Ben Franklin makes $316,000 in regional investments

Among the board’s investments are early stage company investments that are provided to clients in the form of a loan.

One was in the Lehigh Valley: Colymer Industries LLC, which is in the Ben Franklin TechVentures incubator in Bethlehem. Colymer will receive $50,000 to implement a marketing and sales strategy to commercialize a new, proprietary, nonasphalt roofing and waterproofing material called Tarzanite.

Ben Franklin also makes investments with established manufacturers providing 1-to-1 matching funding for work with a college or university partner on technology-based manufacturing innovation. Several of those were made to Lehigh Valley manufacturers and educational institutions.

Applied Separations of Allentown and its partner, Lafayette College, received $50,000 to develop and implement a new process and deploy equipment for the waterless dyeing of textiles for business-to-business sales to clothing manufacturers and textile companies.

Bio Med Sciences Inc. of Allentown and the Lehigh University Enterprise Center received $25,000 to complete implementation of a new Enterprise Resource Planning system for the production of innovative and specialized materials for burn and wound care.

Effort Foundry Inc. in Bath and the Lehigh enterprise center received $25,000 for improved production methods and product tracking capabilities.

Rea.deeming Beauty Inc. of Bethlehem and the Lehigh enterprise center received $25,000 to streamline manufacturing and shipping procedures by designing and implementing new automation techniques.

Radius Toothbrush of Kutztown and the Lehigh enterprise center received $18,500 to complete planning to accommodate growth for the manufacture of innovative, high-performance, ergonomic toothbrushes.