Refugee aid platform NeedsList is leaving Philly

Social enterprise NeedsList is leaving town.

The digital platform allows aid workers in refugee camps and like communities to make lists of their immediate needs — supplies, volunteers, money — and get them filled by individual donors, regardless of those donors’ locations. NeedsList launched its beta site on World Refugee Day 2017.

Cofounder and COO Amanda Levinson has been living in Philly for the past few years and participated in (and won money from) Ben Franklin Technology Partners and Village Capital’s fintech accelerator in 2017 on behalf of the company; her cofounder and CEO, Natasha Freidus, is based in Toronto.

Now, though, Levinson is relocating to Durham, N.C., where her husband has accepted a position at Duke University.

The move is happening at a time of growth for NeedsList: It also just earned over half a million dollars in venture capital from non-local impact investors, and plans to hire several staffers in the fall.

Technical.ly Philly talked with Levinson about what she’s learned from her time spent building a startup in Philly. (Hint: Despite the existence of ImpactPHL Ventures, it’s still hard to get funding around here.)