Gov. Tom Wolf visited Bethlehem-based Factory LLC Monday to highlight the importance of investing in Pennsylvania’s start-up companies.
During the visit, he met with Factory affiliated companies, including Stuffed Puffs, which received a $1 million funding proposal from the state in 2019 to expand its operations and create jobs, as well as with Mikey’s, Pipcorn, Honey Stinger, and Roar Organic.
“Companies like Factory play a critical role in bolstering Pennsylvania’s workforce and economy,” Wolf said. “Their unique approach to supporting start-up companies serves as a model to investors and helps set new businesses up for long-term success. It also demonstrates the importance of investing in our commonwealth’s businesses and workers in a meaningful and robust way—something my administration has been committed to since I took office.”
A full-service innovation and scale-up facility – the only one of its kind in the United States – Factory invests in new businesses in the food, beverage, and pet space and provides them with office space, staff, resources, capital, relationships, and data that can be cost-prohibitive for companies just starting up.
“When we decided to build Factory, we looked at a lot of cities across the country, searching for the perfect location. We found it in Bethlehem,” said Richard Thompson, Factory LLC, Founder & Managing Partner. “This is a great environment with everything we were looking for: a thriving business community, lots of experienced professionals, top-tier universities who provide us with talented interns, and state and local leaders who were excited to support us. We’re looking forward to continuing to grow our roots here in the Lehigh Valley and to bringing more innovative start-ups and jobs to PA.”
Despite the challenges faced by companies across the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Governor’s Action Team (GAT), of which Stuffed Puffs is a part, and the state’s Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) have continued to make strategic investments in businesses in every corner of the commonwealth. During calendar year 2020, GAT completed 29 projects resulting in $2.307 billion in private investment, 4,873 jobs created, and 11,183 jobs retained. Sixty-one percent of those jobs were in manufacturing.