Ann Arbor start-up FlockTAG expands to staff of 8 in first year

Adrian Fortino and David Linn are friends who wanted to start a company together for years. Fortino is one of the co-founders behind mass transit tech firm Shepherd Intelligence Systems and Linn owns Bubble Island in Ann Arbor. A little more than a year ago the two combined their different areas of business expertise to launch FlockTAG. The downtown Ann Arbor-based start-up has developed a mobile app that works as a universal loyalty card for a broad range of retailers and other businesses. "You don't have to carry around all these cards and wait for your punches or stamps," Fortino says. He adds that targeted deal software has a redemption rate of 30 percent, which he claims is well above the industry average of 8 percent. FlockTAG now employs eight people and is being used in a number of Midwestern collegetowns, including Ann Arbor, East Lansign and Columbus. It has recently received a six-figure investment from the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund and is hearing up to release the 2.0 version of the mobile app and website in August. "We will be using that for additional development," Fortino says. "We hope to leverage all of the students in the fall for an aggressive push." Source: Adrian Fortino, co-founder of FlockTAG Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.