Keystone Innovation
Funding platformYork · Seed
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Investment thesis
Keystone Innovation Collaborative aims to bring coordination and clarity to Pennsylvania's innovation economy, which it views as fragmented across discoveries, founders, and capital that too often operate in isolation. By acting as a central statewide hub, KIC seeks to unite these forces into a connected system that moves opportunities efficiently from discovery to validation to investment and partnership. It emphasizes a clear, repeatable path from discovery to market, faster commercialization of university research, a continuous flow of vetted founders and technologies, and stronger pipelines linking founders, investors, and industry partners so that innovation compounds over time.
Source: firm website, verified Oct 24, 2026.
What they invest in
from 2 of 4 portfolio companiesAdvanced Manufacturing ×1Consumer ×1Direct to Consumer ×1E-commerce ×1Retail Tech ×1SaaS ×1Sports Tech ×1
HQs:United States×4
Investments · 4 tracked
founders shown can be your intro pathBy year:2025 · 22024 · 12023 · 14 dated
GILSON Snow designs and handcrafts snowboards and skis in the USA using locally sourced Pennsylvania Poplar, building custom gear on demand for individual riders.
Advanced ManufacturingConsumerDirect to ConsumerSports TechSelinsgrove, US
Austin Royer(Co-founder)Nicholas Gilson(Founder)Andrew Mikowski(Executive Officer, Director)Adam Vanderhyden(Executive Officer, Director)Samantha Ginsberg(Director)David Johnson(Director)
Board seatMartin Fedorko· per SEC Form D · $1.3M raise · filed Nov 2023
Co-investorsDelaware Crossing Investor GroupWhite Rose Ventures
ReturnLogic provides a returns management platform for ecommerce merchants that automates returns workflows, tracks products through the return lifecycle, and offers analytics to optimize return policies.
E-commerceRetail TechSaaSMechanicsburg, US
Peter Sobotta(Founder)inJayson Tichler(Mr. Tichler is the Chief Financial Officer of the Issuer.)
BoardBlair Garrou(Director)in
Board seatMartin Fedorko· per SEC Form D · $2.9M raise · filed Mar 2024
Co-investors37 AngelsGaingelsMana VenturesMercury FundMoonshots CapitalRobin Hood Ventures+5 more
Other
Tracked investments with no reachable website or further public details — typically companies that wound down, renamed, or were absorbed.
Rows marked “SEC filing” are inferred from directors named on the company's SEC Form D — public regulatory data, not a portfolio list published by the firm.
Frequently asked questions
- What stage does Keystone Innovation invest at?
- Keystone Innovation invests at the Seed stage.
- What sectors does Keystone Innovation focus on?
- Keystone Innovation focuses on Sector Agnostic.
- Where is Keystone Innovation located?
- Keystone Innovation is headquartered in York, US.
From the blog
visit blog ↗Keystone Innovation has written about the launch of its nonprofit platform connecting Pennsylvania's research institutions, founders, and investors, and the closing of its affiliated venture fund. The firm has also outlined how Pennsylvania's manufacturing heritage and research capacity position it well for the emerging physical-economy venture cycle. AI summary
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