The importance of reliable access to internet has never been more clear than in these past two years, as the COVID-19 pandemic has upended every aspect of our lives, from education and work, to entertainment and media consumption. And although city officials are solid on the fact that Philadelphia as a city does not lack access to broadband internet, officials within the Office of Innovation and Technology found that some portions of Philadelphia’s residential community have more access than others.
Philadelphia
PHL Inno: Nerd Street Gamers gears up to raise $35M-plus Series B, launch crypto payouts
Nerd Street Gamers is eyeing a Series B round topping $35 million to grow its esports venue footprint and continue hiring as it rapidly grows.
Technically Philly: Gov. Wolf: This 11-person group will manage $100M to improve PA’s broadband access
This week, Gov. Tom Wolf announced the creation of an 11-person group called the Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority that will manage at least $100 million in federal funding to coordinate the rollout of broadband internet across the state.
Technically Philly: Vistar Media never restricts itself when it comes to tech stack. Here’s why its engineers enjoy using a variety of programs
Kyle Gehmlich, now a software engineer at Vistar Media, was used to simply logging on, putting his head down to get his work done, and logging off. At the time, Gehmlich worked as a full-stack web developer for one of Vistar’s competitors.
Technically Philly: Linode’s $900M acquisition by Akamai is a ‘game changer’ for cloud service providers
Linode, the nearly 20-year-old cloud software company that’s made itself a household name in the Philly tech scene, will be acquired by Akamai Technologies.
Philadelphia Business Journal: Old City tech company Linode being acquired by Akamai Technologies for $900M
Philadelphia cloud technology company Linode has agreed to be acquired by Akamai Technologies of Cambridge, Massachusetts, in a deal valued at $900 million.
Technically Philly: Free bootcamp LaunchCode is bringing 2 new web dev courses to Philly this year
In early 2021, St. Louis-based nonprofit LaunchCode expanded to Philadelphia, offering another free option for those looking for tech training bootcamps in the region. It joined Resilient Coders and Tech Elevator — and later General Assembly and Codeboxx — as new-to-Philly bootcamps with similar goals of supporting diversity in the tech sector. And after seeing high demand for its first course in 2021, LaunchCode is rolling out two new bootcamp options in Philadelphia in 2022.
PHL Inno: Startup Spotlight: ERPHealth tracks patient symptoms to improve addiction treatment
PHL Inno’s weekly “Startup Spotlight” feature highlights founders and new businesses cropping up in the region.The startup: ERPHealth is an individualized treatment platform for patients in addiction treatment and mental health centers.
Technically Philly: What are CityCoins? Philly’s CIO is looking into crypto to fund civic projects
The City of Miami recently began dabbling in CityCoin, a nonprofit and open-source protocol for trading cryptocurrency that’s netted the city almost $25 million. City of Philadelphia Chief Information Officer Mark Wheeler thinks Philly could someday join in.
If you’re among the naysayers — such as Philly’s first-ever chief data officer — who think it’s bonkers for any city government to align its financial future with what could be a “gimmick,” if not something downright exclusionary, read on for why this civic leader thinks it’s at least worth exploring.
Technically Philly: M&A Moves: Philly’s Piano is acquiring SocialFlow and Blue Bell’s Anexinet is merging
It’s an acquisition and a merger for two Philadelphia-area companies, as Piano and Anexinet both announced new expansions on Thursday. Piano acquired SocialFlow
The Bourse-based B2B media software company, which last spring raised an $88 million Series C, has acquired SocialFlow, a New York City social distribution and marketing platform for media companies.
