Robotics company Sojo Industries expands presence in PA with new production site
Several Southeastern Pennsylvania companies made mid-summer announcements about changes to their physical presence in the region.
One of the bigger moves: Robotics company Sojo Industries is opening a new, 215k-sq.-ft. production facility in Langhorne Pennsylvania. And Ben Franklin Technology Partners is shifting its HQ from longtime home the Navy Yard to a new space in Center City.
Plus, the University City Science Center announced its annual Nucleus Awards recipients, who will be honored this fall.
Check out all the details and more power moves below the chart, where we look at the top 10 desirable skills for jobs right now and how many job postings request each skill.
Sojo Industries expands PA footprint with new production facility
Robotics company Sojo Industries announced the opening of a new production facility in Langhorne Pennsylvania.
The 215,000-square-foot space will store products, put together product variety packs and assemble Sojo Flight 'rovers,' which are robotic platform conveyors that Sojo sends out to third-party facilities. The space will also be home to the company's customer success, product management and commercial departments.
The company also has production facilities across the country in Texas, Indiana and California. This new space triples its footprint in Pennsylvania, as its headquarters is based in Bristol, PA.
'We're committed to growing here and we're also investing in the local economy by adding jobs in assembly, shipping and receiving, and automation technology,' founder and CEO Barak Bar-Cohen told Technical.ly. 'This facility deepens our roots in Pennsylvania and reinforces our commitment to making it a long-term hub for our operations, innovation, and customer partnerships.'
The four year old company has raised about $63 million to date, including a $40 million Series B earlier this summer.
Ben Franklin Technology Partners leaving the Navy Yard after 25 years
Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania will be moving this winter from its longtime office at the Navy Yard to a new space in Center City.
The original vision for BFTP's Navy Yard space was to build an innovation hub for local companies, Scott Nissenbaum, president and CEO of Ben Franklin, told Technical.ly. But the building didn't have much functional space to host those activities.
The location was also inconvenient for a lot of the founders BFTP works with. The Navy Yard is difficult to access by public transportation and generally far from the action of the rest of the startup community, he said.
BFTP's new office at 1600 Market Street is a more central location and has plenty of space to host, including a large classroom and board room. BFTP is hoping to expand programming for founders and invite more partners to come visit, Nissenbaum said.
'The goal would be to help reinforce the collaboration, the meeting and convening,' he said.
The Navy Yard has been in the spotlight over the last few years as more development plans are announced, including millions of dollars invested from the state to expand manufacturing capabilities.
'What they're building down there, it can easily become a city within a city,' Nissenbaum said. 'But it wasn't about startups. The startup community from the Science Center down Market Street. There's much more activity there.'
University City Science Center announces 2025 Nucleus Award Winners
University City Science Center selected the four winners of its annual Nucleus Awards, recognizing leaders in Philly's innovation ecosystem.
Nicholas A. Siciliano, CEO and cofounder of Vittoria Biotherapeutics, won the commercialization award. Investment firm 1315 Capital will take home the capital award. The cultivator award goes to Steven Hess, data analytics manager for PECO. The winner of this year's convener award is Donna Frisby-Greenwood, SVP of Philadelphia scientific advancement at Pew Charitable Trusts.
'Our 2025 Nucleus honorees are driving real change – bringing groundbreaking technologies to market, fueling investment, building and convening communities, and preparing the next generation of STEM leaders,' Tiffany Wilson, President and CEO of the Science Center, said. 'Their work reflects the values at the heart of the Science Center: innovation and impact.'
More Power Moves:
Biotech company Radiant Biotherapeutics announced Deborah Geraghty as its new CEO and president. The company is headquartered in both Chester County and Toronto.
Serpent Robotics, which is developing a robotic system to assist tree cutters, was the overall winner of the Pennovation Accelerator's annual pitch day. Earable Intelligence, which is developing a wearable device that can detect seizures, won best pitch.
Venture studio United Effects Ventures announced Paula Fontana as its new chief marketing officer.
Global financial services company SEI chose Amy Sliwinski as the company's new executive vice president and chief people officer.
Laurel Miller is the new executive director of Temple University's Institute of Business and Information Technology, taking over from founding executive director Munir Mandviwalla.
Malvern-based marketing-as-a-service firm 2X appointed Amber Tobias as SVP of Corporate Development.
The Science Center announced four new board members, Joseph G. Cacchione, Edward A. Chiosso, Anthony Lowman and Carol Lee Mitchell. The org's busy summer also includes partnerships with Oribiotech, bioMerieux and Pristinology to provide youth micro internships through its FirstHand educational program.
Gene therapy company GemmaBio Therapeutics is partnering with the Department of Health in Abu Dhabi to establish manufacturing and research centers in the Middle East.
The Chamber of Commerce of Greater Philadelphia selected Christopher Franklin as the new chair of its board of directors.
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Technical.ly
07-08-2025
- Technical.ly
Robotics company Sojo Industries expands presence in PA with new production site
Power Moves is a recurring series where we chart the comings and goings of talent across the region. Got a new hire, gig or promotion? Email us at philly@ Several Southeastern Pennsylvania companies made mid-summer announcements about changes to their physical presence in the region. One of the bigger moves: Robotics company Sojo Industries is opening a new, 215k-sq.-ft. production facility in Langhorne Pennsylvania. And Ben Franklin Technology Partners is shifting its HQ from longtime home the Navy Yard to a new space in Center City. Plus, the University City Science Center announced its annual Nucleus Awards recipients, who will be honored this fall. Check out all the details and more power moves below the chart, where we look at the top 10 desirable skills for jobs right now and how many job postings request each skill. Sojo Industries expands PA footprint with new production facility Robotics company Sojo Industries announced the opening of a new production facility in Langhorne Pennsylvania. The 215,000-square-foot space will store products, put together product variety packs and assemble Sojo Flight 'rovers,' which are robotic platform conveyors that Sojo sends out to third-party facilities. The space will also be home to the company's customer success, product management and commercial departments. The company also has production facilities across the country in Texas, Indiana and California. This new space triples its footprint in Pennsylvania, as its headquarters is based in Bristol, PA. 'We're committed to growing here and we're also investing in the local economy by adding jobs in assembly, shipping and receiving, and automation technology,' founder and CEO Barak Bar-Cohen told 'This facility deepens our roots in Pennsylvania and reinforces our commitment to making it a long-term hub for our operations, innovation, and customer partnerships.' The four year old company has raised about $63 million to date, including a $40 million Series B earlier this summer. Ben Franklin Technology Partners leaving the Navy Yard after 25 years Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania will be moving this winter from its longtime office at the Navy Yard to a new space in Center City. The original vision for BFTP's Navy Yard space was to build an innovation hub for local companies, Scott Nissenbaum, president and CEO of Ben Franklin, told But the building didn't have much functional space to host those activities. The location was also inconvenient for a lot of the founders BFTP works with. The Navy Yard is difficult to access by public transportation and generally far from the action of the rest of the startup community, he said. BFTP's new office at 1600 Market Street is a more central location and has plenty of space to host, including a large classroom and board room. BFTP is hoping to expand programming for founders and invite more partners to come visit, Nissenbaum said. 'The goal would be to help reinforce the collaboration, the meeting and convening,' he said. The Navy Yard has been in the spotlight over the last few years as more development plans are announced, including millions of dollars invested from the state to expand manufacturing capabilities. 'What they're building down there, it can easily become a city within a city,' Nissenbaum said. 'But it wasn't about startups. The startup community from the Science Center down Market Street. There's much more activity there.' University City Science Center announces 2025 Nucleus Award Winners University City Science Center selected the four winners of its annual Nucleus Awards, recognizing leaders in Philly's innovation ecosystem. Nicholas A. Siciliano, CEO and cofounder of Vittoria Biotherapeutics, won the commercialization award. Investment firm 1315 Capital will take home the capital award. The cultivator award goes to Steven Hess, data analytics manager for PECO. The winner of this year's convener award is Donna Frisby-Greenwood, SVP of Philadelphia scientific advancement at Pew Charitable Trusts. 'Our 2025 Nucleus honorees are driving real change – bringing groundbreaking technologies to market, fueling investment, building and convening communities, and preparing the next generation of STEM leaders,' Tiffany Wilson, President and CEO of the Science Center, said. 'Their work reflects the values at the heart of the Science Center: innovation and impact.' More Power Moves: Biotech company Radiant Biotherapeutics announced Deborah Geraghty as its new CEO and president. The company is headquartered in both Chester County and Toronto. Serpent Robotics, which is developing a robotic system to assist tree cutters, was the overall winner of the Pennovation Accelerator's annual pitch day. Earable Intelligence, which is developing a wearable device that can detect seizures, won best pitch. Venture studio United Effects Ventures announced Paula Fontana as its new chief marketing officer. Global financial services company SEI chose Amy Sliwinski as the company's new executive vice president and chief people officer. Laurel Miller is the new executive director of Temple University's Institute of Business and Information Technology, taking over from founding executive director Munir Mandviwalla. Malvern-based marketing-as-a-service firm 2X appointed Amber Tobias as SVP of Corporate Development. The Science Center announced four new board members, Joseph G. Cacchione, Edward A. Chiosso, Anthony Lowman and Carol Lee Mitchell. The org's busy summer also includes partnerships with Oribiotech, bioMerieux and Pristinology to provide youth micro internships through its FirstHand educational program. Gene therapy company GemmaBio Therapeutics is partnering with the Department of Health in Abu Dhabi to establish manufacturing and research centers in the Middle East. The Chamber of Commerce of Greater Philadelphia selected Christopher Franklin as the new chair of its board of directors.
Technical.ly
06-08-2025
- Technical.ly
Carnegie Mellon names interim leaders for renowned startup and tech research centers
Power Moves is a recurring series where we chart the comings and goings of talent across the region. Got a new hire, gig or promotion? Email us at pittsburgh@ Carnegie Mellon University is entering a new chapter in its efforts to support entrepreneurship and innovation. The university is searching for new leadership at two of its prominent centers — the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship and the Block Center for Technology and Society — following the departures of both founding directors in recent weeks. Meanwhile, local startup founders are being recognized for their work. Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn has joined the board of design platform giant Figma and Krystal Biotech cofounder Suma Krishnan earned a spot on Forbes' 50 Over 50 list. Read on below the chart for the latest updates on who's stepping up in Pittsburgh's innovation ecosystem. [Graph] Leadership changes at CMU's entrepreneurship and tech centers Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is undergoing two major leadership transitions that could influence its approach to entrepreneurship and innovation moving forward. In late June, Dave Mawhinney, founding executive director of CMU's Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, announced he was stepping down from the role and returning to CMU faculty as a professor of entrepreneurship. While the university conducts a national search for his successor, Meredith Grelli, director of CMU's Project Olympus Incubator Program, will serve as interim director. Launched in 2016, the Swartz Center supports entrepreneurship education and CMU startups through initiatives like the Tartan Entrepreneurs Fund and the Venture Bridge pre-seed accelerator, among others. 'What [Dave] has done to elevate and expand entrepreneurship at CMU is remarkable,' said Jim Swartz, founder of the global venture capital firm Accel, whose $31M a decade ago made the center possible. 'He built a center, and a community, that is vibrant, forward-looking and committed to real impact. I'm proud of what we've accomplished together, and grateful to Dave for leading and shaping the center's success over the years. Without question, Dave Mawhinney has personally changed the importance and trajectory of entrepreneurship at CMU forever.' Just a few weeks later, Ramayya Krishnan, founding faculty director of CMU's Block Center for Technology and Society, also announced he would step down in July. After five years leading the center's research on policy for emerging technologies, Krishnan will stay involved with many of its initiatives. In the interim, Kirsten Martin, Dean of the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy, will take over as faculty director. 'The Block Center has always been about turning research into impact,' said Keith Block, founding donor of the Block Center. 'Professor Ramayya Krishnan brought that vision to life with integrity and purpose —building a center that is helping shape how we think about the future of work, technology,and society. I'm grateful for his leadership and look forward to what's ahead under Dean Martin's direction.' Duolingo CEO joins board of design platform Figma Duolingo's CEO Luis von Ahn joined the board of design software company Figma in July, shortly before it debuted on the stock market. When Figma announced Ahn's appointment, the company credited him with driving Duolingo's growth and its fun, approachable design since he cofounded the company in 2011. The two companies already had a relationship before Ahn's board appointment. Duolingo was a Figma customer and collaborated with the company on its viral 2024 Super Bowl commercial. 'For a long time I've had a founder crush on Luis,' said Figma's CEO Dylan Field in a prepared statement. 'Duolingo's dedication to design and craft is exemplary, and Figma has learned so much from Duolingo as a customer. This all stems from Luis who famously sits with his design team, and despite his computer science background, is a champion for design across the industry.' Ahn joined the board at the same time as Anthropic's chief product officer Mike Kriege, now serving alongside top executives from Mozilla, ServiceNow and Cisco Systems, among other companies. Before the company went public on July 31, Ahn received 48,179 shares of Figma stock, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The shares, which would have been valued at more than $1.5 million during Figma's initial public offering, were granted as part of a restricted stock unit award, which is a common type of compensation for board members. Krystal Biotech founder recognized by Forbes Local founder Suma Krishnan was recently recognized by the Forbes 2025 50 Over 50 list for her role in building one of Pittsburgh's most successful biotech companies. Krishnan's company, Krystal Biotech, is best known for its FDA-approved topical gene therapy for dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa — a rare genetic disorder that causes extremely fragile skin. The company is currently valued at over $4.5 billion, according to PitchBook. Krishnan, an organic chemist by training, launched the company in 2016 with her husband, using about $5 million from previous biotech ventures. 'You have to be brave and bold to do this,' Krishnan told Forbes. 'I was never afraid of risk-taking. I never felt like I needed a stable job.' More power moves: CMU named Tania Castañeda as its next vice provost for enrollment management and dean of admission, starting Aug. 25. Castañeda joins from Columbia University where she held a similar role. Point Park University appointed Becky Spritz as the new dean of its School of Arts and Sciences. Spritz brings over 20 years of experience in higher education from Roger Williams University. Pittsburgh Scholar House, a local nonprofit focused on supporting single parents earning college degrees, named Daren Ellerbee as its new CEO. Ellerbee previously led the Pittsburgh Innovation Team at Johns Hopkins' Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation. Pittsburgh Magazine's 2025 40 Under 40 list recognized several leaders in the local innovation scene, including the Moonshot Museum's executive director Jimyse Lyn Brown, PECA Labs founder Arush Kalra, Hellbender Vinyl founder Jeff Betten, Christopher Dunkers, nference's Biran Urban and Howmet Aerospace's Gina Govojdean.
Technical.ly
03-07-2025
- Technical.ly
How On the Goga is reimagining corporate employee wellness programs
Startup profile: On the Goga Founded by: Anna Greenwald Year founded: 2015 Headquarters: Philadelphia, PA Sector: Healthcare Funding and valuation: $1.3 million in funding, according to the company Key ecosystem partners: PIDC, Ben Franklin Technology Partners, University of Pennsylvania Anna Greenwald didn't dream of being a wellness entrepreneur. She came to Philadelphia from Madison, Wisconsin, in 2011 as an aspiring opera singer with an interest in entrepreneurship, attending Drexel University's music industry program. When a vocal cord injury derailed her plans, leaving her emotionally devastated, Greenwald's physician insisted she start taking yoga. 'My first thought was, absolutely not,' Greenwald, now the founder and CEO of the corporate wellness platform On the Goga, told 'I'm not a hippie, and I hate exercise, so why would I try yoga?' On the Goga — the name a mashup of 'on the go' and 'yoga' — is now a national employee wellness platform serving a diverse array of clients, from small companies to large enterprises. With a recent $300,000 seed extension and a mission to transform corporate wellness, the company is leveraging technology, AI and a pre-clinical approach to employee well-being. While employee behavior tracking is becoming increasingly popular with corporations, On the Goga doesn't incorporate individual monitoring into its platform, instead collecting the broader organizational data, aggregating it and shares findings with clients that they can act on. 'We can share insights to employers to say, hey, the top driver of burnout for your employees is meeting schedules,' Greenwald said. While the platform doesn't flag clients when employees may need clinical intervention, it acts as an integrator, making clinical employee resources, such as therapy benefits offered by the company, visible on the platform. A decade and two business models in, the company continues to evolve and grow. Yoga proved life-changing in more ways than one Greenwald, as you may have guessed, took her doctor's advice and made what would become the life-altering decision to try yoga. 'I happened to have this amazing yoga teacher in West Philly who was very mindfulness-based,' Greenwald said. 'No one was talking to me about anything that would have put me off — she just was like, 'this is what happens in your body when you breathe.'' Over the course of a year, she said, yoga changed her life, physically and cognitively. 'I was just a happier, healthier person because of this simple practice of breathing,' she said. Greenwald knew it wasn't some kind of magic. There was science behind it, and she dove into the research. She wanted other people — especially 'wellness skeptics' like her, who had preconceived notions of yoga and thought it wasn't for them — to transform themselves, too. The in-person early days She started On the Goga in 2015 as a sort of special-order yoga instructor who would come to clients' homes, workplaces and events. Clients included an Eagles player, bachelorette parties, and eventually, company HR directors looking to add yoga to their employee offerings. Very quickly, Greenwald saw the potential in employee yoga training. People who didn't 'get' yoga weren't likely to hire her, but through their employers, she could reach some of her fellow skeptics. 'I wanted to help other people realize that they already had all of the tools in themselves to change their lives,' she said. 'If I could deliver that through organizations that paid for this, for folks who would not otherwise be able to have access to these tools, that was the ultimate goal.' As the business grew from a solopreneurship venture to a small team in the late 2010s, On the Goga established itself as a local wellness company that brought yoga and mindfulness to the boardrooms of Philly companies in the never-ending battle against employee burnout. Greenwald led many classes herself, in person on site or at company retreats. It was about more than giving employees a break to center themselves. Greenwald recognized the potential of yoga and mindfulness to help companies thrive. 'Mindfulness is the foundation for all of the skills that help people to be leaders — empathy, perspective, foresight, objective thinking, boundary setting,' she said. 'We started doing leadership training, cooking, physical fitness, financial prosperity.' There was no tech platform in the early days, but the small team thought about the possibilities of making one. Meditation apps were growing in popularity, but there wasn't an app out there that did what On the Goga did for employees. Still, the in-person business model was working. That would all change in 2020, when the COVID pandemic hit. A costly but high-potential shift The in-person model of On the Goga didn't have much overhead, making it possible to bootstrap. When the company had to go virtual during the COVID lockdowns in 2020, it became clear that to shift toward being a tech platform, it was going to need outside funding. The first funding it received was a capital loan from the PIDC, a Philadelphia-based Community Development Financial Institution that helped the On the Goga team build the beta version of the tech platform. 'From that, it took off,' Greenwald said. 'We scaled with some incredible local partners.' By 2022 — which Greenwald considers to be the founding of the new On the Goga — it had become clear that the platform had legs. She applied to the national Techstars accelerator, and On the Goga was accepted. In 2023, it had its initial pre-seed. Its first seed round raised just under a million dollars from local investors, including Ben Franklin Technology Partners, Penn's Wharton Fund for Health and local angels. This year, it closed a $300,000 seed extension round in just three weeks. 'I think Philadelphia is one of the best cities in the world to start a business,' Greenwald said. 'We used the amazing Philadelphia network and community and some really fun, scrappy, guerrilla marketing tactics to get this thing off the ground.' Preventing burnout and maintaining a healthy workplace The On the Goga platform puts a wellness tool into the pockets of employees, with an app that can call up resources, wellness strategies and breathing exercises on demand, and allow them to attend live virtual workshops with coworkers. The idea is not to treat burnout, but to prevent everyday stresses from snowballing into a mental health crisis. 'We call it 'pre-clinical,'' Greenwald said. 'What we found through our years of experience is that if you wait to solve people's problems reactively after they're already experiencing them, you're waiting too long when it comes to organizational intervention.' More than anything, Greenwald seeks to redefine 'wellness' — a term that turns off a lot of people for a lot of reasons, from its 'hippie' associations to toxic workplace wellness programs that focus more on penalizing employees based on body mass index than on emotional safety. 'We want people to think of corporate wellness as, 'this is the best place to work,'' she said, noting that every expectation On the Goga places on its clients, it places on itself. As the client platform incorporates more AI (among other things, Greenwald has given talks on 'AI for emotionally intelligent leadership'), much of it starts at home base, with AI tools helping with productivity. A big focus right now, she said, is using AI to improve the bandwidth and burnout of On the Goga's own internal team. 'We're heavily leaning into developing workplace best practices around AI that are ethical, secure and supporting metrics on our team,' she said. 'Do you have enough time in the week to get things done? Do you have enough time in the week for creativity? And how is AI impacting these metrics that we know drive engagement and productivity over time?' It's all part of the reimagining. 'Our mission statement,' Greenwald said, 'is to make the future of work more human.'
