VC Firm Ben Franklin Technology Partners Debuts Blockchain Platform

PHILADELPHIA, April 11, 2019 — Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania (Ben Franklin), a leading seed stage capital provider, announced the availability of its blockchain-enabled onboarding and tokenization platform that streamlines and manages investor interests in the Global Opportunity Philadelphia Fund (GO Philly Fund). Ben Franklin is leveraging Securitize as the fund’s compliance platform for issuing and managing digital securities on the Ethereum blockchain. The platform is also managing KYC/AML and accredited investor compliance.

The new blockchain-enabled platform allows limited partnership interests in the GO Philly Fund to be represented as digital “GO Philly Tokens” that are fully compliant with the ERC-20 standard worldwide. The tokens, now available at GOPhillyFund.com, will be issued electronically by the fund at an offering price of $0.50 per GO Philly Token. Subscriptions for the tokens can be purchased through the platform by individual investors with U.S. dollars, Bitcoin (BTC) or Ether (ETH). Prospective investors must apply to subscribe for a minimum amount of $250,000 or equivalent amount in BTC or ETH.

“The GO Philly Fund intends to utilize rapidly emerging standard technologies to streamline and manage investor interests in the fund,” explained Scott Nissenbaum, Ben Franklin’s Chief Investment Officer. “Through the use of blockchain technology, we are now facilitating and streamlining individual investor participation from around the globe while allowing for cryptocurrency to be accepted.”

The availability of the onboarding and tokenization platform comes on the heels of the recently launched GO Philly Fund, a regional venture fund that allows private investors to invest in a broad variety of early-stage technology-focused companies located in the Greater Philadelphia region. The GO Philly Fund has raised more than $15 million and seeks to provide up to $50 million of capital  alongside Ben Franklin’s investments.

The fund was formed in conjunction with EPAM (NYSE:EPAM), a leading global product development and digital platform engineering services company headquartered in the Philadelphia area with more than $1.8 billion in revenue.  Subscription for the GO Philly Fund is open to domestic and international accredited investors who seek to capitalize on the region’s growth.

Interests in the GO Philly Fund are being offered only through the fund’s private placement memorandum, limited partnership agreement and subscription package. A copy of the private placement memorandum containing more detailed information about Ben Franklin and the GO Philly Fund is available by request. For accredited investors and seed and early-stage companies interested in learning more, please visit: gophillyfund.com.

About Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania

Since its beginning in 1982, Ben Franklin has invested more than $200 million into over 2,000 emerging technology companies in the Philadelphia region, making it the most active seed investor in the Mid-Atlantic region, and ranked top 10 in the United States.

An independent 501(c)(3), Ben Franklin has played a role in the creation of many of the region’s leading technology companies and, together with the statewide network of four independent Ben Franklin Partner organizations, has been recognized as significantly increasing the odds of success for the young companies it champions. Ben Franklin nurtures young companies by actively investing capital and providing an ever-growing repertoire of resources for its portfolio companies, their co-investors, and the Philadelphia region’s community of technology-based innovation.

Ben Franklin is an initiative of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development and is funded in part by the Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority. For more information on Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia region’s most active early-stage investor for more than 35 years, please visit www.sep.benfranklin.org, and follow us on Twitter @bftp_sep.