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Technical.ly
07-08-2025
- Business
- 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
12-06-2025
- Business
- Technical.ly
Sojo Industries raises $40M to automate food manufacturing and grow operations
Sojo Industries announced today a $40 million Series B investment, building on the company's recent growth momentum. The Bristol-based robotics company uses both hardware and software to automate food and beverage manufacturing systems. The recent funding from investment firm S2G will be used to upgrade its software products, invest in marketing materials and advance its 'mobile manufacturing' technology, Barak Bar-Cohen, founder and CEO of Sojo, told 'Having this vote of confidence from S2G, having this capital on the balance sheet, having smart, experienced partners alongside you,' Bar-Cohen said, 'feels like another major advantage to have at this point in time.' Only four years old, the company has raised about $63 million to date and currently employs 100 people. The key to Sojo's growth has been staying focused on its original vision and model, which is building a tech company rooted in flexible manufacturing and product tracking technology, according to Bar-Cohen. As it continues to grow, Sojo plans to build out a customer-centric team and further improve its technology, he said. 'Really staying an inch wide in who you are and what you do,' he said, 'but trying to develop a model that's a mile deep and scales profitably.' The 2024 RealLIST Startup will also use the money to expand its marketing capabilities and its 'Atoms to Bits' platform, which encompasses its two main software products: Sojo Shield, a tool that tracks products in the supply chain, and Sojo Flight. Flight, patented late last year, licenses Sojo's manufacturing services to similar facilities. Now, the goal is to build more 'rovers,' which are platforms with robotics and conveyors attached to them that can be moved around and connected easily inside third-party facilities. The company currently has eight sites using the Sojo Flight system, with the goal of increasing that number to 20 by early next year, Bar-Cohen said. It will need additional units to meet demand, as some of Sojo's contracts with large manufacturers and brands require significant volumes of the tools, and some of the funding will help with that. As a part of its growth, Sojo is also investing in its physical sites. Sojo has manufacturing and packaging facilities in Pennsylvania, California, Texas and Indiana. Some of the money will go towards enhancing those locations by adding more technology and robotics, according to Bar-Cohen. Overcoming a challenging fundraising environment Six months ago, Sojo decided to pursue a Series B round to keep up with growing demand for its products, according to Bar-Cohen. Last summer, Sojo raised a $10 million Series A. As of October 2024, Sojo Industries was valued at $80 million, according to PitchBook, but the company did not disclose an updated valuation with its current raise. Raising money is difficult right now, specifically because of macroeconomic uncertainty. Venture capital deal flow in the Philadelphia region was way down last quarter, according to PitchBook's quarterly Venture Monitor report. Part of the reason the fundraising atmosphere is so challenging is that founders need to show profitable growth at scale, a plan to get there and a strong team to execute it, Bar-Cohen said. The goal is to use this recent raise in a way that will result in 12 to 18-month payback periods. The company was founded in 2021 by Bar-Cohen, a former beverage company executive, with a specific focus on using robotics and automation to package variety packs of food and beverages. Originally, Sojo was mostly focused on beverage manufacturing and packaging, but it's now solidly in food and snacks with plans to expand into the pet food, health and beauty markets, Bar-Cohen said. 'If you just focus on the things that you're really, really good at, over and over again,' Bar-Cohen said, 'and you do it well, and you sort of let that permeate across the business and that execution operator mindset — that's as much of a competitive advantage out there as anything.'
