Two companies are moving out of a business incubator into larger offices as they capitalize on their growth prospects.
The Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania said it will graduate two client companies from its TechVentures building at Lehigh University’s Mountaintop Campus in Bethlehem.
The organization said Orbweaver Sourcing LLC is relocating to a facility in downtown Bethlehem that is four times the size of its existing space, and Sunbound Technology is moving to a Whitehall Township facility eight times its incubator space.
Orbweaver provides complete, real-time supply chain integration solutions for the electronics manufacturing industry.
Sunbound Technology is developing custom light-emitting diode products for industrial and commercial applications.
Orbweaver is moving to the north side of downtown Bethlehem, said Chris Ciesielka, co-founder of Orbweaver. The company’s new address is One East Broad St., Suite 430, Bethlehem, PA 18018.
“Bethlehem represented a nice opportunity,” Ciesielka said, noting the city is close to many of its employees. Orbweaver has 13 full-time employees and eight part-time employees, he said.
The new location is about 2,500 square feet. At Ben Franklin’s TechVentures, Orbweaver occupies three spaces, which combined are about 600 square feet, Ciesielka said.
He started the company with his business partner, Tony Powell, and they have been at Ben Franklin for four years.
Ciesielka said it feels good to be moving and having the company be in one space. His company’s products and services allow distributors, manufacturers and contract manufacturers to transfer and use critical supply chain data.
By solving the movement of data, pricing and availability and automating those processes, it results in increases in efficiencies and cost reductions for customers, he added.
Sunbound Technology is in a space that’s about 700 square feet and will be moving to a site that’s 5,500 square feet at 2646 Lehigh St., said Wayne Barz, manager of entrepreneurial services at Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania.
“Part of this is the nature of their business,” Barz said.
Sunbound needs more space for warehousing products and creating a showroom to display them. Sunbound has six employees and also serves the semiconductor industry with equipment and solutions.
For Ben Franklin, it’s gratifying when companies graduate and move out.
“This is the good side,” Barz said. “When their products start to get traction and their products start selling … that’s why we exist. Most companies, we want to get them out in the marketplace.”
Once companies start growing, the incubator at TechVentures often doesn’t have enough space to accommodate their needs. But the end result opens up space for new startups to move in.
