Accelerate Michigan attracts international interest this year

The second annual Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition is attracting more attention from investors outside of Michigan this year. The business plan competition has attracted some representatives from big-name venture capital firms to judge and work with the Michigan-based start-ups competing in this month’s event. Among those big names are Boston Millenia Partners and Masdar from Abu Dhabi. “We were able to recruit more coastal and international venture capitalists to help judge this year,” says Lauren Bigelow, executive director of the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition. “Last year we only had four months to prepare. It didn’t give people a lot of time. This time we did a lot of outreach during the spring.” The Accelerate Michigan competition got its start last year with a goal of showcasing the start-ups and entrepreneurs in Michigan, along with the entrepreneurial resources available to them. It also aimed to make connections between those start-ups and other companies and investors to create more investments and strategic partnerships. This year organizers are also working to create more synergies between larger out-of-state VCs with local venture capitalists. The idea is that it will facilitate more out-of-state money investment into local start-ups without forcing those start-ups to move. Source: Lauren Bigelow, executive director of the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.