These Pennsylvania tech companies each just got up to $100K in tax credits

Pennsylvania’s state government just gave out its latest batch of tax credits to early-stage companies working in tech across the state.

Last week, Gov. Tom Wolf announced that 197 early-stage tech companies would each receive up to $100,000 in tax credits. Those benefits are part of the Keystone Innovation Zone (KIZ) Tax Credit Program, which is an incentive program aimed at providing fiscal benefits to for-profit companies that are less than eight years old with operations in one of 29 designated KIZs throughout the state.

In total, the 29 KIZs are partnered in some way or another with over 91 higher education institutions ranging from community colleges to research universities in both rural and urban regions. Other requirements for companies interested in the program include having an increase in gross revenue over the previous years and operating in a “targeted industry sector such as informational technology or advanced manufacturing/diversified materials,” per a press release.

The hope is that the tax benefits will encourage more residents to engage in entrepreneurial activity within research and development clusters throughout the state. The benefits are meant to ease the strain of critical business needs such as capital expenditures, workforce expansion and operational expenses.

“It’s vital to support our tech entrepreneurs here at home and foster their growth,” Wolf said of the companies approved for tax credits through the program in 2021, announced last week. “These tax credits help reduce the burden on companies as they are just starting out. In turn, these businesses and entrepreneurs will push Pennsylvania’s thriving tech sector forward.”

To date, the KIZs have created over 11,600 jobs, generated over $250 million in licensing revenue and awarded over $150 million in tax credits, per the state. (These numbers are likely much higher now as it appears the last time the section of the program website listing them was updated was in 2018.) The program website notes that there is a total annual pool of $15 million in tax credits available to KIZ companies annually, but the total amount allotted to the 2021 companies was only $14 million. And overall, only 22 of the 29 KIZs had companies that received credits through the program this year.

The KIZ Tax Credit Program, and its companion initiatives from the state government, are part of a larger effort to encourage Pennsylvania universities to consider commercial opportunities for their research, rather than seeing that research itself as an end game.

That’s been a long topic of conversation for certain sectors and locations, like the life sciences in Pittsburgh, where industry and academic expertise at places like UPMC or the University of Pittsburgh haven’t led to an explosion of startups as one might expect. And even Pittsburgh’s prominent robotics sector, which sprung out of research at Carnegie Mellon University, is still “very much in the startup phase” according to some executives in the local autonomous vehicle industry. The KIZ Tax Credit Program and others like it aim to move the commonwealth’s universities to the forefront of innovation.

Here’s the full list of companies supported in the 2021 program. Below are the companies that received credits in the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia regions, along with the KIZ they’re located in and the amount in tax credits they received. Familiar names include Marinus Analytics, Apollo Neuro, Rimsys and RoadRunner Recycling in Pittsburgh, and Perpay, Crossbeam, Houwzer, HealthVerity, PHL Collective and Apostrophe in Philly.

Pittsburgh region

• PittMoss, Beaver County KIZ , $100,000
• PennAlt Organics, Inc. DBA Penn Health Group, Fayette/Washington County KIZ — $100,000
• Fayette Pipe Company, Fayette/Washington County KIZ — $100,000
• KEF Robotics, Greater Oakland KIZ — $100,000
• Mine Vision Systems, Greater Oakland KIZ — $100,000
• Renerva, Greater Oakland KIZ — $96,093
• Rapid Flow Technologies, Greater Oakland KIZ — $100,000
• Ariel Precision Medicine, Greater Oakland KIZ — $100,000
• Wise Telemetry, Greater Oakland KIZ, $100,000
• Globin Solutions, Greater Oakland KIZ — $100,000
• CapSen Robotics, Greater Oakland KIZ — $41,614
• Civic Mapper, Greater Oakland KIZ — $37,697
• AnkyrBio, Greater Oakland KIZ — $91,553
• Consegna Pharma, Greater Oakland KIZ — $100,000
• Allvision IO, Greater Oakland KIZ — $1,516
• Aeronics, Greater Oakland KIZ — $100,000
• Shift Collaborative, Greater Oakland KIZ — $55,078
• Simple Origin, Greater Oakland KIZ — $100,000
• UpContent, Greater Oakland KIZ — $56,550
• Rehat LLC dba Noctem, Greater Oakland KIZ — $100,000
• Ocean Genomics, Greater Oakland KIZ — $4,500
• Toaster Party, Greater Oakland KIZ — $100,000
• Expii, Greater Oakland KIZ — $100,000
• Hikari Labs, Greater Oakland KIZ — $46,399
• Wright World Scientific, Greater Oakland KIZ — $3,149
• Cognistix, Pittsburgh Central KIZ — $100,000
• Elite Alloy Concepts, Pittsburgh Central KIZ — $2,195
• Iralogix, Pittsburgh Central KIZ — $100,000
• ThoroughCare, Pittsburgh Central KIZ — $100,000
• Digital Dream Labs, Pittsburgh Central KIZ — $100,000
• Marinus Analytics, Pittsburgh Central KIZ — $40,706
• Confirmed, Pittsburgh Central KIZ — $857
• Exus North America Holdings, Pittsburgh Central KIZ — $100,000
• Solinius, Pittsburgh Central KIZ — $21,150
• Everest Infrastructure Partners, Pittsburgh Central KIZ — $100,000
• Biomotivate, Pittsburgh Central KIZ — $38,774
• ARIN Technologies, Pittsburgh Central KIZ — $13,249
• Ezra Digital, Pittsburgh Central KIZ — $100,000
• Apollo Neuroscience, Pittsburgh Central KIZ — $100,000
• Rimsys, Pittsburgh Central KIZ — $100,000
• Subtl Beauty, Pittsburgh Central KIZ — $100,000
• Switcheroo, Pittsburgh Central KIZ — $9,257
• Roadrunner Recycling, Pittsburgh Central KIZ — $100,000
• Abound Bio, Pittsburgh Central KIZ — $100,000
• Pathway Accessibility Solutions, Pittsburgh Central KIZ — $99,348
• Adrich, Pittsburgh Central KIZ — $100,000
• Mashup U, Pittsburgh Central KIZ — $100,000
• CytoAgents, Pittsburgh Central KIZ — $100,000

Philadelphia region

• RKI Apps, University City KIZ  — $93,504
• Perpay, University City KIZ  — $93,504
• Mebias Discovery, University City KIZ — $100,000
• Dlubal Software, University City KIZ  — $533
• Crossbeam, University City KIZ — $100,000
• Stel Life, University City KIZ — $100,000
• CampusESP, University City KIZ — $100,000
• Magnolia Land Partners, University City KIZ — $100,000
• PHL Collective, University City KIZ — $40,218
• FloBio, University City KIZ — $29,653
• Avisi Technologies, University City KIZ — $80,896
• Paradigm Surgical, University City KIZ — $55,361
• HealthVerity, University City KIZ — $100,000
• Wearwell, University City KIZ — $12,024
• MeshNet, University City KIZ — $100,000
• ExpressCells, University City KIZ — $22,707
• LignaMed, University City KIZ — $100,000
• Perpay, University City KIZ — $100,000
• Apostrophe Technologies, University City KIZ — $100,000
• Goeppert, University City KIZ — $100,000
• VitalTrax, University City KIZ — $100,000
• Respana Therapeutics, Inc. University City KIZ — $94,753
• Prohibix University City KIZ — $61,132
• Grue & Bleen LLC University City KIZ — $100,000
• Thrive Commerce LLC University City KIZ — $62,393
• NeuroFlow, Inc. University City KIZ — $100,000
• Verif-y Inc. University City KIZ — $25,646
• SpotMe Fitness Company DBA IncentFit University City KIZ — $100,000
• JT-Mesh Diagnostics LLC University City KIZ — $40,874
• Asset-Map Holdings, Inc. University City KIZ — $100,000
• Repisodic, Inc University City KIZ — $100,000
• Houwzer Inc. University City KIZ — $100,000
• Bainbridge Health, Inc. University City KIZ — $60,730
• Strados Labs, Inc. University City KIZ — $90,699
• AlphaThera LLC University City KIZ — $100,000
• Growflux, Inc. University City KIZ — $36,248
• Borderwise, Inc. University City KIZ — $100,000
• Green Matter LLC University City KIZ — $2,482
• Ostiio LLC University City KIZ — $72,665
• Ghost Robotics Corporation University City KIZ — $100,000
• Coriell Life Sciences, Inc. Navy Yard KIZ — $100,000
• Industrial Metals Manufacturing LLC Navy Yard KIZ — $100,000
• Navrogen, Inc. i2n Chester County KIZ — $52,940
• Noetic LLC i2n Chester County KIZ — $47,821
• Celero Commercial Solutions LLC i2n Chester County KIZ — $100,000
• Praeventix Inc i2n Chester County KIZ — $94,897
• Etopuponline.com LLC i2n Chester County KIZ — $100,000
• Precision Pro Sports LLC i2n Chester County KIZ — $100,000
• Megna Health i2n Chester County KIZ — $100,000
• Ocugen OpCo, Inc. i2n Chester County KIZ — $100,000
• Universal Pure LLC i2n Chester County KIZ — $100,000
• DietaryDNA LLC i2n Delaware County KIZ — $40,286
• Boxplot Analytics i2n Delaware County KIZ — $14,338
• Linnaeus Life Sciences LLC Bucks County Biotech KIZ — $100,000
• NeuEsse Inc Bucks County Biotech KIZ — $26,000
• Aqua Vida, LLC BioLaunch611+ KIZ — $100,000
• Fortress Power LLC BioLaunch611+ KIZ — $100,000
• VOR Inc. BioLaunch611+ KIZ — $100,000
• Soul Performance, LLC BioLaunch611+ KIZ — $100,000
• T38Fax, Incorporated BioLaunch611+ KIZ — $100,000
• Zuppler ONL Food Order LLC BioLaunch611+ KIZ — $100,000
• Medtrics Lab, LLC BioLaunch611+ KIZ — $50,945
• Scentin LLC BioLaunch611+ KIZ — $100,000
• National Creations LLC BioLaunch611+ KIZ — $100,000
• Castle Valley Mill LLC BioLaunch611+ KIZ — $94,832
• Akas Tex, LLC BioLaunch611+ KIZ — $100,000
• Wazoodle Fabrics LLC BioLaunch611+ KIZ — $100,000
• FairyGene Inc BioLaunch611+ KIZ — $100,000