As an entrepreneur of a startup or small business, funding your company can be difficult and navigating the different funding options, confusing. Thankfully, expert panelists at the Invent Penn State Venture & IP Conference provided your best advice for choosing a financial plan and preparing you application.

Chartlytics Acquired by CentralReach

More educators and therapists are being introduced to the leading behavior change analytics software developed at Penn State and fueled by support from Ben
Franklin Technology Partners. TechCelerator graduate Chartlytics was acquired in May by CentralReach, a provider of electronic health record and practice management software for clinics focused on applied behavioral analysis, speech therapy and occupational therapy. CentralReach boasts 40,000 users who are educators and therapists who will now have access to the power of Chartlytics’ best-in-class precision data measurement and advanced analytics technology.

Since 1992, the Technology Center at Innovation Park has been the epicenter of the region’s most formalized small business incubation program… the “garage” to dozens of start-up companies. Schoolwires (now Blackboard), Mission Critical Partners, and Real Time Devices are just a few of the most recent companies founded in this facility that have grown and relocated to larger facilities in Innovation Park. Many others have graduated to larger facilities throughout the Centre region. In essence, the Technology Center Incubator has been and remains the home field for our community’s farm team of next generation community employers. And as with all ball parks, there comes a time when the turf needs overseeded.

Many attended a Summer Solstice Celebration at the Student Farm at Penn StateThe data is in: More Millennials are putting down roots in State College, either sticking around after graduation or moving to the area to pursue career opportunities.

State College ranks as the ninth most-popular city for Millennial home ownership, thanks to housing costs, a healthy job market, a good environment to start a business and a quality of life that mixes big-city opportunities with a small-town benefits.

Late last month, 12 startups competed in this year's Tech Tournament at Invent Penn State’s Venture and IP Conference at the Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center at Innovation Park. The fast-paced, Shark Tank-inspired Tech Tournament features representatives from each startup, given three minutes to pitch their company or product to a panel of three judges. Then, judges have five minutes to ask the entrepreneurs tough, probing questions regarding their business plans, competition and financials.

Four awards were handed out at the tournament: third place with a monetary prize of $25,000; second place with $50,000; first with $75,000; and People's Choice.