Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania, a state-funded nonprofit encouraging regional economic development, refers to itself as “not just investors” and “more than advisors.” As of this month, Ben Franklin has approved $2.8 million in funding for 16 startups across the Delaware Valley.

The budding companies are spread between three sectors — five in information technology, five in physical sciences, and six in the life sciences. While representing four countries in the area, 13 of the 16 recipients are based in Philadelphia and Montgomery counties. Almost a third of companies have previously received funding from Ben Franklin.

Here are a few of the interesting works in progress:

Advent Therapeutics, Bucks County

Led by President and Chief Business Officer, David Lopez, Advent Therapeutics provides therapies for micro-orphan applications. The company’s first ambitious project is to address a serious disorder in newborn infants in the Intensive Care Unit.

Squareknot, Philadelphia County

Squareknot is an interactive outlet for making how-to guides, allowing users to generate step-by-step guides from scratch, or contribute to someone else’s how-to project. The company is led by founder and CEO Jason Rappaport.

Yorn, Philadelphia County

Led by Rick Rasansky and Johanna Werbach, Yorn is a real‐time feedback platform. The company describes itself as “a unique, closed-loop platform for healthcare, business and hospitality settings, enables patients/consumers and participants to provide feedback, in the moment, on any experience.”

Polynetworks, Montgomery County

Led by founder and CEO Azim A. Samjani, Polynetworks has developed a secure, open architecture PaaS (platform-as-a-service) that allows different types of sensor data to be captured, processed, and sent in real-time. Although they’re focusing on video for the time being, the program will also be able to transmit a vast array of sensor data — from digital images to motion detection to acoustics to biometrics. Polynetworks will provide their program to a range of fields, particularly law enforcement, emergency response, and heavy industries.