A DC venture firm brought 13 health IT startups to Philly last week

The week before Thanksgiving, D.C.-based venture firm Village Capital posted up 13 health-focused companies at coworking space Benjamin’s Desk’s Rittenhouse location.
The cohort of early-stage startups is part of Village Capital’s Health: US 2016 program, a three-month workshop that culminates in two startups getting funding. The companies spent four days working on business models, meeting with local investors like Ben Franklin Technology Partners (BFTP) and voting on each other’s pitches. (The firm’s investment model relies on peer reviews to select the companies it will invest in).
Though none of the companies in the group hailed from the Philly area, the closest neighbor was East Stroudsburg, Pa.-based Heudia, a community-focused care coordination platform.
“This model has been amazing to see up close and personal and for them to come to Philly was amazing!” said Benjamin’s Desk chieftain Anthony Maher in an email. “Beyond the big name and construct, the cohort of entrepreneurs they have with them from all over the country is just as impressive.”
Philly was chosen along Nashville and San Francisco to host one of three week-long workshops to help the ventures get exposure to different markets and further develop their business plan. (This past summer, VilCap took its edtech cohort to Baltimore and our sister site Technically Baltimore covered it.)
Why was our fair town chosen to host? Access to capital and resources, said Village Capital Leadership Development Associate Sibo Gama. “Though the companies are very young, Philly is most likely a place they will be visiting with investors.” With Philly’s health IT focus, it makes sense.
(Also, this isn’t the first time VilCap has run a program in the city: it announced that it would launch a fintech-focused incubator with BFTP earlier this year. BFTP spokesman Jason Bannon told us timing had to be pushed back because BFTP was slammed with deal flow but that there would be an open call for companies early in the next year.)
After spending four days around the ecosystem, we asked Gama what his takeaway on the Philly tech scene was.
“It’s really thriving,” Gama said as the cofounders listened to each other’s pitches. “Philly is making a big push especially in the medical side.”
Gama, 25, is a native of Swaziland. The Skidmore and Duke University grad said coming from a small, impoverished nation allowed him to better appreciate the democratic spirit of VilCap’s peer-selection model.
“I come from a country that survives on charity and donations, that’s not very impactful,” said Gama. “This whole idea of the peer selection model is that the money goes to those who are better-served to help people. It’s a purely democratic system.”
In light of all the compliments he had for Philly, any thought to some VilCap presence in town? Gama said no.
“We’re trying to grow our presence in the non-traditional sense,” he said. “Pitching up an office is not necessarily a sign that you’re involved with the city. It’s what you can do for the city that’s important.”