Philly daily roundup: $640M VC windfall; Ghost Robotics vandalism; Benefits Data Trust’s last day

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$640M in VC poured into Philly last quarter

Companies in the Philadelphia region raised almost $643 million across 100 deals in Q2 2024, according to the latest Venture Monitor report, released quarterly by PitchBook and the National Venture Capital Association.

“While we’ve seen some fluctuation over the past year, the overall trend suggests a stabilizing market,” Emily Foote, a partner at venture capital firm Osage Venture Partners, told Technical.ly.

➡️ Check out how this quarter compares to Philly’s overall VC trends

Police investigate Ghost Robotics vandalism

Philadelphia police responded to a vandalism incident at the home of a leader at Ghost Robotics. Then, University of Pennsylvania Police responded to a separate vandalism incident the next day at Pennovation Works in Grays Ferry where the company is based.

Ghost Robotics is known for its “robot dogs” or unmanned ground vehicles. The company has recently received criticism after claims that the bots were being deployed in Gaza by the Israel Defense Force.

➡️ Read more about the controversy around Ghost Robotics

News Incubator: What else to know today

•  The “King of Transit” Geraldo Gonzalez uses tech like Photoshop Lightbox to transform photos of public transportation in Delaware. [Technical.ly]

• Anti-bullying software company Kidas won the Sustainable Esports Initiative Award from the Esports Trade Association. [Kidas]

• Benefits Data Trust is scheduled to shut down on August 24. Leadership sent a note to staff explaining the next steps. [The Inquirer]

• Penn Medicine is implementing an AI-based CT scan analysis system. So far, it has been used for 6,000 scans. [CIO]

• Do you know an exceptional technologist? Nominate them for this year’s RealLIST Engineers list in Philly. [Technical.ly]

🗓️ On the Calendar

• Iffy Books is hosting an introduction workshop about Meshtastic on July 12 [Register here]

• Philly Data and AI is hosting its monthly happy hour on July 16. [More details]

Sarah Huffman is a 2022-2024 corps member for Report for America, an initiative of The Groundtruth Project that pairs young journalists with local newsrooms. This position is supported by the Lenfest Institute for Journalism.

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