Innovation & Job News

The founders of Ornicept developed their avian-monitoring technology at Indiana University so what attracted the award-winning start-up to pick up and move to Ann Arbor? The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor SPARK and opportunity.

Ornicept's technology automates the monitoring of birds, collecting comprehensive data for wind turbine developers and airport operators.

"It allows you to collect a large amount of quality data about birds on-site," says Justin Otani, CEO of Ornicept. "That allows you to run better data analysis."

Otani and Russell Conard co-founded the company in Indiana eight months ago. Russell's wife recently began a master's program at the University of Michigan, so the pair started to consider Ann Arbor as a base for their company. They then ran into an Ann Arbor SPARK representative at a Pure Michigan booth in Atlanta and the deal was sealed a few conversations later.

Last month Ornicept won the alternative energy category at the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition. That win came with $25,000 in seed capital.

"That was extremely helpful for us," Otani says. "A small amount of money can have a huge impact on a small company like us."

The three-person firm is still developing its technology but hopes to do its first pilot project in March. In the meantime, Ornicept calls Ann Arbor SPARK's downtown Ann Arbor incubator home.

Source: Justin Otani, CEO of Ornicept
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Kymeira is finding a number of ways to leverage its win at the student competition for the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition.

Kymeira is developing a new chemistry for ceramics, which brings the benefits of existing advanced ceramics to new parts and markets. It took $25,000 in seed capital to its Ann Arbor home after winning at Accelerate Michigan, but that's not the only thing it walked away with.

"We had an extremely positive experience in terms of meeting possible investors and other parties who are potential customers and mentors," says David Hatfield, new business development director for Kymeira.

The technology coming from Kymeira was developed over the last three years. The start-up launched in September of this year and now employs a team of four people. The company plans to use its Accelerate Michigan winnings and other amounts of seed capital to continue product development and line up its first customers.

"We're trying to get our first sale by next fall," Hatfield says.

Source: David Hatfield, new business development director for Kymeira
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Silicon Valley-based start-up Oomba has opened an office in downtown Ann Arbor, bring another four jobs and potentially more to Tree Town's central business district.

The 1-year-old is creating a digital object trading platform that communicates with the virtual goods databases of online and mobile games through a secure protocol. The 16-person firm has two other offices Boston and Atlanta. It currently employs four people at its Ann Arbor office and plans to grow its presence quickly.

"We're planning on hiring more," says William Farah, co-founder, senior vice president of business development and general counsel for Oomba. "We'd like to have 10-12 to start with." he adds that he can foresee the local office growing to 20 people within a year or two.

Oomba's Ann Arbor office will handle the company's sales and some of its engineering/product development. Farah, who is based here, says the company choose Ann Arbor because of the area's deep talent pool and staked its flag in downtown so it could be in the mix of the community's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem.

"We thought it would be good to be in the middle of everything," Farah says. "Google is right up the street and there are a lot of little tech companies in the area."

Source: William Farah, co-founder, senior vice president of business development and general counsel for Oomba
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Many student-led start-ups competing in this year's Michigan Business Challenge are trending toward to industries this year, food and music.

"There are a lot of companies associated with food, whether its websites or food service," says Sarika Gupta, program manager for the Michigan Business Challenge. "The other thing I noticed is there are a lot of music-oriented start-ups."

Seventy two start-ups founded by University of Michigan students entered the Michigan Business Challenge, a campus-wide business plan competition with $60,000 in prizes at stake. Twenty one entrepreneurial teams recently made it to the second round.  Some of those start-ups include:

- myFab5, a mobile-technology start-up that has come up with an innovated for users to find and share restaurants while helping businesses to improve their marketing and sales operations.

- Kymeria, the winner of the student competition portion of Accelerate Michigan is developing a new chemistry for ceramics, which brings the benefits of existing advanced ceramics to new parts and markets.

- Exo Dynamics, a TechArb start-up creating an electromechanically activated back brace that can move with the wearer and maintain support through a variety of postures.

The winner of the competition, organized by the Ross School of Business' Zell-Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies, will take home a $20,000 in seed capital. The runner-up wins $10,000 and smaller cash prizes will go to array of other placers.

"We're trying to entrepreneurship here by helping more team," Gupta says. "We're helping more students entrepreneurship."

Source: Sarika Gupta, program manager for the Michigan Business Challenge
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Tangent Medical Technologies has landed millions of dollars more in seed capital thanks to a $8.6 million Series B round. The seed-capital round was also lead by Ann Arbor Arboretum Ventures.

"We're getting ready to commercialize the product," says Jeff Williams, CEO of Tangent Medical Technologies.

The Series B round of venture capital comes on the heels of Tangent Medical Technologies receiving FDA 510(k) clearance for the NovaCath Secure IV Catheter System. Tangent Medical Technologies' product integrates a series of next-generation technologies designed to address IV therapy challenges including catheter stabilization, healthcare worker safety, tubing management and patient comfort. NovaCath's passive needle shielding technology and closed system design is meant to minimize risk of needlestick injuries and occupational exposure to blood to the lowest feasible extent.

Williams declined to comment on how many people work at Tangent Medical Technologies but did say the company "has hired a few people" over the last year.

Source: Jeff Williams, CEO of Tangent Medical Technologies
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Protean Payment wants to replace your credit cards, library cards and any card in your wallet with a swipe strip with one glass-card that does everything from the user's smartphone.

"We came up with technology that mimics credit cards and it communicates through Blue Tooth," Thiago Olson, CEO of Protean Payment.

The glass card is a unique substance that is more rigid than plastic but more bendable than glass. When it's dropped it clangs like glass but doesn't shatter. Olson says it's the world's first glass card. The technology and the mobile app that comes with it is being developed in Ann Arbor's Tech Brewery.

The nearly 1-year-old start-up and its team of eight people recently won the Products and Services category at the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition last month. The $25,000 cash prize will go into product development so Protean Payment can launch early next year.

"We're going for a nationwide launch in quarter 2 of next year," Olson says.

Source: Thiago Olson, CEO of Protean Payment
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Caelynx is continuing its seven-year-long growth streak thanks to organic expansion of its two traditional lines of business (staffing and services) and the addition of a new unit, software sales.

The Ann Abor-based company is a computer-aided engineering firm that specializes in consulting services in the aerospace, automotive, defense, energy, life science and consumer product industries. It recently received a Fast Track growth award  Ann Arbor SPARK Four-Year FastTrack award for recording four years of annual growth of at least 20 percent.

"Software will continue to play a more important role in our growth," says Hans Steiner, director of business development for Caelynx.

The 7-year-old firm has has hired three people over the last year, expanding its staff to 22 employees and the occasional summer intern. Those new hires have included two engineers and one sales rep.

Also helping boost Caelynx's growth is its diversification of its clientele. It has gone from primarily automotive, which still plays an important role in the company's bottom line, to have customers in the life sciences and medical devices industry.

Source: Hans Steiner, director of business development for Caelynx
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Eco-Fueling is racking up some smaller seed-capital checks but expects to land a large seed-capital round worth as much as $3 million next year.

"We have a few deals that are in the works that look promising," says Paul Chandler, CEO of Eco-Fueling.

The Saline-based start-up is developing combustion-optimization technology that will improve fuel consumption and emissions for diesel engines. It recently won the Advanced Transportation award at the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition last month. That was worth $25,000, which comes on top of a $25,000 microloan from the Michigan Microloan Fund and a $50,000 research grant from the state of Michigan.

"This gives us a little bit of a boost," Chandler says.

The company is using that money along with sales revenue and self-funding from Chandler to continue development of the technology. The plan is to use a seed-capital round of fundraising to accelerate the commercialization of the technology.

Eco-Fueling has hired four people over the last year, expanding its staff to five people. Chandler hopes to continue growth his team next year as it works to do a demonstration of the technology in vehicles.

Source: Paul Chandler, CEO of Eco-Fueling
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

The people behind Thomson-Shore didn't view the recent recession as a problem as much as an opportunity. The Dexter-based printing company took the shrinking of its traditional business in hard economic times as a way to break into new markets, such as ebooks and print-on-demand jobs.

"The recession, in many ways, was healthy for us," says Kevin Spall, president & CEO of Thomson-Shore. "We took that opportunity to look at what other products we could be offering."

That philosophy has allowed the 40-year-old company to grow to just under 200 employees (and the occasional intern),  twenty of which were hired over the last year.

The new staff is now handling a variety of jobs that are associated with the publishing industry. The business is now printing older books, such as the Bible. It's also offering digital printing and print-on-demand services, along with other publisher services.

These new avenues have added up to a growing number of customers, mostly smaller clients looking for smaller orders of niche products. Thomson-Shore has invested close to $4 million in its operations, ranging from new technology and personnel development in the hopes of keeping its growth streak alive through the rebounding economy, too.

Source: Kevin Spall, president & CEO of Thomson-Shore
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

MedHub has signed some big-name clients over the last year, moves that have allowed it to grow its staff and prepare it to relocate into its new home in Dexter next year.

The 10-year-old health-care software company has signed 12 new clients, including three in the last month. Among its recent signings are the Yale-New Haven Hospital and the Mayo Clinic. MedHub now has 32 clients overall and expects to add between 10-15 more within the next year.

"We're growing very, very quickly," says Peter Orr, president of MedHub.

MedHub's Web-based technology focuses on management of medical residents, enabling them to improve communication, collaboration and residency information management in teaching hospitals. Its system tracks residents and fellows (advanced medical school students in training to become doctors), which helps ensure hospitals get all of the Medicare reimbursements they are entitled to.

MedHub has hired three people in 2012 and has openings for three more positions. Orr expects to add another five people to his staff of seven by the end of 2013.

MedHub is also creating a new home for itself, turning a circa-1899 Old Grain Mill at 3515 Broad Street in downtown Dexter. The $1 million renovation project is set to finish midway through next year and will provide MedHub ample room to grow for the foreseeable future.

Source: Peter Orr, president of MedHub
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Start-ups from Ann Arbor and those with close ties to the college town did quite well at this year's Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition.

The top three finishers in this year's business plan competition all hailed from cities outside of Washtenaw County but they all have roots in the Ann Arbor area. Algal Scientific and nanoMAG (the first and second place finishers) both got their start in Ann Arbor before moving to Plymouth and Livonia, respectively. They both still work extensively with Ann Arbor SPARK. East Lansing-based InPore Technologies (the third place finisher) is headed up by Gerry Roston, a serial entrepreneur that calls Saline home.

Steve LeBeau, president of nanoMAG, praised the folks at Ann Arbor SPARK and at Accelerate Michigan with preparing his start bio-tech firm to do so well at the competition and be ready to raise a significant amount of revenue. He expects his start-up will be able to leverage its $100,000 cash prize from Accelerate Michigan into a seven-figure angel round.

"In the middle of this (competition) you're a venture capital fund saying, 'Send me a packet about what's going on,'" LeBeau says. "And you have a 12-page packet (prepared and peer-reviewed as part of the competition) to send them."

Other top placers at the Accelerate Michigan calling Washtenaw County home include:

- Eco-Fueling, the Saline-based business won the advanced transportation prize worth $25,000 for its fuel-efficiency technology built for diesel engines.
- Ornicept, the Ann Arbor-based start-up won the alternative energy prize worth $25,000 for its technology that monitors bird activity so wind turbine developers can make informed decisions.
- Protean Payment, the Tech Brewery-based company won the products and services award worth $25,000 for its software that can combine every creditcard in a consumer's wallet into one card.

Source: Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition and Steve LeBeau, president of nanoMAG
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

FamilyMint fancies itself as a classic tech start-up. It's product revolves around new financial literacy software for kids. It's available on the Internet. It's even based in Ann Arbor's Tech Brewery partly to help boost that tech persona.

Now the 3-year-old start-up is literally taking a page from old technology: textbooks. FamilyMint has just launched a short printing run of 100 textbooks for the Texas Credit Union Foundation, which plans to use the tomes to help teach financial literacy with kids grade 5 and up in working- and middle-class households.

"A lot of kids in that age range don't have access to a computer or the Internet," says Bob Masterson, president of FamilyMint.

FamilyMint got its start creating a Web tool that allows parents to teach their kids the lessons of saving and managing a bank account with the grownups actually holding the money and acting as the bank. It also offers both web and mobile app options. The latest growth is meant to capture the working-class and middle-class families where access to the Internet or mobile technology is far from a given.

"We want to see this grow into a financial literacy service, especially in middle-to-lower-income schools," Masterson says.

He expects this new market will provide more opportunities for co-branding with credit unions, banks and school systems over the next year. FamilyMint has grown itself over the last year. It has added one new hire and now has a staff of four people.

Source: Bob Masterson, president of FamilyMint
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Start-ups coming out of the University of Michigan continue to dominate the student portion of the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition. U-M-based businesses took first and third places in this year's business plan competition earlier this month.

Kymeira Advanced Materials won the top prize at Accelerate Michigan's student competition, worth $25,000 in seed capital. The University of Michigan spin-out is creating a family of new-to-the-world inorganic polymers. Its proprietary chemistry can acheive ceramic-like properties. Hope College-based Lemon Peel is developing a headband that fits comfortably around the ears and forehead and removes both the sound and light so people can sleep.

SkySpecs, a start-up developed by University of Michigan students, took third place and the $10,000 in seed capital that comes with it. The 8-month-old company is developing unmanned aerial vehicles that use artificial intelligence to gather data in hazardous locations, such as collecting structural data in hard to reach places under bridges.

?"We were quite impressed with all the competitors there," says Danny Ellis, CEO of SkySpecs. "We were very satisfied to take third place against some stiff competition."

SkySpecs will use all of its $10,000 price to build its first working prototype. It plans to complete a seed-capital round of fundraising from friends and family in early 2013. Ellis expects to go for a larger fundraising round later in 2013 and plans to use its success at Accelerate Michigan as a significant part of its pitch.

Source: Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition and Danny Ellis, CEO of SkySpecs
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Nick Schlemper is a student at Eastern Michigan University and was always frustrated with the social media options at his disposal so he and two more partners created their own, CollegeGenius.net.

The almost 2-month-old website provides an online avenue for college students to sell, buy, share and connect on their own campus. It is now at universities across the Midwest, including all of the major colleges in Michigan.

"I was wondering why there wasn't a resource like this out there?" Schlemper says. "Something that allows students to look for jobs or other things on campus."

CollegeGenius.net is a free website that lets students buy, sell or share items with other students on their campus, such as books or furniture or other student necessities. It also lets them post and find jobs and even find a way to share a ride, among other avenues for them to save money.

"We want to be the resource students will go to before eBay or Amazon," Schlemper says.

He and his partners are building out the website's infrastructure so they can continue to expand its reach. They hope to become a household name in colleges across the U.S. by the end of 2013.

Source: Nick Schlemper, founder of CollegeGenius.net
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Echo360, a Virginia-based educational technology company, has acquired LectureTools and plans to continue growing the start-up in Ann Arbor.

LectureTools' technology is working to reinvent the software programs used for educational materials, such as course packs, handouts and quizzes. It was originally developed at the University of Michigan and spun out of the university two years ago. The company now employs five people and an intern. Details of its acquisition were not released but it does appear the start-up will stay rooted in its downtown Ann Arbor office.

Echo360 specializes in educational learning tools and plans to use LectureTools' technology not only in its own software but also to build up the brand independently.

"One of the reasons we were acquired is so we can build it out to our true vision quickly," says Jason Aubrey, co-founder of LectureTools. "We're also building it out with Echo360s products."

Aubrey expects to begin really scaling LectureTools technology in January. The company recently hired one person in customer development and is looking to hire two more people in design and user-experience.

Source: Jason Aubrey, co-founder of LectureTools
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.