These are the 2023 Fire Awards honorees in the Blazers category. Read about all of this year's honorees here.
Kathleen Brunner
founder and CEO, Acumen
With the right leader, a small firm can punch above its weight class and that’s certainly been the case for Acumen, which as of February had 14 employees. Founded by industry veteran Kathleen Brunner in 2004, the company works with life sciences firms to help researchers, engineers and scientists accelerate their data analysis, which they hope ultimately leads to better patient outcomes. The Blue Bell company said it grew its headcount 150% in 2022 and increased market access by 175%. It also expanded its partnership ecosystem dramatically by 356%. Network partners include Aizon, UIPath and Valgensis. Acumen’s platforms are tailored toward various good practice organizations across pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and other life sciences sectors. They provide data analytics and artificial intelligence, data engineering, digital validation, and process automation. In the past year, the company launched ValiGenius, which uses AI and automation to reduce validation efforts by over 50%, according to Acumen. Its growth in recent years landed the firm among the fastest-growing in the U.S. at No. 1,597 on the Inc. 5000 list in 2021.
Kamel Khalili
Laura H. Carnell Professor, Department of Neuroscience; director, Center for Neurovirology and Gene Editing; director, Comprehensive NeuroAIDS Center; chair, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Inflammation; Temple University Katz School of Medicine
chief scientific founder, Excision BioTherapeutics
Kamel Khalili is on the cutting edge of treatments for individuals with chronic viral diseases. A key focus of Khalili’s work has been HIV inhibition and elimination, work that has the potential to impact millions of lives globally. Data from the World Health Organization found that at the end of 2021, 38.4 million people were HIV positive. In efforts to combat life-threatening diseases like HIV, Khalili has geared his research toward gene editing. In 2015, the Temple University Katz School of Medicine professor founded Excision BioTherapeutics alongside Thomas Malcolm. The company uses CRISPR-Cas gene-editing technology. CRISPR is an acronym for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats. CRISPR-Cas9 allows researchers to alter DNA sequences and modify gene function through a process that involves the use of an enzyme, Cas9, that acts like a pair of molecular scissors. The company, which was spun out of Temple and is now based in San Francisco, raised $60 million in 2021 and in July received the FDA’s fast track designation for its EBT-101 treatment for patients with HIV-1, giving it better access to the regulator’s feedback as it aims to push the treatment beyond its current early stage clinical trial.
Mac Macleod
CEO, Carvertise
Mac Macleod’s Carvertise is looking to disrupt the advertising industry. The Wilmington-headquartered company pays drivers, typically rideshare drivers, to wrap their cars in advertisements, effectively creating moving marketing campaigns. The idea for Carvertise was born while Macleod was a student at the University of Delaware more than a decade ago. Its clients have included some of the biggest brands in the nation, such as Coca-Cola, Netflix and DraftKings. Locally, the company has worked with Delaware County convenience chain Wawa. Its model has proved successful and in 2022 Carvertise saw its revenue jump 55%. Over the past two years, headcount has also tripled to 60 people. That built on already soaring revenue growth of 218% between 2018 and 2021, enough to land it on the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing companies in the country. As the company continues to grow, it recently moved into a new space that spans 15,000 square feet along the Wilmington riverfront. It will look to continue its growth trajectory by leaning further into its “Swarm” business model, an approach that focuses on vehicles at large events, giving advertisers a way to reach audiences at concerts, conferences or sports games.
Sylvester Mobley
CEO, Coded by Kids; managing partner, Plain Sight Capital
For more than a decade, Sylvester Mobley has been a pillar of the Philadelphia tech scene. His endeavors to support early stage startups and spur an interest in the technology industry from an early age span widely. He launched nonprofit Coded by Kids in 2014 after he began teaching children web development in a city recreation center. The program seeks to create equity in an industry often lacking in diversity by teaching kids skills earlier in life. The program has hauled in major funding, including $1 million from Bank of America, Comcast NBCUniversal and the Lenfest Foundation. Since its founding, the organization has hosted over 1,000 classes and taught hundreds of students. Furthering his commitment, in 2020 Mobley co-founded Plain Sight Capital, a venture firm and incubator focused on early stage startups led by underrepresented founders. The company has set a target of $65 million for an investment fund and as of June had raised $10.2 million toward that goal. Its investments so far include Sweft, Stimulus and Accencio, all based in Philadelphia; along with Miami-based Kiddie Kredit.
Ellen Weber
executive director, Robin Hood Ventures
Despite what has been an uncertain and rocky venture capital market, Ellen Weber’s Robin Hood Ventures is actually ramping up its investment in 2023. Weber said Robin Hood’s investments this year are outpacing each of the last three, which were banner years for venture funding. Based in Philadelphia, Robin Hood Ventures is an angel investment group that specializes in early stage investments, funding meant to help young startups take the next steps in their evolution. Weber has led Robin Hood for nearly 25 years, infusing the Philadelphia startup ecosystem with tens of millions of dollars. Its portfolio includes companies across the software, hardtech, health care information technology, life sciences and consumer industries. Investments include AnaOno, ChargeItSpot, Simply Good Jars and Proscia. It has exited from a number of companies, including local cell and gene therapy firms Annovis Bio, ExpressCells and Immunome. In addition to Robin Hood Ventures, Weber heads up Mid-Atlantic Diamond Ventures, which is focused on emerging technology-based companies, and was previously the executive director of the Temple University Innovation and Entrepreneurship Institute.
