Azavea, SEER Interactive again named as fastest growing inner city businesses

Technically Philly’s Startup Roundup parses out the small pieces that make our greater Startup ecosystem thrive. We want to keep you in touch with the innovations that we can’t quite get to covering, but that deserve highlight. Follow along with a weekly email newsletter by clicking here and selecting the Startup Roundup button or follow Startup Roundup’s RSS feed. If you’ve got news to share, get in touch.

WHO’S GETTING FUNDED?

Momentum Dynamics, the Malvern-based company that makes a wireless charger for electric cars, raised $1 million, according to an SEC filing. Last March, it received a $10,000 grant from the Chester County Economic Development Council.

Need funding? Apply to pitch at this fall’s Early Stage East Club Pitch Philly. If you apply before June 1 and get chosen, the fee is $395. After that, it’s $495. Read our coverage of last year’s Club Pitch Philly.

First Round Capital has spent $1 million on a platform that allows its portfolio companies and investors to “ask questions, search job candidates and compare salaries,” according to a Wall Street Journal story on how VCs are upping their software offerings.

Speaking of First Round, watch founder Josh Kopelman talk ecommerce and why it’s booming in a video from Forbes.

And let’s not forget about First Round’s recent investments: It participated in a $12 million round for Swipely, a Providence, R.I.-based “payment marketing” company, according to TechCrunch.

WHO’S MAKING MOVES?

Both Azavea and SEER Interactive were again named as two of the country’s fastest growing “inner city businesses” as part of the Inner City 100, a list from the nonprofit Initiative for a Competitive Inner City and Fortune. It was Callowhill GIS firm Azavea’s fourth time on the list and it ranked No. 79 with a 15 percent growth rate from 2007 – 2011. NoLibs online marketing agency SEER Interactive was ranked No. 34 and previously placed No. 25 last year, according to the Inquirer. It had a growth rate of 34 percent from 2007 – 2011.  Read more on the Inquirer here.

Penn’s Graduate School of Education‘s forthcoming edtech incubator is going to be different from other accelerators and incubators in the city, according to preliminary details about the project. The Inquirer explains why. Called the Education Design Studio Fund, the incubator is still searching for a space.