PCI Ventures & Pennovation Companies Take SXSW

For the first time since the pandemic, members of the Pennovation Works community visited Austin, Texas for South by SouthWest (SXSW).  Jaime Sweet, Associate Director of Programming for Pennovation Works attended along with Michael Poisel, Executive Director of PCI Ventures and PCIV Admin Coordinator Raquel Giron.  Jaime shared that “[they] had a blast supporting Exyn and meeting other SXSW Innovation Award finalists.”  Exyn Technologies, a PCI Ventures portfolio company and Pennovation Center graduates, was selected as finalists under the Robotics and Hardware category for ExynAI: Autonomy Level 4.  Michael, Jaime and Raquel visited Exyn during the Finalist Showcase and joined the Exyn team for the Innovation Awards.  During the rest of their SXSW experience, they heard from some impressive speakers, met investors, and learned about innovation initiatives at different universities. 

Back in Philadelphia, the Innovation @ Penn group hosted a two-day virtual pitch event co-hosted by the Penn Wharton Austin Alumni group.  Wednesday March 16th focused on tech and engineering companies with a line-up including Pennovation Works companies Chip Diagnostics, Tozuda, and Vimano.  The following day featured Healthcare Startups including Pennovation Center member company Mechano-Therapeutics among other Penn-affiliated startups.  Following each pitch, members of the Penn-Wharton Austin Alumni group shared feedback and asked follow-up questions to the entrepreneurs.  This annual event hosted during SXSW is a great way for Alumni of Penn to stay involved with our growing startup community!