Photo Credit: Zoë Zimmer.

Entrepreneurship usually starts with an idea for a solution to a problem. It requires people who can combine theoretical and practical intelligence with a desire to stretch the boundaries into new frontiers.

It also requires money.

A few years back, venture capitalist Peter Bruce-Clark met then-19-year-old Australian entrepreneur Max Mito, a self-taught computer coder, and Christopher Durre, a computer scientist and engineer, who had an idea— “a classic garage concept”— to improve the safety of drug distribution by creating a suite of healthcare software that combine biometrics and AI applications to match people to their medical records.  

The need was clear. Some estimates show that the cost of medication mismanagement exceeds more than $1 trillion a year and contributes to 20% of hospital admissions and readmissions. Medication mistakes also cost lives. 

“Drug mismanagement is a leading cause of injury and death, and it’s not talked about much because it’s not a sexy area of funding. You don’t see lots of billionaires putting money into drug management. You see them putting it into diseases and cancer and life-threatening illnesses,” Bruce-Clark said in an interview with the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia. “But if you look at it from a global perspective on how bad this issue is, how avoidable it is and how it impacts families and our loved ones, it was a no-brainer to want to work on that.”

In 2017, Mito, Durre, and fellow Australian entrepreneur Kieran Start turned the idea into a business and cofounded StrongRoom AI.

Bruce-Clark said he was so captured by the company’s concept that he not only invested in the company, he also joined as its Global President. The goal, he said, is to use “machine learning in care contexts that can augment the clinician or the pharmacist or the nurse in administering drug regimens to patients?”

Today, StrongRoom AI is a fast-growing, multi-award-winning enterprise. Among its accolades, Mito, Durre, and Start were recently featured on the Forbes 2024 Asia 30 Under 30 list.

The company’s target customer base is currently small-to-midsize pharmacies that don’t necessarily have the resources that bigger chains do. Bruce-Clark added that StrongRoom AI’s revenue growth is rising at 200% annually, gross margins are strong and the company is breaking even.

Collaboration Earns Greater Philadelphia Competitive Edge 

And in January 2024, StrongRoom AI opened its first U.S. location in Greater Philadelphia, an office and lab space in CIC Philadelphia at 3675 Market Street. In partnership with University City Science Center and Wexford Science + Technology, CIC Philadelphia combines flexible office, event, and lab space in a community hub of innovation.

Bruce-Clark said the discussion around StrongRoom AI’s expansion in Greater Philadelphia started at an awards banquet in Australia, where StrongRoom AI was being honored as one of the most innovative healthcare companies in the country. It was there that Bruce-Clark met Angela Foley, a global business representative for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Department of Community and Economic Development, who asked him if the company was considering an expansion into the U.S. and offered to introduce them to regional business attraction leaders.

Bruce-Clark, who is trinational, was familiar with Pennsylvania because his Australian father had taught at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh when he was growing up. 

The timing was right for StrongRoom AI, and a series of meetings later coordinated by the Commonwealth, including with the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia, and the company opened its three-person office at CIC Philadelphia.

Speaking with the Chamber, Bruce-Clark ticked off the advantages he sees in doing business in Greater Philadelphia. They included:

  • State and local governments that work together to emphasize and support the region’s economic development. 
  • A deep health tech talent pool from top research universities in the region. 
  • A growing population of retirees who could benefit from StrongRoom AI’s systems.
  • A centralized and extensive transportation network to connect the company to customers both regionally and internationally. 
  • A collaborative business ecosystem.

“The openness we’ve experienced is very strong,” he said. “In other cities, you’re just like a rounding error. You’re just like another company that’s in San Francisco or Boston. Whereas in Philadelphia, people are a lot more curious about your story.” 

That doesn’t happen by accident, said Lindsey Hover, Manager, Business Attraction & Expansion, the Chamber. 

“Our goal is to ensure the City of Philadelphia, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia are all working together to make the process for companies looking to locate in our region as helpful and seamless as possible,” she said. “With StrongRoom AI, the collaboration worked beautifully.” 

For information on locating or expanding your business in Greater Philadelphia, contact Lindsey Hover, Manager, Business Attraction & Expansion, at [email protected]. The Chamber’s Select Greater Philadelphia website includes a site selector property-search tool to help you find your office or industrial space.