$100 Million Investment at Philadelphia Navy Yard Marks Major Growth for Region

A major $100 million investment by Rhoads Industries, in partnership with Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s administration, is set to make Philadelphia’s Navy Yard a national hub for submarine manufacturing. Select Greater Philadelphia welcomes this investment news as this expansion is expected to exponentially grow Greater Philadelphia’s manufacturing sector and become an anchor that strengthens our region’s middle market.

The project includes building a new 95,000-square-foot fabrication facility designed for large-scale submarine production and barge shipping operations. This state-of-the-art expansion will double Rhoads’s capacity to support the U.S. Navy’s submarine industrial base, including advanced welding, machining, […]

Discovery Starts with Comcast’s Jaylen Sanders

In the heart of Greater Philadelphia, where history meets innovation, Comcast Software Engineer Jaylen Sanders embodies the region’s signature spirit of innovation, imagination, genuineness, and grit. 

Sanders is “Philly homegrown” as he says it.  He started his career in technology at Comcast, an investor in the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia (the Chamber), in 2015 as a software engineering intern and is currently employed there as a full-time Software Engineer. Sanders said working at Comcast is a natural fit for him, as he […]

StrongRoom AI’s Expansion into Greater Philadelphia Shows Strength of Region’s Business Community

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 […]

SDS Optic Finds Talent, Space, Kindness, and its Chance to Make History in Greater Philadelphia

It isn’t always easy to be a medical tech company located in Central Europe, especially when it comes to finding top-of-the-line scientists with niche competencies.

 A while back, SDS Optic, a fast-growing maker of cancer diagnostics in Poland, went looking for a very specific type of scientist and the search became a long-term endeavor.

“We were not successful in months of research and executive search,” said Mateusz Sagan, Chief Business Officer of SDS Optic. To pivot, the company decided to open a […]

Preventx Finds a U.S. Business – and Cultural – Home in Greater Philadelphia

Nick Malhomme grew up in the U.K. and spent the past 16 years living in Spain and France, so he knows a thing or two about adjusting to new places. But still, he was surprised when he met his new neighbors in the Greater Philadelphia town of Wynnewood. 

“We wanted to meet people, so we invited neighbors over for a couple of drinks,” said Malhomme, the International Development Director at Preventx, a U.K.-based provider of at-home sexual health testing. “I had been getting around by walking and cycling and maneuvering […]

Reach Technology’s Journey From England Came Through an All-American Philly Tailgate

A year ago, Jonty Ward, Chief Commercial Officer of Reach Technology Group, couldn’t pinpoint Greater Philadelphia on a map – not that he should have been expected to. Ward grew up in Sheffield, England, where his growing software solutions company is based.

Now, Ward has been to a Philadelphia Eagles game – “we won” – wears a Philadelphia 76ers shirt to work, and speaks with local pride when it comes to touting the region’s economic and community […]

Greater Philadelphia Raises $2.4 Billion Across 403 VC Deals in 2023

On February 26, 2024, the Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technologies (PACT), in conjunction with PitchBook, released its 2023 Philadelphia Venture Report. The report covers dealmaking trends across sectors, stages, exits, and fundraising. The findings portray a resilient region that remained strong despite a nationwide slowdown in VC dealmaking in 2023, particularly in the pre-seed and seed funding stages. In 2023, Greater Philadelphia accumulated $2.4 billion in investment across 403 deals, maintaining its position among the top five most active regions nationally for venture deals. The report stated […]

PA Governor’s Economic Development Strategy Emphasizes Life Sciences Growth

Governor Josh Shapiro’s 10-year state Economic Development Strategy, which he unveiled on January 30, 2024, followed by his 2024-25 Budget Proposal, emphasizes the leading role the life sciences sector will continue to play in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s future and includes investments in economic development, job creation, and innovation.

Created with the Commonwealth’s Department of Community and Economic Development, the strategy, which is available to read in full at www.PAGetsItDone.com, capitalizes on the state’s strengths. The plan specifically emphasizes five defined high-growth, high-value sectors where Pennsylvania already holds a profound competitive advantage and can expect […]

Building Momentum in Greater Philadelphia: Our 2023 Year in Review

Greater Philadelphia’s business community experienced tremendous growth in 2023 – including highlights like becoming the home of two Nobel Prize winners, bringing in more than $1.78 billion in investment funding, and receiving two federal hub designations in our 11-county region. This year’s accomplishments raised the region’s national profile and supported the local economy, helping organizations of every size and sector to succeed.

The Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia (the Chamber), through Select Greater Philadelphia (Select), has focused on telling the powerful story of our region as a global leader – in business, education, life […]

Greater Philadelphia Startup Culture Emerging as Economic Force in the Region

Will Sanderson grew up in northern New Jersey, or, as he puts it, “Philly adjacent.” He moved to the Greater Philadelphia region when his wife did a residency and medical fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn), and he was a Senior Product Manager with MachineQ, a Comcast-owned technology company focused on the Internet of Things (IoT).

Jeff Stade earned a master’s degree in urban spatial analytics at Penn and was a senior product manager at Tidelift, an open-source software company.

They were friends of friends with something in common. They wanted to start their own […]

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