Philadelphia’s Top 16 Venture Capital Firms [2023]

With over $8.1 billion invested and 441 deals in 2021 alone, Philadelphia ranks 6th on the US’ top cities for VCs. No wonder that Philadelphia’s VCs are some of the best in the country for tech startups.

In addition to funding, Philadelphia’s VCs often also offer founders valuable support for hiring, product development, sales and marketing.

In this article we have listed our top picks for the best venture capital firms (VCs) in Philadelphia. So, if you haven’t yet started to reach out, here is a good place to start learning about them.

This article is part of a series where we present you the top Venture Capital firms across the US. For the North East, check out our rankings for NYC, Washington DC and Boston. 
Looking for Philadelphia's top startup incubators and accelerators instead? Check out our ranking here.

Philadelphia’s Top 16 Venture Capital Firms

Here’s a summary of our top 16 picks for Philadelphia’s best VCs for tech startups (in alphabetical order):

Name	Sector focus	Round	Investment size	Investments
Ben Franklin Technology Partners	Technology	Seed	Undisclosed	Unknown
BioAdvance	Life Science	Seed, Series A	$500k to $1.5 million	50+
Chestnut Street Ventures	Companies led by alumni of University of Pennslyvania	Seed, Series A	Undisclosed	85+
Dorm Room Fund	Technology	Seed	$40,000	370+
Dreamit	HealthTech, SecureTech, UrbanTech	Seed	$500,000	300+
First Round Capital	Enterprise, Consumer, Hardware, Healthcare, Fintech, Sector Agnostic	Series A	$750k to $4 mil	300+
Genacast Ventures	AI, Cybersecurity, SaaS, B2B Marketplace, Software	Seed	Undisclosed	18
MissionOG	B2B Tech-base Product or Service	Series A	$5 to $10 mil	29
NewSpring Capital	Tech, Healthcare, Business & Consumer Services, Manufacturing	Series A+	Undisclosed	180+
Osage Venture Partners	B2B Software	Series A	$1 to $4 mil	58
Quaker Partners	Healthcare	Seed, Series A	Undisclosed (Currently Not Investing	25
Rittenhouse Ventures	Software Solutions for Financial Services, Human Resources, Life Sciences, Healthcare, General Business	Seed, Series A	$1 million	20+
Robinhood Ventures	Information Tech, Enterprise, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences	Seed	$250k to $1 mil	65+
Safeguard Scientifics	Tech-enabled Healthcare, Digital Media, and Financial Services	Series A+	Undisclosed	11
SeventySix Capital	Sports	Seed	Undisclosed	20
SRI Capital	SaaS, Deep Tech, AI-enabled Medical and Healthcare Startups	Seed, Series A	Undisclosed	39

1. Ben Franklin

Ben Franklin Technology Partners is one of Philadelphia’s most famous VCs. It provides funding, technical expertise, business expertise, and expert resources to healthtech startups and sometimes, even established businesses.

Interestingly Ben Franklin Technology Partners is an initiative of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development.

This venture capital fund offers funding to seed-stage tech companies in Pennsylvania that eventually lead to the economic development of the state.

Those tech startups that receive funding from Ben Franklin Technology Partners manage to easily attract future investments, allowing them to cross the startup stage and become a fully established company.

2. BioAdvance

BioAdvance is a VC firm that focuses on early-stage life science companies operating in the mid-Atlantic region. They actively invest in companies working in the fields of Health IT, Diagnostics, Research Tools, Medical Devices, and Therapeutics.

BioAdvance typically invests anywhere between $500k and $1.5M through a convertible note in 2 tranches. However, over the life of a company that they invest in, they may invest up to $5M.

It is important to note that they invest only in companies that work and operate in the mid-Atlantic region, which extends from New York City to Washington D.C.

Currently, they have 30 active portfolio companies.

3. Chestnut Street Ventures

Chestnut Street Ventures is another of the top VCs in Philadelphia. However, this fund is available only for University of Pennsylvania alumni, and it invests only in those companies that have some connection to Pennsylvania. It offers series A funding.

Though the find is designed for University of Pennsylvania alumni, it is not a part of the university. It is a for-profit and private fund.

Chestnut Street Ventures has 85+ portfolio companies, and it majorly invests in tech-related companies operating in fields like fintech, AI/ML, cleantech, cybersecurity, etc. However, it also invests in other sectors like food and agriculture, consumer products and services, life sciences, etc.

4. Dorm Room Fund

With 370+ investments, the Dorm Room Fund is one of the most prominent VC firms in Philadelphia. What is interesting about the Dorm Room Fund is that it offers funding only to those startups that are run by students.

The VC firm offers seed round funding and writes a check of $40,000 to eligible tech companies. Additionally, the eligible startups receive mentoring and access to various resources that help them with their entrepreneurial journey.

Of course, the funding comes against equity share and the Dorm Room Fund offers funding in the form of a SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity).

5. Dreamit

Dreamit, which is yet another of Philadelphia’s famous VCs, works with startups in the HealthTech, SecureTech, and UrbanTech sectors. Dreamit offers seed-stage funding of up to $500k to eligible companies in return for some equity.

However, it is important to note that the companies who apply for Dreamit funding need to have revenue or pilot. Those that receive funding from the VC firm also receive access to a massive network of advisors. Additionally, they also receive hands-on training plus connections to potential customers.

So far, Dreamit has invested in over 300 companies some of which are big names like GoDaddy, American Express, Deloitte, etc.

6. First Round Capital

First Round Capital is one of the most prominent VC firms in Philadelphia, however, they also have offices in San Francisco and New York. This VC firm invests anywhere between $750k and $4M and helps the companies to grow.

However, they typically invest around $2M, but that doesn’t mean they won’t make small investments or larger investments. What is interesting is that they also make follow-on investments in their portfolio companies. They usually look for 15% ownership after the seed round.

They typically perform pre-seed, seed, and Series A funding in companies operating in Hardware, Healthcare, Fintech, Consumer, and Enterprise categories.

7. Genacast Ventures

A prominent venture capital firm in Philadelphia, Genacast Ventures focuses on tech startups in the B2B sphere. They only focus on seed-stage companies. In addition to funding, Genacast offers the portfolio companies a deep network of investors and potential customers.

What is interesting is that Genacast Ventures also plays a vital role in the team building and hiring processes of portfolio companies. They focus only on tech companies in Frontier Technology, B2B Marketplaces, AI-Powered Enterprise, Disruptive Vertical SaaS, etc.

Some of the companies that they have invested in the past have been acquired by big names like Google, Datadog, Adobe, etc.

8. MissionOG

Philadelphia-based MissionOG venture capital firm focuses on companies looking for Series A funding. They work only with B2B tech-enabled companies, with a significant focus on Fintech, data, and software. It is important to note that the selected companies need to have a proven model.

MissionOG typically invests anywhere between $5M and $10M, but they also offer significant follow-on investments whenever necessary. In addition to funding, the selected partner companies also get access to a broad network of experienced experts who provide guidance in the crucial stages of growth.

So far, MissionOG has invested in 29 high-growth companies such as Katapult, Factor Trust, Cloudamize, Clip, etc.

9. NewSpring Capital

NewSpring Capital is a well-known venture capital firm located in Philadelphia. They invest in high-growth companies across various industries like tech, healthcare, manufacturing, and business & consumer services.

They offer Series A+ funding (essentially Series B, C, etc.), and so far, they have invested in 190+ companies. In addition to funds, the portfolio companies also get access to important resources and experienced mentors to help them scale their businesses to the next level.

NewSpring Capital manages $2.5 billion in AuM as of today. However, the exact amount of investment they make is not publicly disclosed.

10. Osage Venture Partners

Osage Venture Partners is a famed venture capital firm that invests in B2B early-stage software startups operating in Eastern U.S. What is interesting to note is that the companies they select to work with are usually post-revenue companies with a revenue run rate ranging between $500k and $3M.

Osage Venture Partners usually invests anywhere between $1M and $4M, and so far, they have invested in 58 companies with some big names like brazen, CIPIO, Medallion Analytics, Identropy, etc.

The Osage Venture Partners team members have deep experience in operations, investments, and strategy building, and the portfolio companies benefit from them directly.

11. Quaker Partners

Quaker Partners is a venture capital firm that invests in companies in the healthcare sector. Usually, they invest in the early-stage healthcare startups, but they are open for investments in different stages. Unfortunately, Quaker Partners is currently not making new investments.

So far, Quaker Partners have invested in 25 high-impact and innovative healthcare companies in various verticals such as medical tools & devices, human diagnostics, healthcare services, biotechnology, and pharmaceuticals.

NYDHA, Rapid Micro Biosystems, TelaBio, and Vesper Medical are the current active portfolio companies of Quaker Partners.

12. Rittenhouse Ventures

Rittenhouse Ventures is a popular venture capital firm in Philadelphia that focuses primarily on software-based startups in various verticals like human resources, financial services, life sciences, healthcare, etc.

Rittenhouse invests only in those companies that operate in the Mid-Atlantic region. The firm invests in B2B software companies with high-growth potential. It is interesting to note that the VC firm initially invests up to $1M in the selected companies in return for small equity.

This VC firm also actively participates as board members of the portfolio companies and offers their valuable expertise, along with access to the massive network of Rittenhouse.

13. Robinhood Ventures

Know for their active seed-round investments, Robinhood Ventures is a Philadelphia-based VC firm that actively works with startups in the Life Sciences, Physical Science, Information Technology, and Enterprise sectors.

The VC usually invests anywhere between $250k and $1M in promising high-growth potential companies. Apart from funding, Robinhood Ventures also offer valuable guidance to all its portfolio companies to help them achieve accelerated growth.

So far, the firm has invested in 65+ companies with a significant number of successful exits.

AlphaPoint and immunome are some of the many companies that Robinhood Ventures has invested in.

14. Safeguard Scientifics

Safeguard Scientific offers Series A+ funding to tech-enabled startups in financial services, healthcare, and digital media sectors. To date, they have invested in 11 companies so far.

Some of the prominent companies they have invested in so far include names like Aktana, meQuilibrium, InfoBionic, MediaMath, Lumesis, Syapse, etc.

In addition to funding, Safeguard Scientifics offer valuable mentoring and support to the portfolio companies through board representation.

What is interesting to note here is that though Safeguard Scientifics typically invests in Series A and Series B, they also opportunistically invest in seed rounds.

15. SeventySix Capital

Philadelphia-based SeventySix Capital is a venture capital firm that focuses on startups in sports tech, esports, and sports betting.

They invest in those companies that are working towards bringing Metaverse, Web3.0, blockchain, NFTs, virtual reality, augmented reality, and streaming to the sports industry.

Though their exact investment range is unknown, they do invest in the seed round and have a portfolio of 20 companies of which three have successfully exited in recent years.

Apart from funding, SeventySix Capital also helps the portfolio companies by providing advice on thought leadership, marketing strategy, and strategy execution.

16. SRI Capital

SRI Capital is a popular venture capital firm offering Series A funding to companies working in enterprise SaaS and Deep Tech sectors. The exact investment they make is not known, but they do take a small equity share against their investments.

They offer valuable support to the portfolio companies through active board representation. The VC firm takes special interest in companies building technology and application for the global marketplaces with built-in scalability.

One of their primary criteria for investing is that the companies should have a revenue of at least $1M.

Some of the most prominent portfolio companies of the firm include healthify, DreamVu, Fakespot and many more.