Entrepreneur with two tech companies downtown asks, ‘Why not York?’

It started with samples: blood, snot, saliva, tissue — stuff from the human body that can reveal some pretty important information to medical professionals or researchers. Kevin Cramer saw it all as data points.

Growing up in Spring Grove, Cramer went to York College of Pennsylvania to pursue a degree in Computer Information Systems. He graduated knowing data can be a powerful tool. Sometimes, though, collecting, storing, or understanding that data can be tricky.

“Data is a term that gets thrown around a lot today,” he says. “But it’s been around for a long time, and the tools in how we track and analyze data are only getting better.”

Cramer launched his first business, Sapio Sciences, in 2004. While its website lists its headquarters as Baltimore, Maryland, most of his staff are at his office on North George Street, tucked into an old newspaper building that gained new life as a technology hub.

Sapio’s clients include pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies across the globe, many focusing on research and development. They use their Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) and Lab Management solutions, which help clients like Johnson & Johnson replace old school paper notepads for research with a tool that tracks everything digitally, helping with discovery, proper work verifications and processes.

“A lot of people ask why we’re in York, and I’ve often thought, ‘Why not York?’ he says. “Part of it was that I grew up here, but there’s a lot of things that have helped a business like mine stand out in the market.”

Developing new systems

At Sapio, Cramer’s team built software platform that could be used for various applications. One of those ways was a customer relationship management (CRM) solution. Building on their software platform, Cramer launched Veloxity in 2018. The office is located on Continental Square in downtown York.

“It’s a large addressable software market, so even if you only capture 1 percent of that market, you’ve got yourself a pretty successful business,” he says.

Between the two businesses, Cramer employs about 50 people. He’s also in the process of opening another satellite office in Miami for both Sapio and Veloxity.

“The great thing about my business is I get to work with smart people every day,” he says. “The interactions we have are very rewarding. The work we do to help scientists improve the world and help businesses grow just makes it even more exciting. There’s a lot that’s going to happen in this space in the coming years. We get to be part of that.”