodyne raised $40 million to expand its capacity for drug testing on lab-grown human tissue. Get all the details on the latest money moves below the chart, where we look at the top 10 companies hiring for tech jobs in the Philadelphia market and how that's changed since the previous month. Circular Philadelphia secures $20k to launch reuse donation map Circular Philadelphia, a nonprofit that aims to reduce waste by keeping resources from being thrown away, received a $20,000 grant from the charitable organization the Green Family Foundation, according to Samantha Wittchen, interim executive director of Circular Philadelphia. The money was used to build ResourcePhilly, an online tool where people can find places to dispose of hard-to-recycle items responsibly. The search engine launched earlier this week. 'We have the opportunity to reach a much broader segment of the population in the Philadelphia region, and help them with finding better opportunities to manage their waste,' Wittchen told The idea came from a database that the Resource Exchange has been maintaining for the last decade, which included a spreadsheet and a physical map of places around the city where people could bring unwanted items. The new tool, built by local software company Urality, lets users search for the right place to donate or recycle their unwanted items. The map can also be used to find secondhand goods that people are offering for sale. The categories in the database include thrift shops, places to take or find building materials, bookshops and orgs that take fabric or clothing. There are also ways to connect with repair shops and refilleries, plus a feature to suggest similar businesses or organizations that aren't on the list. '[It's a] vetted list of places that they can take stuff to that's prioritized by what they should do with that item for the condition that that item is in,' Wittchen said. GSK invests $450k in local STEM education programming Biopharmaceutical company GSK donated $450,000 to the School District of Philadelphia to support STEM education programming. 'Staying on the cutting edge of STEM education ensures that Philadelphia's young people are not only prepared to compete — but to lead — in tomorrow's workforce and innovation economy,' said Kathryn Epps, president and CEO of the Fund for the School District of Philadelphia. 'We are so grateful to GSK for its partnership over the years and its dedication to the advancement of STEM in our classrooms.' This funding will help provide hands-on STEM programming for students to meet the commonwealth's K–12 STEELS (Science, Technology and Engineering, Environmental Literacy and Sustainability) standards, which will go into effect next school year. The standards prioritize discussion and investigation of scientific topics, rather than memorizing facts, according to Pennsylvania's Department of Education. GSK is a global company, but it has multiple local offices. The company plans to build its largest manufacturing site in the US in nearby Lancaster County. Vivodyne raises $40M Series A Biotech company Vivodyne raised $40 million in a Series A round last month. The University of Pennsylvania spinout uses robotics and AI to test drugs on lab-grown human tissue. The funding will go toward a 23,000-square-foot laboratory in San Francisco, which will increase Vivodyne's capacity for preclinical testing. Khosla Ventures led the round and Lingotto Investment Management, Helena Capital and Fortius Ventures were new investors. The company's platform was originally developed at the University of Pennsylvania's BIOLines Lab. Vivodyne raised $4 million in 2021 and $38 million in 2023. More money moves: The City of Philadelphia announced $2 million in partnerships to expand the City College for Municipal Employment, which offers free skills and technical training for a variety of fields. STEM education org Black Girls Love Math received $125,000 from the Pennsylvania state government to continue its extracurricular math programming. Brokerage company Newfound acquired home-selling platform HomeLister. The company declined to share how much the deal was worth. Data services company TruSight announced that it raised a round of funding. The company did not disclose the raise amount, investor names or its valuation.
Technical.ly
2 days ago
- Business
- Technical.ly
Vesteck aims to turn aortic aneurysm surgery into a one-and-done procedure
When it comes to treating potentially deadly aortic aneurysms, medicine has come a long way. One Philly biotech startup aims to make those outcomes even better. Minimally invasive surgery on an aortic aneurysm — an enlargement of the heart's main artery that can cause a fatal rupture if left untreated — requires intensive follow-up care, with additional surgeries often required after two to five years. The likelihood of having to repeat the surgery is a reality that patients have to live with, but it doesn't have to be that way, said Joseph Rafferty, CEO and cofounder of Vesteck, a company that has developed a procedure that can reinforce aortic aneurysm surgery with high-tech stitches called endosutures. 'Physicians tell us, if it was their mom and dad having a procedure like this, they would want a device like this to make sure that they're not going to have to come back for a second procedure,' Rafferty told Using a simple catheter-based approach, Vesteck addresses this critical challenge in treating aortic aneurysms with a developing technology that has the potential to help patients with other medical conditions. Proud Philly roots West Chester-based Vesteck is a global startup with three founders from different parts of the world. But at its core, it's a Philly company. 'I'm a Philly guy, Delaware County, Temple [University] grad,' Rafferty said. 'We have very strong and very, very proud roots in Philadelphia.' Those Philly roots, he said, included a strong work ethic. 'I'm second-oldest of nine, and my wife is seven of 11, so we all understand the concept of 'pumping the pump,'' Rafferty said. 'If you don't pump the pump, money doesn't come out. So we all learned at a very young age that you need to go work and make your money.' When he attended Temple in the 1970s, Rafferty majored in communications and journalism. 'I was a writer with the concept that in whatever business you go into, if you can articulate your thoughts appropriately, it's amazing how many different businesses that skill set can translate to,' he said. After graduating in 1979, Rafferty soon found himself in the booming medical device industry, where he was surrounded by 'the best and the brightest' physicians and surgeons making an impact on patients' lives. 'You can make a very nice living at it if you're willing to make the sacrifices,' Rafferty said. '[It involved] lots of late nights delivering devices.' By the late 2010s, Rafferty knew the medical device industry well and was looking for the next big thing. Through a friend, he met John Edoga, a general surgeon from Columbia University. 'Dr. Edoga shared with me the concept that is Vesteck,' Rafferty said. 'But more importantly, he shared with me the challenges in the aortic repair space.' Along with a third cofounder, French cardiothoracic surgeon Thierry Richard, Vesteck was founded in 2019. Securing the post-surgical health of aortic aneurysm patients At the center of Vesteck's biotechnology is its proprietary endosuture called Suture-Tight. Endosutures allow surgeons to stitch a patient internally using an endoscope, a less invasive surgical tool that enters the patient's body through the groin rather than cutting the patient open. After the initial grafting surgery on the aortic aneurysm, a surgeon using Vesteck's technology re-enters and 'stitches' the grafts in place by attaching the Suture-Tight endosutures. These endosutures, which resemble tiny hoop earrings, are made of nitinol, a nickel-titanium alloy known for its shape memory. Since modern coronary stents are commonly made of nitinol, the FDA and physicians are already very familiar with its properties. Nitinol stents are crimped down to be tiny enough to deliver into an artery, then, once released, they return to their original size, propping the artery open. The same property makes it possible to insert Vesteck's sutures. The extra layer of stability after the suturing procedure can potentially improve physical outcomes and psychological ones, too, Rafferty said. Without sutures, 'it's kind of like the sword of Damocles hanging over your head, because you think you got cured, but you really didn't,' he said. Progress and setbacks, as funding has become scarce Vesteck isn't available for clinical use yet, but the team has used the Suture-Tight procedure on 14 patients so far in Europe, Canada and Australia. 'Our first human patients are doing very, very well,' Rafferty said. 'The aneurysm sacs are stable or shrinking, and there's no migration, no leaks, no suture fractures.' The procedure is so simple, he said, that one of the first to use the device on a patient, a physician in Australia, successfully stitched four sutures in four minutes. For physicians with endovascular skills, it's a relatively easy procedure with little learning curve. In the US, the Vesteck team has met with the FDA six times and is ready to start the 100-patient clinical trial that would move the technology closer to being used to treat aortic aneurysm patients. Just one thing is holding them back: funding. ' Venture capital funding is way down since COVID,' Rafferty said. 'Part of that is because of the economy. For the last four years, the IPO market has been all but stagnant.' As a result, many medical device companies can't do much more than wait for money to come back into the venture capital market. 'We're kind of on hold,' Rafferty said. On the local level, several Philadelphia investors have been as enthusiastic about Vesteck as Rafferty is about Philadelphia. BioAdvance, Ben Franklin Technology Partners, Grays Ferry Capital and Robin Hood Ventures are all supporters. Still, a company like Vesteck needs big-time, global-scale funding to move forward. 'You get to a point where you need to bring in some of these larger investors,' he said, 'and that's what we're trying to do.' Beyond aortic aneurysms Despite the funding roadblocks, Rafferty is optimistic about Vesteck and its potential impact on the medical world. Physicians who have seen the technology have suggested other potential use cases, including as part of heart and vein procedures. 'A big part of our culture is keeping an open mind and understanding that different patient populations around the world have different needs, and [asking] how can we adapt this technology to suit those needs,' Rafferty said. 'That's one of the things we've learned: stay interested and stay humble.'
Technical.ly
2 days ago
- Business
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Pittsburgh housing authority recruits AI to help with application backlogs
Pittsburgh's housing authority will begin using artificial intelligence to help its understaffed voucher department process thousands of applications from people in need of affordable housing. On Thursday, the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh (HACP) board approved payment of $160,392 to Boodskapper Inc., a private artificial intelligence company known as The company offers several services to automate housing authority work, which include reviewing and verifying certification packages from current voucher holders. The effort will begin as a one-year pilot program. Addressing concerns from the board members and a public speaker about the role the AI would play, HACP Executive Director Caster Binion stressed, 'The AI will not be in charge, not making decisions.' 'This will be used for recertifications specifically,' he added. Recertifications refer to updates affecting existing voucher holders, such as household income level and number of family members. Households with vouchers pay 30% of their income toward rent and utilities, with the balance covered by the HACP. The authority's Housing Choice Voucher Program Director Lashawna Hammond told the board the 'AI would scan recertification packets with their income and then it shows us on the back end if the packet is completed. So it's not processing, it's just doing preliminary work.' Approval of the pilot comes after Binion signaled in a meeting last year with City Council the authority would experiment with AI and other efforts to improve the efficiency of the voucher program. In 2020, PublicSource reported that the housing authority planned to 'enhance the voucher program,' but those efforts were hampered due to staffing shortages, according to the authority's leadership. Since then, steps have been taken to train new staff, according to Binion, who along with the board's former chair pledged improvements in 2022. Board member Charlise Smith worried that the program might take on human tendencies to discriminate against certain types of people. A public commenter at the board meeting echoed Smith's concerns. 'We all agree that increased efficiency is needed within the HCV Program to address administrative delays that limits the use of HCVs,' said Megan Hammond, a housing justice advocate and executive director of the Fair Housing Partnership of Greater Pittsburgh. 'AI is dependent upon the humans who create the AI. As a result, AI is susceptible to the continuation and scaling of fair housing concerns,' Hammond said, noting that the National Fair Housing Alliance created a Responsible AI Symposium that includes a framework for auditing algorithmic bias in these programs. Hammond called for 'greater transparency about the role of the proposed including checks and balances for applicants and voucher recipients to dispute inaccurate information.' She pressed for monthly public reports from the authority on the status of the Housing Choice Voucher waiting list every month along with information on where the authority allocates funds. Concerns over the use of AI in public housing has also reached the federal level. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development released guidelines for housing authorities across the country on best practices and uses of this new technology in an attempt to enforce the Fair Housing Act and prevent discrimination in housing. LaShawna Hammond maintained the program is needed to help with the backlog of recertification applications that threaten to overwhelm her staff. She noted that the system will be used to improve processing time and reduce clerical and user errors. She said the system will be able to detect missing information in the application and how that would trigger an automatic response to the client, letting them know that their application is incomplete. She said her department has 13 housing specialists, each averaging a caseload of 500. She said they hired five new housing specialists to start June 30 but it would take some time to train the new hires and bring them up to speed.
Technical.ly
3 days ago
- Business
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A pitch competition returns after more than a decade with a $1M prize
A venture firm and a local economic development group are teaming up to host a weeklong summit for founders and investors this fall in Northern Virginia. Fortify Ventures, which invests in early-stage startups, is renting out a Leesburg resort with the Loudoun County Department of Economic Development to put on keynotes, panels, networking events and a pitch competition with a $1 million prize. This isn't the first iteration of the event, known as Distilled Intelligence. Fortify Ventures held two conferences like this one, plus two daylong events, during the deployment of its first fund between 2011 and 2014. Fortify Ventures launched its second fund at the end of 2024, which inspired the resurgence of the event, per Jonathon Perrelli, the firm's managing partner. '[This] event energized startups and investors,' Perrelli wrote to in a statement, 'and DI was where we found our initial portfolio companies.' The first Distilled Intelligence event in 2011 granted $25,000 to 55 startups. In 2012, startups competed for $100,000. Perrelli said that Loudoun County Economic Development was that inaugural event's initial sponsor. The government agency is committing $200,000 to put on the event, he said. The Lansdowne Resort will get bought out between Oct. 13 and 16. Distilled Intelligence as a whole will cost several hundred thousand dollars to put on, although Perrelli declined to give specific numbers. 'Loudoun County is honored to co-host DI 3.0, an event perfectly aligned with our mission of driving innovation and economic growth,' said Buddy Rizer, the executive director of Loudoun County Economic Development, in a press release. 'Our region continues to attract dynamic entrepreneurs and influential investors, and DI 3.0 exemplifies the spirit of innovation and strategic growth Loudoun County stands for.' Seed-stage and Series A startups are encouraged to apply. Founders of the 100 firms selected to pitch will have a complimentary stay, while tickets for investors will be $799, with additional costs for the resort stay and golf. Tickets for the media cost $99 — a rarity, press passes for events typically do not cost money. The deadline to apply for the competition is Aug. 15. The winning company will nab the $1 million in the form of a SAFE note, which gives the investor the right to purchase equity in the company at a later date. It's a way for startups to get funding without setting an immediate valuation. Perrelli is looking to feature companies from several industries, including cybersecurity, defense, energy and fintech. It's open to startups across the US, but he noted he expects 'significant representation' of startups in the DMV. He recommends that companies applying show the strengths of their team, outline the size and growth potential of their market, and give details about traction.
Technical.ly
3 days ago
- Business
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How to find a cofounder — and build a strong partnership — according to people who've done it
Where do you find the perfect cofounder? For HeadStrait Labs' Alyssa Theroux, 23, and Mary Squire, 25, it was across the classroom. The duo met during their first semester in the biomedical engineering program at Carnegie Mellon University and quickly bonded over their shared enthusiasm and active participation in their medical device class. 'Throughout the semester, we started sitting closer and closer together,' Squire told 'and by the final project, we were like, 'Do you want to be partners?'' That partnership paid off. Theroux and Squire won their class's final pitch competition in 2022, and that project became the basis for HeadStrait Labs, their Pittsburgh startup developing a head stabilization device used in emergency response, sports and military settings. 'The current cervical spine and mobilization devices that are used today are really outdated,' Theroux said. 'If you suffer a C-spine fracture or injury, any small movement could affect that significantly, and it can lead to secondary injuries. That really drove our passion for EMS.' Two years later, HeadStrait Labs' neck brace, called the EVAC-1 with SMARTmotion, has earned some serious local recognition. The company has raised $100,000 from the Robotics Factory accelerator program, another $100,000 from the Tartan Entrepreneurs Fund and $25,000 from the Re-Impact Awards. Those wins landed it on 2025 RealLIST Startups earlier this year. The device is already being tested by Oklahoma State University's football program, and HeadStrait is now recruiting participants for an upcoming clinical study with Pittsburgh's largest healthcare provider, UPMC, Theroux said. Theroux and Squire credit their shared work ethic and mutual trust for keeping their partnership strong. 'I know this type of partnership doesn't work for everybody. We've lived together, gone to school together, run a company together — all at the same time,' Squire said. 'So we're very good at making joint decisions. We literally have a legal document that has a tiebreaker if necessary, and in two years, we've never once exercised it.' Still, they face the realities of building a startup as women founders in a male-dominated industry. Sexism persists in the startup world, with female-only founded companies raising just 2% of VC funding last year, according to research from PitchBook. This is dramatically lower than the 20% of VC funding that went to startups cofounded by men and women together. In this edition of How I Got Here series, Theroux and Squire share how they've built a strong cofounder relationship, the lessons they've learned navigating early-stage entrepreneurship and what it takes to break into an unequal field. This Q&A has been edited for length and clarity. What's the secret to a strong cofounder relationship? Theroux: Communicate, communicate, communicate. And let the other person work to their strengths, so that you don't have to work so hard to overcome your weaknesses. Divide tasks so each person can shine and move the company forward. Squire: We were lucky enough that the environment we were in, studying for a master's in biomedical engineering, you had to be a certain level of interested in this space. So that was an instant filter for us, which was a lot easier than trying to find someone on the street who's aligned with you. Look for someone with the growth mindset. Being aware that that person's willing to grow and adapt in every aspect of life means they're probably going to do a very good job of that in this industry too. What advice would you give other female founders? Theroux: Don't let the statistics get in your head. Shoot for the moon. You'll land somewhere in the stars. No matter what you know, no matter what other people think, you have to believe in yourself and your partnership. You and your cofounder have to move as one unit. And find a good support group. Squire: Share your opinion, especially in a male-dominated industry like engineering or the startup world. Being a young female entrepreneur is a hard position to be in, and I've noticed that the times I have shared an opinion or a perspective, it's unique because no one else in the room is really sharing that one. So even if it's not the most beneficial or the correct answer, it's probably gonna provoke thought amongst everyone else, or at least get people in a mind space they probably weren't already in. What's been the biggest surprise since becoming a startup founder? Squire: We've both been in very competitive environments, from the level of sports we played, to the schools we've gone to, to the degrees we've done, and we've excelled at those things, but there's lots of rejection that comes along the way. Despite that, I don't think I anticipated the level of nos you're gonna get in this process. It makes the yeses very exciting, let me tell you, but the number of nos you get, I think, it's been more than I expected. But, every no is actually more helpful than a yes, because you know what you need to change. If no one ever gives it to you straight, you don't really get to make improvements. What opportunities would you recommend to others? Squire: When you do have the capacity to go to an event where you can learn something, you should go. We do this thing called 'our one positive,' so even if it's the most boring event or we had a bad time, we ask, what was the one thing that we did take away? It's funny, half the time it's the same takeaway for both of us, but that always makes it feel like what we're doing isn't a waste of time. Theroux: Networking is really important, but there's always a balance to it. What's the biggest challenge you've had to overcome so far? Squire: Balancing feedback, deciding when to take it and when not to. We're like a sponge. We like to take it all in, but it gets to the point where feedback is actually contradicting, and if you don't choose one, you're not actually going to make progress. Theroux: You have to filter feedback through your own knowledge and experiences, and then at some point you've got to take the lead and see what happens. We've made a really big effort to take responsibility and ownership of the choices that we make. Jump into it and make sure all parties are aligned before you do it.
