2010 – Page 21 of 78

TorranceLearning triples office space, moves into Chelsea’s Clocktower

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September 8, 2010

TorranceLearning has a new face or two in its office, and a new office in downtown Chelsea.The consulting-and-education firm has recently hired a new person and moved into bigger digs, in Chelsea's iconic Clock Tower complex. The 4-year-old firm now employs eight people and expects to add a couple more within the next year as it continues to attract clients. TorranceLearning recently landed the likes of Be The Match bone marrow program and has a host of others nearly ready to sign on."We're close to signing a couple of significant contracts," says Megan Torrance, president and CEO of TorranceLearning. "If we land them all we will be able to hire 2-4 people. We now have the space to do it."The new office for TorranceLearning, which specializes in training for companies and non-profits, is three times as big as the company's old offices. It now has elbow room for everyone and a few niche things, such as a brain-storming pit and voice-over booth in an open work space. Source: Megan Torrance, president and CEO of TorranceLearningWriter: Jon Zemke

Ingenex Digital Marketing grows nationally, plans 50% staff increase

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Arts & Culture

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September 8, 2010

Ingenex Digital Marketing is keeping people busy these days, and it's harnessing Google to help make that happen.The downtown Ann Arbor-based firm had been more of an Internet advertising and web development pure play in its first few years. In the last year or so, the 5-year-old firm has been basing its growth on search engine optimization and Google Adwords."We have been working closely with Google Ann Arbor," says Derek Mehraban, CEO of Ingenex Digital Marketing. "We're looking to grow as a national digital marketing firm."Ingenex Digital Marketing employs six, plus three interns and three independent contractors. It has hired three people over the last year and expects to add another five more over the next 12 months. It is basing that growth on its increasingly national client roster.Source: Derek Mehraban, CEO of Ingenex Digital MarketingWriter: Jon Zemke

Ann Arbor’s Renaissance Venture Capital Fund raises $50 million

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Economic Development

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September 8, 2010

Downtown Ann Arbor is home to one of the more unique and promising venture capital funds in the U.S., now that the Renaissance Venture Capital Fund has closed out a $50 million fundraising round and is ready to start spreading around some seed capital.The 2-year-old VC fund, which also has an office in downtown Detroit, is a "fund of funds," which means it will primarily invest in other venture capital funds that will in turn invest in individual companies. Most states with these funds primarily supply them with public money. In contrast, the Renaissance Venture Capital Fund is made up of private money from local big-business institutions and led by the Business Leaders For Michigan."These investors stepped up to the plate and that isn't happening anywhere else in the country," says Chris Rizik, CEO of the Renaissance Venture Capital Fund. "DTE Energy, AAA, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Huntington Bank. Those are Fortune 500 examples. They are stepping up and helping this state grow."The Renaissance Venture Capital Fund will invest in venture capital firms that are either based in Michigan or plan to invest in Michigan companies. It has already invested close to $6 million (for a total commitment of $20 million for future investments) into the likes of Ann Arbor's Arboretum Ventures and RPM Ventures and Kalamazoo-based T-Gap Ventures. Out-of-state VC firms that received funds include San Francisco-based 5AM Ventures, Houston's DFJ Mercury Ventures, Illinois-based MK Capital, and Florida's Arsenal Venture Partners. The last two are opening Michigan offices following the Renaissance Venture Capital Fund's investment. These firms have invested more than $23 million in 12 Michigan companies, creating about 200 new jobs. Those companies have leveraged that investment to receive over $146 million in further venture funding. The ensuing activity has also allowed the Renaissance Venture Capital Fund to disburse its first profits to investors.Rizik expects the fund will commit the rest of its $50 million over the next year or two. Those are deals that are expected to touch 100-150 companies in the state, thereby creating hundreds of new jobs, mainly rooted in the new economy. The 3-person fund, which is looking at adding interns next summer, expects to start fundraising for its next investment vehicle in 2012. Source: Chris Rizik, CEO of Renaissance Venture Capital FundWriter: Jon Zemke

Compendia Bioscience scores $1.3M investment from NIH

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Community Development

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September 8, 2010

The National Institute of Health is sending $1.3 million in seed capital toward Compendia Bioscience to help it further its cancer research.The cash comes from the Small Business Innovation Research program's Fast Track funds, which aim to bridge the financing gap for high-tech firms, such as bio-tech companies, to develop and commercialize their technologies. The Ann Arbor-based company plans to use its seven figures' worth of cash to incorporate micro-RNA data and analyses into the Oncomine platform.Micro-RNA data is clearly correlated with cancer diagnosis, staging, and prognosis. This is valuable because cancer is a complex disease in which all of the causes and effects are not well understood. Making the micro-RNA information accessible on the Oncomine platform will allow it to become a more sophisticated analysis engine and a powerful web application for data mining and visualization. The 4-year-old Compendia Bioscience specializes in research-centric software development. Its products help researchers sift through mounds of biological data, enabling them to find answers to clinical questions quicker. It has attracted millions of dollars in venture capital, including $1.7 million from Michigan's 21st Century Jobs Fund in 2008.Source: Compendia BioscienceWriter: Jon Zemke

At U-M club, squirrels get peanuts for pay

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Arts & Culture

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September 1, 2010

Just when you thought University of Michigan students couldn't get any quirkier, meet the members of the Michigan Squirrel Club. This new student-run organization focuses on the rodents that rule the Diag.Excerpt:What they do: The main purpose is to "spread a bit of squirrely cheer to everyone," says club president Peter Feng. To put it simply, members spend their Sunday afternoons feeding peanuts to the hundreds of fat squirrels that roam U of M's campus. "Salted peanuts are unhealthy, so we just give them roasted or raw," Feng says. "I don't think the squirrels mind what they get."Read the rest of the story here.

GI Jobs magazine salutes EMU as a top military friendly school

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Community Development

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September 1, 2010

Soldiers cashing in on the GI Bill can be expected to home in on Ypsilanti now that GI Jobs magazine has ranked Eastern Michigan University as one of the nation's top military friendly schools.Excerpt:Eastern Michigan University has been named one of the country's top "military friendly" schools by GI Jobs magazine for 2011. The magazine's list recognizes the 15 percent of schools that best serve veterans nationwide.Read the rest of the story here.

Young & Entrepreneurial: A Q&A with Switchback

By Jon Zemke

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Economic Development

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September 1, 2010

Offering a Word for the web solution for the pains of website maintenance are Mike Monan and Stephen Colson, the founders of Switchback, an internet business based on Drupal technology. This week they dish with Concentrate's Jon Zemke on downtown workspaces and the wilds of entrepreneurship.

Hamztec wins $1M grant to research an end to hair pulling

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Community Development

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September 1, 2010

Ann Arbor-based Hamztec has received a $1 million grant from the National Institute of Health. The company plans to use the proceeds for development of a product that will help people stop compulsively pulling their hair.The Ann Arbor SPARK client will use the grant to hire six people plus a handful of independent contractors. David Perlman, co-founder of Hamztec and its only employee, expects his start-up to commercialize its product within 2.5 years, a timeframe that could be as short as one year if the company attracts more investment.Hamztec was co-founded in 2007 by David Perlman and Joseph Himle, a professor of psychiatry and social work at the University of Michigan. The firm's principal product tracks and helps correct Trichotillomania, a disorder in which people compulsively pull out their own hair."Ninety percent of this behavior happens out of consciousness," Perlman says. "They would study or read a book, get up and there is a pile of hair there and they don't know how it got there."The product will track hand movement and set off an alarm when patients pull their hair. A specific code must then be entered to turn the alarm off. This technology also tracks and logs the behavior for analysis by mental health professionals.'This is the first method so a therapist knows behavior outside of the office," Perlman says.Source: David Perlman, co-founder of HamztecWriter: Jon Zemke

Ann Arbor start-ups take $90M in VC funds year-to-date

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Economic Development

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September 1, 2010

Venture capital spending is up in Michigan, and Ann Arbor start-ups are proving to be king of the hill. Year-to-date, Michigan-based firms have attracted $123 million in venture capital investment, with Ann Arbor-based companies taking in about $90 million of the total. The biggest investment ($51.75 million) went to Cerenis Therapeutics, a bio-tech firm with twin headquarters in France and Ann Arbor that's composed mostly of ex-Pfizer employees."This is a testament to the quality of companies that Michigan is creating," says LeAnn Auer, executive director of the Michigan Venture Capital Association.The total dollar amount invested is up 35 percent compared to 2009 year-to-date. However, the number of deals is lower, with 12 by August of last year and 10 so far this year. Life science firms took in the biggest chunks, with 57 percent of the total investment dollars last year and 75 percent so far this year. Cleantech firms were the only other ones to capture double-digit shares over each of the last two years. Other firms, including IT, received token amounts.The jump in venture capital investment can be attributed to economic improvements over the last year. A double-digit recession could force a drop in those numbers, Auer says, but barring that she expects to see a steady increase in the near future."Over the last few years we have had a couple of investment firms that have capitalized," she says. "Now they're being active."Source: LeAnn Auer, executive director of the Michigan Venture Capital AssociationWriter: Jon Zemke

TCH Pharmaceuticals scores $200K in loans, retains ex-Pfizer talent

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Community Development

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September 1, 2010

Ann Arbor-based TCH Pharmaceuticals will use a $200,000 loan from the state of Michigan to hire four people, all ex-Pfizer employees."These four will be the first employees of the company," says Thomas A Collet, president and CEO of TCH Pharmaceuticals.The 4-year-old company, currently staffed by its three co-founders, commercializes non-toxic proteasome inhibitors to be used in therapies that treat inflammatory diseases. It is using technology licensed from Michigan State University. "We have a family of compounds we want to take into clinical development," Collet says. "They would help us do that."TCH Pharmaceuticals (TCH is an acronym for the founders' last names) is one of five Michigan companies to share the most recent $530,000 in loans from the state's Company Formation and Growth Fund. That initiative began in 2007, shortly after Pfizer announced the closing of its Ann Arbor campus. It's aimed at keeping Pfizer's talent in-state by accelerating start-up formation and growth. The fund has made $8 million in loans to a total of 41 life-science companies in Ann Arbor, Chelsea, Jackson, Livonia, and Saline.Source: Thomas A Collet, president and CEO of TCH PharmaceuticalsWriter: Jon Zemke