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Thursday, May 13, 2010

Energy start-ups attract $1.35 million from Ben Franklin program

It’s clear from its latest investments where Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania has been putting its energy.

That would be the energy sector.

This week, the state-funded economic development group disclosed it would invest about $2.03 million in eight early-stage companies. Of that, $1.35 million went to four involved in alternative energy or energy efficiency.

The largest deal was $500,000 in CeeLite Technologies L.L.C., a Colmar firm that has been using light-emitting capacitor technology to produce flexible panels for use in illuminated signs and architectural accents.

Earlier this year, CeeLite got a $494,574 grant from Pennsylvania’s Alternative Energy Investment Fund to install new manufacturing equipment in its Montgomery County factory.

Radnor-based Community Energy Inc. received $400,000, which it intends to use to expand its solar development and marketing operations. Founded in 1999, the company could be the grandfather of local wind-energy companies. It sold its wind farms and unfinished projects to Spain’s Iberdrola in 2006 for $30 million. Currently, it has more than 112,500 “green” power customers around the country.

Malvern’s Quanta Technologies Inc. got $250,000 to help it launch its “low-E” storm-window business and find a manufacturing site in the area.

Finally, OxiCool  Inc. obtained $200,000, which founder and CEO Ravikant Barot said would be used to field-test a new kind of environmentally friendly air-conditioning system. Ben Franklin had previously invested $150,000 in the company.

Based on work begun by the U.S. Navy, OxiCool now has full-size working prototypes and has been working with a large heavy-truck manufacturer. Barot would not disclose its identity.

But he did say that he’s begun scouting out locations in Philadelphia to manufacture the device.

The other Ben Franklin transactions were:

* Achieve X L.L.C., Blue Bell, $150,000. Cofounder and CEO Nick Araco said he’ll use the money to expand the CFO Alliance, a “live-events” networking group for financial executives, and the AchieveNext social-networking community for the same target group. CFO Alliance has chapters in eight cities with plans to open in four more, Araco said.

* Clear Align L.L.C., Eagleville, $251,000. The company is focused on imaging, sensing, and fiber optics and previously received $251,000 from Ben Franklin.

* GreenPhire Inc., King of Prussia, $200,000. The start-up is working on a payment system for use by clinical-trial sponsors to compensate study participants.

* Spectrum Devices Corp., Hatfield, $75,000. It designs and makes high-power transistors, and had gotten $120,000 from Ben Franklin previously.
Posted by Mike Armstrong @ 2:44 PM  Permalink | File Under: Energy, Utilities | | Small Business | | Technology | Post a comment
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About Mike Armstrong
Mike Armstrong, a business editor and writer for nearly two decades, is the Inquirer's business columnist and PhillyInc blog editor. Contact Mike via e-mail or at 215-854-2980
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