Blaze Medical Devices raises $1.1M of $2M VC round

Blaze Medical Devices is more than halfway to its goal of raising $2 million worth of seed capital, raking in $1.1 million as of this fall. "My goal is to close on all of that before the end of the year," says David Weaver, CEO of Blaze Medical Devices, adding it might take until early 2014 to hit the target. The 7-year-old company originally had a goal of raising $1.5 million in seed capital but bumped that number up to $2 million after encountering higher demand from investors than expected. The Ann Arbor-based startup, which made the semi-finals of this year's Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition, is developing blood transfusion technology that will enable medical professionals to better control and optimize blood banking and transfusions. Its clinical tests help assess the quality of stored blood and its laboratory instruments help facilitate blood research. The company has finalized the design of its product this year and hopes to begin sales early next year. "We have a queue of people who are interested in the product for research," Weaver says. "We expect to roll it out next year." Blaze Medical Devices has hired three people over the last year, expanding its staff to six employees. Weaver expects to make a couple more hires in 2014. Source: David Weaver, CEO of Blaze Medical Devices Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.