Philly weekly roundup: Gopuff sues Groundswell; Inside Rite Aid’s downfall; Vivodyne raises $40M

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This week in Philly, Amazon pledges $20 billion to Pennsylvania, local representatives speak out about federal science funding cuts and more.

Read on for Technical.ly’s weekly roundup of top news in the region.

📰 News Incubator: What else to know

• Tolerance Bio is developing a stem cell therapy for children born without a thymus, the small organ in your chest that controls immune tolerance. [Technical.ly]

• There are steps you can take to prepare to sell your business way before you actually want to sell it, like creating a company brand built on reputation. [Technical.ly]

• Gopuff filed a lawsuit against marketing agency Groundswell for continuing to use customer purchasing data past the expiration of its contracts. [Technical.ly/Philly Biz Journal]

• After filing for bankruptcy for a second time, Rite Aid is officially closing its doors. Here is a timeline of the rise and fall of the Scranton-founded drug store chain. [The Inquirer]

•  Penn spinout Vivodyne raised a $40 million Series A. The funding will go toward opening a new robotics laboratory in San Francisco.  [Technical.ly/BusinessWire]

• Local software engineer Waskar Paulino is launching a community group for underrepresented engineers in Philly called PhilaCon Valley. [LinkedIn]

• University College at Temple University is partnering with Ziplines Education to offer online certificate programs for digital marketing, business analytics, product management, Salesforce administration, AI prompting and advanced AI workflows. [Temple University]

• Global biopharmaceutical GSK donated $450,000 to the School District of Philadelphia to support STEM education programs. [GSK]

• The Wistar Institute opened its new HIV Cure and Viral Diseases Center at 3675 Market Street earlier this month. The 25,000 square foot space will support research for HIV and other viral diseases. [Wistar Institute]

• The City of Philadelphia released two impact studies analyzing Philly’s nighttime and music economies. The reports found that the nighttime economy creates $26.1 billion in annual economic activity. [City of Philadelphia]

🗓️ On the Calendar

• Technical.ly event: Join Technical.ly CEO Chris Wink and stakeholders from Pittsburgh as they discuss government services on the next Builders Live on June 11. [Register]

• Help out on a Code for Philly project on June 10 at the group’s June Hack Night. [More details]

• Learn about debugging at PhillyJS’ next meetup on June 12. [Register]

• Tech Council of Delaware’s Greater Philadelphia Regional Convening is on June 13. [Register]

• Curious about death tech? Check out Dying to Meet, an end-of-life technology networking event on June 24. [Register]