# StartUp PHL

> StartUp PHL is a VC fund in Philadelphia backing Consumer, Software and Wireless. See 13 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: VC Fund
- Location: Philadelphia, United States
- Total investments: 13
- Last investment: Jan 2019
- Lead investor: 62%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- X (Twitter): http://twitter.com/startupPHL
- Website: http://www.startupphl.com/

StartUp PHL is a collaborative effort between the City of Philadelphia Department of Commerce and the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation—a forward thinking initiative inspired by the infusion of entrepreneurial talent that has boosted the city’s energy and brought new vitality to its neighborhoods.

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Consumer | 2 | 15% |
| Software | 2 | 15% |
| Wireless | 2 | 15% |
| Human Resources | 2 | 15% |
| Information Technology | 2 | 15% |

36 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Seed | 11 | 85% |
| Pre-Seed | 1 | 8% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Houwzer | Houwzer is a next-generation real estate brokerage and home services company built around the customer. Its full-service, salaried agents and mortgage advisors help homeowners save when they sell and trust when they buy. Houwzer’s proprietary technology is an end-to-end platform that streamlines the entire transaction from consultation to closingwith an integrated one-stop shopping experience. The company employs seller and buyer agent specialists, who receive salaries instead of commissions, allowing them to focus on service, not just sales. Houwzer has maintained an industry-leading Net Promoter Score of 84 and an average rating of 4.9 out of 5 stars from hundreds of client reviews online. Since launching in 2015, Houwzer has saved home sellers on the East Coast millions and helped clients buy or sell thousands of homes worth more than $1 billion. | $5.3M | Seed | Jan 06, 2019 |  |
| Sun and Earth | Sun and earth original formula green cleaning product to provide customers with non-toxic alternative formulations. Sun and Earth Cleaner Living products are formulated for people who are sensitive to the harsh chemicals found in many conventional cleaning products. | $183.3K | Seed | May 16, 2018 |  |
| MBF Therapeutics | MBF Therapeutics is a clinical-stage animal health company focusing on the development of gene-based, immunotherapeutic vaccines for use in veterinary medicine.Using proprietary vaccine platform and delivery system technology, MBF Therapeutics’ checkpoint inhibitor therapies have the potential of transforming the treatment of cancer andprevention of infectious diseases in companion animals and livestock. | $250K | Seed | May 16, 2018 |  |
| Surprise HR | Surprise HR is a tech startup that has reinvented employee recognition. | $175K | Seed | May 16, 2018 |  |
| Blogger Republik | Blogger Republik is a Ecommerce, Creative and Fulfillment Company. | $175K | Seed | May 16, 2018 |  |
| Deepwave Digital | Deepwave Digital directly enables the incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI) in radio frequency (RF) and wireless systems by supplying customers with an integrated hardware and software solution. Their technology moves the AI computation engine to the signal edge of the RF system to reduce network bandwidth, latency, and human-drivenanalysis requirements. Deepwave Digital is a dedicated team of RF industry experts with over fifty years of combined experience providing digital signal processing solutions to the commercial and defense industries. It was founded in 2017 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. | $200K | Pre-Seed | May 16, 2018 |  |
| CampusESP | CampusESP is a strategic parent and family engagement platform enabling institutions to keep the most important influencers of their students informed - parents. From impacting enrollment, to student success, to annual giving - keeping parents effectively engaged has proven to be critical for institutions looking to better support theirinstitutional goals. Deployed at schools like Penn State, CampusESP gives helicopter parents a place to land. | $175K | Seed | May 16, 2018 |  |
| Astarte Medical | Astarte Medical is a clinical intelligence company using software and predictive analytics to improve outcomes for children with medical complexity. Astarte Medical supports standardized care protocols, care planning and decision-making in acute, complex care settings with a suite of digital tools and diagnostics designed to optimize care andoutcomes for vulnerable patient populations when there is great opportunity to impact long-term health. | $250K | Seed | May 16, 2018 |  |
| Bakround | Bakround has pioneered the bScore, a unique rating system that calculates how well someone meets the requirements for a job. | $175K | Seed | May 16, 2018 |  |
| Ghost Robotics | Ghost Robotics is revolutionizing legged robotics and the market for highly agile and fast tele-operated and autonomous unmanned ground drones for military, homeland, intel, and enterprise markets. Our quadrupedal UGVs (Q-UGVs) are unstoppable. | $1M | Seed | Apr 15, 2018 |  |

10 of 13 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/ben-franklin-technology-partners-of-southeastern-pennsylvania) — VC Fund, 10 deals together
- [Admiral Capital Group](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/admiral-capital-group) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Anthiem Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/anthiem-ventures) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Ben Franklin Technology Partners](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/ben-franklin-technology-partners) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Broad Street Angels](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/broad-street-angels) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Engineering Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/engineering-capital) — VC Fund, 1 deal together

## Similar investors

### Similar stage
- [Antler](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/antler-be9c) — VC Fund
- [Alumni Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/alumni-ventures-group) — VC Fund
- [Right Side Capital Management](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/right-side-capital-management) — VC Fund

## FAQ

### What does StartUp PHL invest in?

StartUp PHL invests primarily in Consumer, Software and Wireless startups, most often at Seed and Pre-Seed stage. Most of the 13 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### When did StartUp PHL last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for StartUp PHL closed in Jan 2019. Shizune tracks 13 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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