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People With Top Ideas Seek Investors Cash At Philadelphia Conference

By Ian Bush

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Call it 'online dating' of a different sort.

Those who have big ideas in technology are looking to link up with investors in a conference that continues Thursday at the Ritz-Carlton in Center City.

"We have 150 entrepreneurs -- CEO-level folks signed up," says AJ Jordan with Ernst & Young.

As far as the suitors who will pay for the best:

"We have about 100 investors -- about 80 from the Philadelphia market and 20 from out of town," Jordan said.

Jordan says there's nothing unseemly going on at the Impact 2012 Venture Summit Mid-Atlantic, but actually, it's just the opposite.

"There are certainly some good stories out there about companies that have gotten funding and met some partners here over the years."

The rest of us can benefit from those relationships, and the innovations born. Exton-based iPipeline, for example, develops software to help insurance companies quickly process claims:

"They ended up meeting one of the local investors here who brought in an out-of-town investor. This company's hit a home run," Jordan said.

That's not the only one. Jordan says there are conference successes from healthcare to green technology.

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