Safeguard Scientifics joins ic@3401 as its first Sustaining Member

Posted by | November 19, 2015

A number of developments in University City’s startup ecosystem are aligning—all to the benefit of Philadelphia’s burgeoning community of entrepreneurs.

Drexel University and Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania are teaming up to create a $10 million early stage seed fund that will support spin-off companies from the University. Concurrent with the launch of the new fund, Ben Franklin will join Drexel and University City Science Center’s efforts to strengthen the offerings for members at the Innovation Center @3401 (ic@3401).

In addition, Safeguard Scientifics is joining ic@3401 as its first “Sustaining Member,” which means that Safeguard will play a prominent role in the center’s ecosystem, including helping to recruit and mentor member companies and to bring in new industry collaborators.

Safeguard has a distinguished track record of fostering innovation and building market leaders. For more than 60 years, Safeguard has been providing growth capital and operational support to entrepreneurs across an evolving spectrum of industries. Today, Safeguard is focused specifically on two high-growth, highly innovative sectors—technology and healthcare. Safeguard’s affiliation with ic@3401 serves to provide critical resources and perspectives to the growing and evolving entrepreneurial ecosystem in Philadelphia, as well as help ic@3401 attract future high-impactful supporters.

At Safeguard, we are on a mission to make the Greater Philadelphia region a go-to destination for people to start and grow their business. Safeguard has a long history of being a catalyst for creativity and entrepreneurship, driving substantial growth and opportunities. We continue to be drawn to generating and supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs.  We are thrilled to be a part of this initial collaborate which includes three great institutions—Drexel University, the University City Science Center, and Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania—all of which are collectively dedicated to building a world-class entrepreneurial community in the Greater Philadelphia region.

Launched in June 2014 as a partnership between the Science Center and Drexel University, ic@3401 offers flexible workspace, shared amenities, a collaborative spirit, along with a variety of services designed to connect its members with the people and resources needed to grow. ic@3401 is home to roughly 30 early-stage tech, digital health and business services companies; it is also home to the world headquarters of DreamIt Ventures and Point.io. ic@3401 offers three critical assets for the early-stage community – a high-performance community of entrepreneurs which includes graduates of DreamIt Ventures and the Science Center’s Digital Health Accelerator along with recipients of Drexel-Coulter Translational Research Awards; resources that include a venture development series that help startups de-risk their business; and deep industry knowledge drawn from the expertise of Drexel, the Science Center and Ben Franklin and their respective networks.  For more information about ic@3401, visit www.ic3401.org.

Click here for the complete press release that was issued today.

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