On August 21, Pennovation hosted the 1776 Press Stack with 3 mentors from the Philadelphia press and 15 founders from the 1776 network. 1776 Press Stack is a program that curates small groups of founders to participate in low-pressure intimate discussions with knowledgeable media partners from the Philadelphia region. During the program, participants had the opportunity to learn best practices & gain insights from 3 media experts, as well as network with other emerging founders.

On Thursday, July 25th, the Pennovation Accelerator held their final Pitch Day, the culminating event for the six-week program focused on go-to-market and fundraising strategies.

Each of the nine cohort companies gave an impressive 5-minute pitch to an audience of 60 people, followed by questions from a panel of judges: 

The Pennovation Center was excited to host Black Girl Ventures' Philadelphia Pitch Competition on July 19, 2019. Black Girl Ventures works to create access to capital for Black and Brown women founders. The BGV Pitch Competition flips the traditional pitch competition on its head: they allow the audience to donate, eliminate the panel of judges, and empower the community (audience) to ask questions and vote for the winner. Black Girl Ventures seeks to support women of color who are entrepreneurs

On July 9th, the Pennovation Center was honored to host Brigitte Daniel, EVP of Wilco Electronic Systems, for Startup Grind. Startup Grind is an intimate fireside chat with entrepreneurs from the Philadelphia community. Hosted by Jenn Maher, CEO of 1776, these chats are a great way for fellow entrepreneurs to learn from an entrepreneur's journey, best practices, and prove to be a more candid look at what entrepreneurship means.

On Monday, June 10th, the Pennovation Center welcomed their 2nd annual Accelerator cohort! The group of nine companies kicked off the program with a focus on market analysis.

The 2019 Pennovation Accelerator officially launches Monday, June 10th for the program's second summer! 

The cohort of nine startup companies were chosen from over 60 applications and represent a variety of industries - from software to medical devices to consumer products. The curriculum will focus on go-to-market and fundraising strategies across six weeks, culminating with a Pitch Day on Thursday, July 25th. 

It is a pleasure to introduce the nine companies:

The Penn-founded startup will receive $30,000 in grant funding for research on microfluidic diagnostic devices.

Chip Diagnostics is the awardee of the JPOD @ Philadelphia QuickFire Challenge sponsored by Johnson & Johnson Innovation—JLABS. The Challenge was designed to accelerate healthcare innovation and commercialization within the greater Philadelphia area.

On June 3rd, The Pennovation Center was an official stop on the BIO "Cellicon Valley" Ecosystem Tour.  The tour group, which was made up of 50+ attendees had the opportunity to learn about the vision of the Pennovation Works campus and hear from the different organizations that contribute to the mission.  The group heard from Jordana Barmish, Associate Director of PCI Ventures, who covered PCI Ventures' programs and services available to Pennovation members and PCIV portfolio compa