BFTP invests $1.8 million in nine companies

Ben Franklin Technology Partners, the state-funded early stage and angel investment organization based in the Navy Yard, has announced nine new investments in local companies. Here they are below, separated into industry for your reading convenience:

TECH:

• Snipi – $150,000. Snipi is an Evernote-like repository for links and other content to be shared over social media. As told to Technically Philly in a Q&A last May, the company is focusing on e-commerce shoppers.
• First Flavor – $100,000. The “taste marketing” company makes edible stripes to be included in magazine advertisements and other formats.
• Document Depository Corporation – $100,000. Document Depository Corporation is an online document viewer with an emphasis on security for legal and financial materials. In the past, BFTP has funded Vuzit, another online document viewer.
• Click Equations – $50,000. Hemled by Turntide vet Lucinda Holt, Click Equations creates tools that manage paid search campaigns. Read our September 2009 feature on the company for more.
• Advanced Mobile Solutions – $125,000. AMS is a mobile marketing developer. According to a press release, the company’s most popular application is Cars2Go, an app that helps connect dealers with customers. The app allows users to browse inventory and also provides each dealership with the ability to receive text message coupons. AMS also makes similar applications for the real estate industry.

PHARMA/GREEN:

• Topaz Pharmaceuticals - $500,000. Topaz is focused on making new treatments for headlice, including a new cream. The company is currently seeking FDA approval.
• SRS Energy - $250,000. SRS develops solar panels to double as roof tiles.
• Real Time Tomography – $275,000. The medical imaging company develops 2D and 3D imaging systems to help improve the accuracy of diagnosis. We’d be lying if we said we knew exactly what that means.
• Molecular Detection - $250,000. Fresh off of raising $1.4 million from Robin Hood Ventures and Mid-Atlantic Angel Group, the disease detection company can now add BFTP to its impressive list of investors.

Friday Q&A: Snipi CEO and Founder Andre Golsorkhi

Due to editorial limitations, we’re running our Friday Q&A a day late. Our sincerest apologies.

Three years ago, Midtown Village-based design firm Omeda Design + Technology, led by CEO and Founder Andre Golsorkhi sat down to a brainstorming session that led to an interesting new online shopping tool.

Snipi which lets users share products, videos, photos and more through an attractive drag and drop interface is attempting to finish what Digg and Delicious started: building consumer profiles created by analyzing the gap between customer purchases online.

“Take ‘X’ user, currently looking for a product for a niece or nephew. They buy it, and then what?,” Golsorkhi asks in a telephone interview with Technically Philly. “They’d drop off Snipi and then two weeks later they’d come back looking for the next thing. But they’re not inactive online.”

Snipi launched a public beta in early May and though growth has been modest the company has seen more than 5,000 registrations since, Golsorkhi says it is steady.

For consumers, Snipi is an attractive service, though a bit buggy and still in beta. Its slick interface more than makes up for the hiccups, and with a wide offering of platforms, which include a Firefox toolbar, an iPhone app and more to come, it seems a promising endeavor.

Technically Philly spoke to Golsorkhi to see what the service was all about, what’s in store for Snipi, and why he thinks Philly is a great place for startups.
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