Philly daily roundup: RIP Innovation Center; CHOP buys $25M property; EdLight’s seed raise

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UCity coworking space closing after 10 years

After 10 years fostering entrepreneurship and collaboration, Innovation Center @3401 will close for good this summer.  As the startup world evolved over the past decade, the space adapted with it. But the pandemic-sparked rise in remote work led to a drop in demand.

It’s a sad pivot for some current tenants. “It’s always tough to lose a community, especially one that contributed so much to me both personally and professionally,” said Brandon Morton of AI company Lithero, which has been based in the space since 2019. “I will miss it.”

➡️ Read more about ic@3401’s history and what will happen to companies currently based there

News Incubator: What else to know today

• South Jersey edtech company EdLight raised $4 million in seed funding to support its machine-learning education platform. The new funding will go towards improving EdLight’s go-to-market approach, reaching more communities and increasing capacity for its technical goals. [Technical.ly]

• We’ve announced a partial speaker lineup for the Technical.ly Builder’s Conference on May 9. Some Philly names on the list include Hannah Marks and Theresa Singleton. Plus, local orgs like Dream Syndicate, Ghost Robotics, Philadelphia Robotics Coalition and Philly Typewriter will be showing off tech at the evening Signature Event. [Technical.ly]

• Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia purchased a 3.2 acre property in Grey’s Ferry for $24.75 million. This is just the latest in a series of CHOP’s real estate moves.[Philly Biz Journal]

•  Pennovation Works released its annual report, recapping progress made in 2023. Last year the Grays Ferry center hosted 114 companies and 12 academic institutions or departments. [Pennovation]

🗓️ On the Calendar

Sarah Huffman is a 2022-2024 corps member for Report for America, an initiative of The Groundtruth Project that pairs young journalists with local newsrooms. This position is supported by the Lenfest Institute for Journalism.