Annual report showcases Ben Franklin-backed business growth

As a third-generation owner of a brick-and-mortar bowling alley and entertainment center, Daniel Mowery wanted to streamline his customers’ ability to make reservations and to easily pay. But his efforts trying to get a tech company to do what he wanted proved to be frustrating.

Companies were more interested in selling him hardware than working to develop the software that would meet his needs, such as a built-in customer relationship management system (CRM) unique to a bowling entertainment center.

He decided to build his own app.

“We were really hitting our heads against the wall with technology,” Mowery said. “I have no experience in technology, but I decided to start a startup called BowlNow.”

Mowery’s efforts are among the success stories highlighted in the recently released Annual Report April 2026 for the Ben Franklin Technology Partners for Central and Northern Pennsylvania.

Funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Economic and Community Development (DCED), Ben Franklin Technology Partners covers the entire state through four offices, with the Central and Northern Pennsylvania Region encompassing a 32-county area that contains southcentral Pennsylvania.

In 2025, the Central and Northern Pennsylvania Region assisted 433 companies, with 270 jobs created, according to the report. And 24 new companies were formed, too.

Ben Franklin offers funding and expertise to startups but also small manufacturers. The process from an initial meeting to funding usually takes three to six months, according to the organization’s website. Tech startups can receive up to $500,000 from Ben Franklin through a series of investments, while existing manufacturers can receive up to $250,000. Ben Franklin’s most recent investment in BowlNow was $150,000, for a total over the last several years of nearly $500,000, Hackett said.

Building for success

Mowery’s business operations include the brick-and-mortar Midway Entertainment Center in Carlisle and Mowery Entertainment, a consulting and management company. But it was the technology efforts with BowlNow that fit well with the goals of Ben Franklin, said Joseph P. Hackett, director of Ben Franklin’s southcentral office that is based in the JD Brown Center for Entrepreneurship at York College of Pennsylvania.

It took a while for BowlNow to take off, Mowery said, partly because he did not hit on the business-to-business angle right away, with the initial iterations focusing on a business to consumer model. BowlNow evolved to harness modern technology to assist companies that have been moving from bowling alleys to family entertainment centers.

“It’s a really great business if you are making the transition to family entertainment centers,” Mowery said about bowling alleys. “It is a really bad business if you are not making the transition.”

Modern bowling alleys that have embraced the concept of family entertainment centers offer a variety of services, such as updated restaurants and gathering places, skating rinks, axe throwing areas and events. Companies can customize BowlNow to their unique services, while managing the marketing and customer care outreach of a CRM, Hackett and Mowery explained.

BowlNow filled a need that had been largely untapped in the bowling industry, Hackett also said. That entrepreneurial thinking is something that will catch the attention of Ben Franklin’s decision makers, he noted. The annual report includes numerous examples of other companies that identified unmet needs in their industries and then acted.

Mowery said the breakthrough for his venture came about five years ago when he hired a chief technology officer (CTO), Dan Morena. Mowery now calls Morena a co-founder of the company.

“I have learned that you bring CTOs problems and they bring you solutions, as opposed to you telling them what to do,” Mowery said.

After they fine-tuned BowlNow, about 20 bowling centers signed up to use it. To help it grow, BowlNow tapped the resources at Ben Franklin.

“They have really helped me,” Mowery said. “We raised some money and kept growing, and they provided some advisory roles to me, as well, which was really beneficial.”

Today, BowlNow, which has about 10 employees, is in about 400 locations nationwide.

While Mowery didn’t discuss sales details, he said BowlNow could double or triple its revenues over the next 12 to 18 months. He currently spends most of his time with BowlNow, delegating much of the management of the brick-and-mortar operations to others, he added.

A focus on investing

For the 2026-27 fiscal year, Ben Franklin Technology Partners for Central and Northern Pennsylvania is asking DCED for $4.1 million in funding for its operations, Hackett said.

In addition to financing from the state, the various regions work with investor partners, such as White Rose Ventures based on West Market Street in York. Ben Franklin offices also network with various business and employment organizations, such as the Harrisburg Regional Chamber and the Pennsylvania Workforce Investment Board, as well as community organizations and government agencies, such as Penn State University and the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Its initiatives include a program called AgeTech, which encourages investment in innovations that improve the lives of the elderly, the annual report noted. For example, Nomo Innovations is based in Lancaster County and makes Smart Nightlight, “a motion-sensing device that passively monitors and alerts caregivers,” according to the report.

“We stepped up as leaders in supporting this space by focusing our legacy programs, the Big Idea Contest and TechCelerator, on improving AgeTech,” Steve Brawley, president and CEO of Ben Franklin Technology Partners for Central and Northern Pennsylvania, said in the introduction to the annual report. “As a result, we witnessed a new generation of founders building technologies that help older adults live healthier, more connected, and more independent lives.”

Thomas A. Barstow is a freelance writer