JB

Jonathon Beschen

Director of Investments

Greater Philadelphia

Invests in

Stages:

Locations:

  • Min Investment:

    $100,000.00
  • Max Investment:

    $5,000,000.00
  • Target Investment:

    $1,500,000.00

Work Experience

  • Investment Committee

    2022

  • General Partner

    2022 - 2024

    The Global Opportunity Pennsylvania Fund II – The GO PA Fund – is a venture fund seeking growth stage follow-on investments pulled from the statewide portfolio of Ben Franklin Technology Partners.

  • Director of Investments - IT

    2021

  • Manager TCG/ Business Development

    2016 - 2021

    The award-winning Ben Franklin Technology Partners is one of the nation’s longest-running technology-based, double-bottom line investment programs. For more than 30 years, BFTP has provided both early-stage and established companies with funding, business and technical expertise and access to a network of innovative, expert resources.

  • Investment Committee

    2019

  • General Partner

    2019 - 2024

  • Fund Manager

    2019 - 2019

    Global Opportunity Philadelphia Fund I, L.P., a Delaware limited partnership, is a newly formed venture fund seeking investments in seed and early-stage technology-focused enterprises. Being formed by Ben Franklin, Greater Philadelphia’s most active early-stage investor for over 35 years, the Fund leverages Ben Franklin’s expertise and experience to minimize costs while ensuring access to qualified and vetted investment opportunities. The Fund will primarily invest side by side with Ben Franklin in early-stage investments that complete and satisfy Ben Franklin’s due diligence process. The Fund will also opportunistically pick follow-on investments from Ben Franklin’s current and future portfolio that the Fund believes demonstrate the potential for significant upside and are led by an institutional investor.

  • Founder

    2014 - 2019

    Liberty Valley Initiative is a non-profit focused on engaging the vibrant talent and energy of the Philadelphia entrepreneurial ecosystem in the suburbs. Our hope is to help transform the region into an exciting environment where entrepreneurship truly flourishes.

  • Member

    2014 - 2017

    Mission To serve as the local entity, responsible for the strategic planning and promotion of an effective workforce development system in Chester County, that responds to the regional labor market needs. Vision To produce workers better equipped to compete in the global economy and to continue to be perceived as a destination of choice and a desirable place to invest, live work and raise a family.

  • Partner

    2007 - 2016

    SparkNET Technologies is a small Technology Solution Provider. We provide companies with any service that relates to technology. If you have a technology problem we can provide you with not only a solution but the optimal solution customized to your exact needs. We work with everything from Infrastructure to custom software solutions. We can integrate anything and have even been known to invent entirely new technology devices for clients. This company knows tech because we live and breath it. If you want to stay ahead of the curve or use technology to optimize your current business model SparkNET is your best bet. http://sparknettech.com

2014 - 2016

  • Founder

    2014 - 2016

    FaceCrunch.com is a unique digital advertising platform. We’ve created a social media A/B advertising platform that uses scientifically proven facial recognition comparisons to recommend, and then narrow in on the optimal face structure for ads in any particular industry, demographic or target audience. As a Founder I provided the initial research and concepts at the core of this service. I guided the funding and development of the MVP. But most importantly I removed the multitude of technical and logistic hurdles between the concept and initial offering, which included facebook Ads API access and the business and integration partnerships which were absolutely critical to any hope of success. There were many challenges along the way but with my amazing team we managed conquer all of them to date. http://FaceCrunch.com

2004 - 2007

  • IT professional

    2004 - 2007

    Lead Developer of management information systems for COs and Accounting.

2001 - 2004

  • IT Co-op

    2001 - 2004

    Responsible for implementation and support of billing systems.