Economic Development

Dexter’s downtown gets a new Coney Island and 8 jobs

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November 7, 2012

The Detroit Tigers may have been ousted in the World Series, but the ballpark hotdogs served at area Coney Islands are here to stay. Dexter's Coney Island is the latest new outpost of this southeast Michigan culinary emblem. The new eatery, at 8124 Main St. in downtown Dexter, is in the space formerly occupied by Lorene's Village Cafe. Cacini plans to paint and reconfigure seating areas, adding booths. There are currently 99 seats, "plus my own," Cacini says. Dexter's Coney Island has eight employees, including three part-time staff, serving breakfast and lunch between 6:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. Cacini plans to serve dinner and extend the hours until 8 p.m. starting at the end of March. Source: Jim Cacini, owner, Dexter's Coney Island Writer: Tanya Muzumdar

Latest in Economic Development

Child Care Daily App leverages microloan for new hires

By Newsroom

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Economic Development

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November 7, 2012

The team behind Child Care Daily App plans to leverage funding from the Michigan Microloan Fund for new outreach efforts and new hires that will help the start-up generate new sales in the new year. The Ann Arbor-based firm developed an Internet platform that simplifies the daily activities of child care providers. The software automates handwritten tasks, organizes business operations and allows for better parent communication by providing parents real-time access to what is happening with their child throughout the day. The 1-year-old company now counts 50 child-care facilities across the U.S. as customers. It plans to expand that number to 250-300 within the coming months. Helping make that happen is a five-figure loan from the Michigan Microloan Fund, which will help pay for the company's sales and marketing efforts. "We need to beef up our sales force," says Bill Collins, COO of Child Care Daily App. "This helps pay for us going to a conference today and another one soon. These things cost money." Child Care Daily App currently employs three people. However, it is in the process of bringing onboard some marketing and sales people that will almost double its staff size. Collins sees his market as more blue ocean and expects to need a larger team to explore it. "(Our technology) is brand new to the industry," Collins says. "No one has done anything like it. That's a double-edged sword. Most people aren't familiar with it so we have to educate them. If I were selling a car people would understand." Source: Billy Collins, COO of Child Care Daily App Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Ann Arbor-based VC Augment Ventures invests in LLamasoft

By Newsroom

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Economic Development

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November 7, 2012

Augment Ventures is investing locally, making its second investment in one of downtown Ann Arbor's technology staples - LLamasoft. LLamasoft is a combination of a logistics firm and a tech start-up. Its software helps optimize resources and streamline the logistical process, allowing its users to hit their goals while achieving sustainability targets by tracking the global carbon foot print of complex supply chains. The company has been growing by leaps and bounds for years, but it recently raised $6 million to help accelerate that growth with Augument Venture participating in its seed capital round. "There is tremendous potential there both in terms of product launch and market capture," says Sonali Vijayavargiya, managing director & founder of Augment Ventures. "They're doing tremendously well. That's why we wanted to be involved with it. The downtown Ann Arbor-based venture capital firm launched last year as an early-stage venture capital fund. Its specialty is investing in clean-tech and IT start-ups. Those start-ups have defensible intellectual property, capital-efficient business models and global market opportunities. Its first investment came last year when it invested in Aperia Technologies. The San Francisco-based start-up is developing an automatic tire inflation device that should increase gas mileage, safety, tire life and profit margins (by 30 percent) in fleet operators. Augment Ventures is aiming to raise a $20 million fund by the end of next year. So far the four-member VC has raised 20 percent of it. Vijayavargiya says her company has enough dry powder that it is considering making as many as three investments over the next few months. "We are continuously getting deal flow," Vijayavargiya says. Source: Sonali Vijayavargiya, managing director & founder of Augment Ventures Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Accelerate Michigan aims to connect entrepreneurs, investors

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Economic Development

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November 7, 2012

One of the first priorities of the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition when it launched in 2010 was to connect local entrepreneurs with investors from near and far. Now that the $1 million business plan competition is entering its third year, it's starting to collect a roster of investment relationships. Accelerate Michigan offers a $500,000 cash prize for the event's winner, along with a number of smaller prizes that usually clock in at the five-figure mark. It has attracted top tier Great Lakes State tech start-ups, as well as firms from across the U.S. interested in moving to Michigan. Organizers also use the competition as a platform to showcase the state's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem to both local and out-of-state investors and strategic partners. Last year organizers were able to make a particularly significant connection: Alex Wong, a tech venture capitalist with roots in Ann Arbor and one of the top people at D.E. Shaw Group, a $27 billion fund based in Silicon Valley. Accelerate Michigan organizers were able to schedule a day of meetings with Wong and potential partners (both entrepreneurial and investor) during the competition. "Everybody from that meet-up found it really valuable," says Lauren Bigelow, executive director of Accelerate Michigan. The competition has also helped move the pens on some significant term sheets. Last year's winner, DeNovo Sciences, leveraged the $500,000 prize in last year's competition to a $1.75 million seed capital round this year. The Plymouth-based start-up is developing a platform for early detection of cancer from blood as an alternative to painful biopsies. DeNovo Sciences is hoping to land a $6 million Series A round next year. Accelerate Michigan moved from Ann Arbor to downtown Detroit this year. It will be held at the Book-Cadillac Hotel, Guardian Building and Orchestra Hall over Nov 13-15. For information, click here. Source: Lauren Bigelow, executive director of Accelerate Michigan Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

U-M alumns look to turn myfab5 into better version of Yelp!

By Newsroom

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Economic Development

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November 7, 2012

Omeid Seirafi-Pour at first followed a fairly typical path after graduating from the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. The freshly minted BBA took a consulting job in Chicago. That lasted about a year before he and some fellow grads came back to Ann Arbor and started walking down the entrepreneurial path with myfab5. "I knew consulting wasn't right for me," Seirafi-Pour says. "I always wanted to do something entrepreneurial." He came to that realization earlier this year and made the move back to Michigan to launch the tech start-up. He now oversees a team of five employees and another five interns. They're all working out of TechArb, a business incubator at the University of Michigan geared toward student entrepreneurs. Ann Arbor-based myfab5 is creating an Internet/mobile platform that helps people rate and find eateries and retail businesses. While popular sites like Yelp! depend on a star system, myfab5 allows its users to name its top five businesses according to category, such as best pizza places or Chinese food. "We found that it is much easier to think this way," Seirafi-Pour says. "People aren't geared to think in regards to star rankings." Seirafi-Pour and his team are working on perfecting the platform now and expect to release a public version focused on Ann Arbor-area businesses within the next few weeks. Source: Omeid Seirafi-Pour, co-founder & CEO of myfab5 Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

U-M students sample their possible future in tech business and culture

By Newsroom

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Arts and Culture

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November 7, 2012

From Twitter and Square founder Jack Dorsey to Yelp to the Walmart-sponsored 48-Hour Mobile Apps Hackathon, U-M students get a taste of what's waiting for them in the ever-changing tech marketplace. Excerpt: "Yelp is an aggressive player in the increasingly expensive recruiting wars to find the next tech superstar. “Having a second event today is a great way to have people come back and get a little bit more information,” says Chess. “When you’re at the career fair, there’s a really long line of people, you only get a minute or so to talk to each individual person. You can only communicate so much information in that time.” The solution: Lure students back with a tech talk from experts, four-star Indian food and fairly good odds at leaving with an iPad. The scene almost makes one forget the real reason they’re here." Read the rest here.

Real Time Farms partners with NYC-based Food52

By Newsroom

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Economic Development

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November 7, 2012

Real Time Farms has struck a strategic partnership with Food52, a popular cooking website. The Ann Arbor-based food transparency start-up sees their partnership with the New York City-based company as a way to build national recognition. "It's a much bigger thing," says Cara Rosaen, co-founder of Real Time Farms. "It's one of the top cooking sites around. It's really a natural fit to partner with a nationally known cooking site." Real Time Farms got its start a couple of years ago as a combination social media tool for foodies and online directory of farmers markets and their vendors. Users can share pictures of local markets and farm stands by posting them on the site, along with product information and handy tips for other patrons. Rosaen co-founded Real Time Farms with her husband Karl, a former Google employee who moved back to Michigan to start the venture. Partnering with Food52 provides more capital to continue Real Time Farms' growth and add more farms, farmers markets and food artisans to its data base. It's currently shooting to expand the number of those food producers to 5,000-7,000 across the country over the next year. Roseaen expects the partnership with Food52 will allow them to do that. "We're not worried about business models anymore," Rosaen says. "We're just worried about doing good." Source: Cara Rosaen, co-founder of Real Time Farms Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

A2Awesome Foundation gives $3K to cool projects

By Newsroom

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Community Development

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November 7, 2012

Sometimes even a token support can make a big difference. Each month a dozen Ann Arbor locals vote (and pony up $100) to make their community a little bit more awesome by funding worthy projects. The newest awesome grant recipients include: 826Michigan, Spontaneous Art, and photographer Bill Streety. Excerpt: A2Awesome Chair Lisa Dengiz had the following to say: “It’s really amazing how many people in our community have brilliant ideas that can be realized with as little as $1,000. When we started this chapter of the Awesome Foundation almost a year ago, we had no idea just how much potential there was. Our grants, among other things, have helped launched Bona Sera Cafe on Michigan Avenue, bringing a renewed sense of vibrancy to downtown Ypsilanti, and put exercise equipment inside Ozone House, improving the lives of local at-risk youth. That’s incredibly gratifying.”" Read more HERE. And here. And here. Full disclosure: Concentrate's editor Jeff meyers is a board member of the A2Awesome Foundation

Ann Arbor Muni Center gets LEED Gold

By Newsroom

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Community Development

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November 7, 2012

Say what you will about the new city hall's aesthetics, at least it's more sustainable than its predecessor. Excerpt: "The municipal center project includes the new Justice Center, landscaped municipal plaza rain gardens, green roof promenade, and porous pavement in the parking lot. It obtained a total of 44 LEED points. Quinn Evans was the architectural firm for the Ann Arbor Municipal Center. The landscape architects were InSite Design Studio Inc. with Conservation Design Forum." Read the rest here.

DBTS Skin Bar offers skin care on-the-go, adds 4 jobs in downtown A2

By Tanya Muzumdar

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Development News

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October 31, 2012

In downtown Ann Arbor you can pull a chair up to the bar for an educational session on skin care. DBTS Skin Bar is opening on Nov. 1, with the mission of informing patrons on how to take care of their skin. DBTS Skin Bar is an offshoot of owner Nancy Young's Delicate Beauty Therapeutic Spa in Pittsfield Township, however: "We don't consider ourselves as a spa at all," Young says. "We consider ourselves a skin therapy studio because what we specialize in is specifically skin science. You're not just going to find someone lathering a bunch of stuff on your face and sending you on your way with products that you don't know how to use." While patrons can have services such as facial waxing and treatments, the studio caters to the "on-the-go" client, with no service taking more than 30 minutes. "There's a lot of walking traffic [downtown], so that's a perfect location to have this type of business model, where it's meant to have people coming in and out, taking a look at the skin care products we have and try them out, then going on their way." Young had only cosmetic work, such as painting and floor polishing, to do in the 1,000 square-foot space at 111 W. Liberty St., which formerly housed the Acme Mercantile. She also installed a four-seat bar and an esthetic chair. The original lighting fixtures have been retained. Young and four other employees, all licensed cosmetologists or estheticians, will staff the studio to begin with, although "We definitely are looking to expand our team," she says. "We're always looking for people that are motivated and passionate about the skin care industry and not just doing it just to pass time." Source: Nancy Young, owner, DBTS Skin Bar and Delicate Beauty Therapeutic Spa Writer: Tanya Muzumdar