From street side fruit seller to upscale food market, The Produce Station has become a local favorite for Ann Arbor foodies and gardeners. With a focus on Michigan grown produce and products, owners Craig Schmidt and Rick Peshkin have turned the concept of the neighborhood farm stand on its head.
Traditionally, non-profit boards were the domain of the... um... more mature. But organizations are discovering the advantages of attracting young professionals into leadership positions. Not only do they bring new ideas and energy, they also ensure the next generation of investment and support.
Ann Arbor's Accuri Cytometers continues to blaze big trails toward rapid growth, bringing in millions in financing and creating dozens of new jobs.The Ann Arbor-based firm nailed down $4 million Series D financing (think venture capital funding) from the likes of Fidelity Biosciences, Flagship Ventures, Baird Venture Partners, Arboretum Ventures and InvestMichigan! The money is expected to help push forward the commercialization of its Accuri C6 Flow Cytometer System and open up markets in Europe and elsewhere around the world. "This is expected to take us through to profitability," says Jen Baird, CEO of Accuri Cytometers. The company has already growing its payroll at a rapid clip. It employed 32 people as of last fall when we last checked in with the company. Since then it has nearly doubled that number to 60 people. It expects to continue adding people this year to facilitate its rapid growth. This latest round of financing is on top of the $15 million in venture capital the company took in last year. That round of funding includes $1.9 million from Michigan's 21st Century Jobs Fund. Accuri Cytometers, a University of Michigan spin-off, specializes in making the cytomer systems that measure T-cell counts (among other things), which is an instrumental tool in tracking and treating diseases like AIDS and cancer. It is a research field with lots of room to grow in both the near and long term. Source: Jen Baird, CEO of Accuri Cytometers Writer: Jon Zemke
What might look, at first glance, like small steps is actually significant movement forward for Ann Arbor's Advanced Photonix.The downtown-based firm recently reported a sales increase of 28 percent to nearly $30 million, creating a positive cash flow. It has also bumped its workforce to 170 people, evenly split between its offices in Ann Arbor and California. When we checked in earlier this year, the technology firm employed about 160 people."This step is pretty big for us," says says Richard Kurtz, CEO of Advanced Photonix. "We have been doing a lot of the blocking and tackling , consolidating and making long-term investments so we can better position ourselves."The University of Michigan spin-off and its subsidairy, Picometrix, specializes in making optimum electronic semiconductor sensors. These sensors are used by a wide variety of fields, ranging from homeland security's search for WMDs to eye scanners for the healthcare industry. Meanwhile, Picometrix focuses on making sensors for the telecommunications industry, one of the firm's most promising new sectors.Picometrix has also done work with NASA, which is also reupping with the company's technology this year.Source: Richard Kurtz, CEO of Advanced PhotonixWriter: Jon Zemke
Funding for little businesses has a new home at Ann Arbor SPARK.The business incubator is now in charge of the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund, which looks to command about $7.5 million by the end of the summer, funding fledgling small businesses. It has already made four investments for a total of $750,000 so far this year, and the pre-seed fund plans to make many more."It's about business acceleration and it's about products and services that are in the right place at the right time," says Elizabeth Parkinson, vice president of marketing and communications for Ann Arbor SPARK.The Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund is being deployed in three tranches (investment industry jargon for phases): The first tranche has already been invested and half of the second tranche ($1.5 million) has been dispersed. The Michigan Economic Development Corp is expected to sign off on the third tranche ($6.8 million) sometime in August or September.Pre-seed investments are usually the capital that comes before venture capital and angel investments. Such investment can range from high five figures to low six-figures. Ann Arbor SPARK has also secured three lines of micro loans for start-ups.Micro loans are the smallest of the investments made in start-ups and usually made first. These loans can range from $10,000 to $50,000 and are usually used to help fledgling businesses get the word out about their product or service. "There are companies that aren't even in the pre-seed stage yet," Parkinson says.The micro loans include $1 million from the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund, which can be invested in any company in the state. Another $225,000 came from Washtenaw County and $275,000 from the city of Ann Arbor. That money must be invested in companies based in the county and city respectively.Source: Elizabeth Parkinson, vice president of marketing and communications for Ann Arbor SPARKWriter: Jon Zemke
NanoBio has some breathing room research-wise now that that it has locked down million of dollars in new financing. The Ann Arbor-based firm is expected to use its latest $22 million investment to fund the next two years of its clinical trails."It will fund several activities," says John Coffey, vice president of business development for NanoBio.That funding includes different phases of clinical trails of new drugs for acne, herpes and influenza. Right now the company's staff of 20 people (at the same level as the last time we checked in last fall) will handle that research. Coffey sees the company adding another 4-5 people within the next year or two.NanoBio, a University of Michigan spin-off, has taken in $60 million in private equity since 2006, including $30 million late last year. Source: John Coffey, vice president of business development for NanoBioWriter: Jon Zemke
Most people identify themselves as right- or left-brain people. The Whole Brain Group thinks that is a false choice.The consulting firm uses integrated thinking as a key philosophy for its business model. It focuses on finding one solution for a problem, and applying that solution across industries. "Most offices have the same problems," says Bonnie Valentine, business lead for The Whole Brain Group. "When people are being ineffective in the office world, we take something that has been applied n the research world and try to make it work in the legal world."The downtown-Ann Arbor-based company does this with a lot of basic office problems, such as cutting down paper usage. The average office worker creates 126 pounds of paper waste each year. The Whole Brain Group strategizes how to eliminate much of that waste, as it did for the University of Michigan this year. "The savings are just tremendous," Valentine says.The company started out as the Data Smith Group in 2002 and rebranded to The Whole Brain Group last year to reflect is expanding business model and philosophy. It employs six people and a handful of independent contractors and interns. It has recently hired two people, is looking to hire two people now and expects to hire a few more within the next year.Source: Bonnie Valentine, business lead for The Whole Brain GroupWriter: Jon Zemke
Jason Bornhorst, Kunal Jham and Mayank Garg took a class specializing in creating applications for smart phones, such as iPhones and turned it into a start-up based on the same concept.Mobil33t (treat the 3s like Es) creates applications for the more than 40 million iPone users in the world. Its first app (industry jargon for application) DoGood was inspired by the Pay It Forward concept. It reminds its user to do an anonymous good turn to a stranger, like leave a "You are awesome" note on a public restroom mirror. The app is catching on. Fickle iPhone users have been taking advantage of it for weeks instead of the usual lifespan of days."We wanted to make a very sticky (more industry jargon for a long shelf life) app," says Bornhorst, co-founder of Mobil33t and a senior in engineering at U-M.Right now the trio of U-M seniors and a recent graduate is weighing its options on where it wants to take the company next. It could keep it as a part-time gig and stick to their studies and day jobs. They could also branch out into contract work and turn this business into some more permanent."As far as which direction, we’re still trying to figure that out," Bornhorst says.Source: Jason Bornhorst, co-founder of Mobil33tWriter: Jon Zemke
Upscale, tasteful and tasty, Logan is one Ann Arbor's must-visit bistros. With a menu and ambiance that would feel at home on either coast, it's one of the few restaurants in town where you can actually have a conversation with your dinner date.
Ann Arbor’s Michael Jackson dances a little more softly these days.Excerpt:Brian Woolridge danced Saturday, as he has during so many weekend summer afternoons in downtown Ann Arbor.There he was, a familiar figure doing his dazzling impression of Michael Jackson in the backlit alley on Liberty Street, just west of the Michigan Theater.But Saturday was different. The quick, electrifying moves were the same, as was the music, blaring from a boom box set beside a shoe box for donations.But Jackson was dead, and Woolridge carried a heavy heart into the routines he's cherished since he began dancing in the alley 14 years ago.Woolridge, 37, a 1990 graduate of Huron High School who lives across from Arborland, recalls dancing to Jackson's tunes at a very young age. In 1995, he began performing in the shaded, covered alley, a perfect setting for the strutting and flourishes that typify many of Jackson's songs.Read the rest of the story here.
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