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BEN FRANKLIN INVESTS $475,000 IN FIVE CENTRAL PA STARTUPS

STATE COLLEGE, PA – For more than 30 years, Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Central & Northern PA has been making investments in the innovations developed by entrepreneurs, tech-based start-ups, and small manufacturers. For more information on the Program, click on http://www.cnp.benfranklin.org.   On September 16, 2014, the Center’s Board of Directors approved an investment totaling $475,000 in five companies located in the program’s service territory. The companies that received a Ben Franklin investment are:

Located in the Hershey Center for Applied Research, Simulation Systems, Inc. is developing a virtual reality simulator built around the company’s patent-pending Universal Hand Tool, a computer input device that allows the user to manipulate a virtual micro-surgical tool in a simulated environment for instruction or skill validation. For more information click on www.simulationsystemsinc.com

The recipient of seed funding from the Kaufman Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education, Flip Learning, which is located in State College, has reinvented the textbook from a static and solitary reading tool into a multi-user, digital experience rooted in applied and collaborative learning. Flip’s textbooks integrate a student’s individual engagement with foundational digital content and a practical “Learn by Doing” application. For more information click on www.fliplearning.com

Super Abrasive Machining Innovation (SAMI), also located in State College, is a sub-contracting machining business which offers the latest in super abrasive machining capability on a job shop basis to a wide range of markets including the Automotive and Industrial sector. The company offers cost-effective stock removal processes that provide complex geometric shapes while maintaining tight tolerances. For more information click on www.samillc.com

Founded in State College in 2000, KCF Technologies develops and sells wireless conditioned monitoring systems for the defense and industrial markets. The company’s SmartDiagnostics® gives machines a voice enabling a company to predict and detect problems with their equipment prior to experiencing a failure. For more information click on http://kcftech.com 

Located in Carlisle, CrimeWatch has developed a software platform designed to operate on web and mobile technologies allowing law enforcement agencies to manage, organize, and control fugitive/offender information. Law enforcement agencies have identified a need for an integrated mobile and web-based public communication strategy. CrimeWatch’s web-based framework links and connects local, state, and national agencies enabling them to organize fugitive and offender information in a format the immediately shares the information. For more information see http://CrimeWatchPA.com