Innovation News

Ann Arbor’s myfab5 releases Beta version of tech

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June 19, 2013

Last year, myfab5 spent its time launching the prototype of its social media software and figuring out its viability. This spring, the start-up is launching a more comprehensive Beta version with the aim of spreading its use across the region. The Ann Arbor-based start-up is creating an Internet/mobile platform that helps people rate and find eateries and retail businesses. Its secret sauce is it lets users name their top five businesses according to category, such as best pizza places or Chinese food. "All the signs (from last year's prototype) were good," says Omeid Seirafi-Pour, co-founder & CEO of myfab5. "This could work. All of the evidence supported the idea that the ranking system would work." The Beta version is more comprehensive that it includes a better web presence and a recently released iPhone app. The new app is focusing on the Ann Arbor and Metro Detroit markets. "We want to know what markets will be the best markets for myfab5 and it can best serve them," Seirafi-Pour says. The 1-year-old company employs a team of three co-founders and a half dozen of independent contractors. It calls the University of Michigan student small business incubator TechArb home. Seirafi-Pour expects to hire two or three people later this year. Source: Omeid Seirafi-Pour, co-founder & CEO of myfab5 Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

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Patient Provider Communications lands $1.7M in seed capital

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Healthy Communities

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June 19, 2013

Patient Provider Communications has landed $1.7 million in seed capital thanks to large government grants and significant private investment. The Ann Arbor-based start-up's principal technology is called "Eloquence." It is a nurse-call system developed through an innovative healthcare communication technology. The company is currently in the final stages of developing its Beta version that is set to be deployed to a couple local hospitals by the fourth quarter of this year. "We will be developing a commercially viable product by the end of the year," says Lance Patak, co-founder & chairman of Patient Provider Communications. "Our goal is to have it installed in at least one Beta site by the second quarter of 2014 and our first purchase order by second quarter of 2014." The 4-year-old company has secured a $1.225 million Phase 2 federal Small Business Technology Transfer grant. It also has scored $250,000 from the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund, and is closing on $125,000 from private investors that will be matched with $125,000 from the Michigan Emerging Technologies Fund. Patient Provider Communications employs a team seven employees and four independent contractors. It has hired four people over the last year, including a new CEO this spring. Source: Lance Patak, co-founder & chairman of Patient Provider Communications Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Huron River Ventures closes on $11M fund

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Economic Development

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June 19, 2013

Huron River Ventures has closed on its first investment fund worth $11 million. The downtown Ann Arbor-based venture capital firm specializes in clean-tech investments in the energy, transportation infrastructure and agricultural fields. Tim Streit and Ryan Waddington launched the venture capital firm in 2011. The pair have raised $6 million from the state of Michigan, a couple of local institutions including DTE Energy and fewer than 50 private investors. "We are less than 30 percent deployed," says Streit, managing partner of Huron River Ventures. "We have significant capital resources from our existing portfolio to help them with their growth." Among Huron River Ventures' initial investments are include SideCar Technologies, University of Michigan spin-out Ambiq Micro, Ann Arbor-based OptoAtmospherics, Ann Arbor-based FarmLogs, Root3 Technologies and Ann Arbor-based Covaron Advanced Materials. The firm has closed one deal last week, which is plans to announce soon. Streit expects to close on another 1-2 more deals before the end of the year. Huron River Ventures has a staff of two people and a stable of independent contractors and interns. It has offices in Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids. Source: Tim Streit, managing partner of Huron River Ventures Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

The Brinery upgrades facility to keep up with demand

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Healthy Communities

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June 19, 2013

The Brinery is gearing up to move into a larger home just north of Ann Arbor, which will allow the slow-food start-up to ramp up production to meet its growing demand. The Ann Arbor-based company makes sauerkraut, kimchi, pickles and tempeh. It's founder, David Klingenberger, has been making sauerkraut in his home for years before launching The Brinery three years ago. Today the business employs four people a few interns after hiring a production assistant in recent months. Klingenberger expects to hire another couple people later this year after it makes it move to a bigger space this fall. "The square footage will increase significantly," Klingenberger says. "And there is room for growth. There is a 5,000-square-foot warehouse we can use." The Brinery plans to move into the Washtenaw Food Hub this September. The Washtenaw Food Hub is a new facility meant to help provide support to local farmers and food companies to become economically and environmentally sustainable. The Brinery has been doubling its production each year it has been in business and move to the Washtenaw Food Hub is expected to allow that to happen over the next year. Also helping boost sales is The Brinery's new distribution partnership with R Hirt Jr, which will help it grow from being in a few dozen stores and restaurants to more than 1,000. "They will really, really increase our reach into stores," Klingenberger says. Source: David Klingenberger, owner of The Brinery Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

WellSpringboard imagines new way of crowd-sourcing research ideas

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Healthy Communities

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June 19, 2013

Finding new research ideas and creating new ways to fund them, that's the idea behind a new local start-up, WellSpringboard. The Ann Arbor-based company is creating a software platform that enables patients and other members of health-care community to come up with research ideas. It also provides a facility to support crowd-funding to get the projects underway. "The current model in the U.S. and around the world is for scientists to have the ideas and carry them out," says Matthew Davis, associate professor of pediatrics & internal medicine & public policy at the University of Michigan and co-founder of WellSpringboard. "We wanted to see if we could find a new way to bring research ideas forward." Davis is a member of the three-person team that has been developing the technology since January at the University of Michigan. That effort birthed WellSpringboard, which recently won the prototype category worth $40,000 from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Challenge. Davis and his team are currently working on further developing the prototype and raising money for the launch of their technology. "Our timeline is to launch a Beta version in 2014 depending on further funding," Davis says. Source: Matthew Davis, associate professor of pediatrics & internal medicine & public policy at the University of Michigan and co-founder of WellSpringboard Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Ann Arbor SPARK helps create 628 jobs, retain 1,135 more

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Community Development

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June 12, 2013

Ann Arbor SPARK is parading around some impressive job-creation numbers after its annual meeting last week. Among the statistics it is reporting are that the 63 companies is has worked with over the last year have: - Created 628 new jobs. - Retained 1,135 jobs. - Invested $148 million in the region's economy. Those jobs and investment are not from Ann Arbor SPARK's work with start-ups. Those numbers come from its work with established companies making multi-million-dollar investments in the region, such as Hyundia's $50 million investment to create 50 engineering jobs in Superior Township or Barracuda Networks move into the former Borders store in downtown Ann Arbor. "They (Barracuda Networks) are hiring at a pretty rapid rate," says Paul Krutko, president & CEO of Ann Arbor SPARK. "This is a project that will create as many as 200 jobs." The annual meeting also gave out three awards to local entrepreneurs and businesses. Those include: Bhushan Kulkarni, chairman of GDI Infotech and CEO InfoReady Corp, won the Volunteer Leader of the Year award, which recognizes his passion for economic development and efforts to grow the local economy. Faurecia, an automotive supplier, received the Project of the Year for its new Saline facility. Compendia Bioscience, acquired last year by Life Technologies, won entrepreneurial company of the year for its use of Ann Arbor SPARK’s services to grow from start-up to successful exit. Source: Paul Krutko, president & CEO of Ann Arbor SPARK Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

TECAT Sensors makes new CEO key part of growth plan

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Economic Development

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June 12, 2013

Fresh leadership is helping guide TECAT Performance Sensors in a new direction. The Ann Arbor-based start-up has hired two executives over the last year, including a new CEO. The new leadership has allowed the nearly 2-year-old company to refocus its efforts and improve its sales. Revenues for the company are up 10 percent mainly on the strength of word-of-mouth references. The firm's leadership expects those numbers to improve. "We expect the second half of this year to be stronger than the second half of last year," says Don Keating, vice president of business development for TECAT Performance Sensors. TECAT Performance Sensors, a spin-off of TECAT Engineering, is developing wireless sensor technology. These sensors gather environmental, motion and mechanical information then wirelessly send these parameters to a central control unit or direct to a control or viewing device. Its sensors, WISE and POINT Telemetry Systems, allow for transmission, monitoring and recording of live torque data and more from any rotating shaft. It especially designed to be used in confined spaces. TECAT Performance Sensors currently employs six people and the occasional intern. Keating expects those numbers to go up as sales rise, which he projects to increase by 25-30 percent over the next year. Source: Don Keating, vice president of business development for TECAT Performance Sensors Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Michigrow develops new LED grow-light technology

By Jon Zemke

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Economic Development

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June 12, 2013

An Ann Arbor-based start-up believes it has the developed the next generation of technology for grow lights. Grow lights are large lights that are used for a number of purposes, ranging from providing artificial light for growing organic vegetables year round to medical marijuana. Those lights have traditionally used incandescent lights. Michigrow's technology utilizes LED lights, which consume far less energy than incandescent bulbs and run much cooler. The use of LED lights and Michigrow's technology allows for not only more energy-efficient operations but helps accelerate the grow cycle of the plants it provides light for by altering its night-and-day biorhythm. "Think of it as a factory that needs to be shut off 12 hours a day," says Jim Beyer, president of Michigrow. "If you can make the factory run 24 hours a day it is much more efficient." Beyer works as a software engineer for his day job but has already begun selling some of the prototypes of his patent-pending technology. He acknowledges that selling his technology to medical marijuana growers would allow for most direct path for rapid start-up. However, he adds that Michigrow's has a number of different potential revenue stream, especially for people in traditional agriculture. "It would allow people to do more of their own food growing in a more economical way," Beyer says. Source: Jim Beyer, president of Michigrow Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Online Tech adds 9 staffers as it expands in the Midwest

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Economic Development

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June 12, 2013

Online Tech is on the brink of turning its plans for midwestern expansion into a reality this summer. The Ann Arbor-based data center firm received a $20 million investment last year to expand its operations across middle America. It has identified two target markets where it has seen high demand for its data center and cloud-computing services and is close to making those plans public. "We are not more than 90 days away from telling that story," says Yan Ness, Co-CEO of Online Tech. The 10-year-old firm has been staffing up for the last year to prepare for the expansion. It has hired nine people, including three executive level personnel. The company currently employs 47 people and a handful of interns. It is also looking for a new director of infrastructure management to help the company with its pending expansion plans. "It's one of the coolest tech jobs in the Midwest," Ness says. Online Tech is looking to expand its footprint within a 200-500 mile radius around its Ann Arbor home. Ness expects to have his company solidly positioned in two new markets by the next year and two more on top of that by 2017. He means being the No 1 or No 2 player in the market when he says solidly positioned. Source: Yan Ness, Co-CEO of Online Tech Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Protean Payment adds Detroit Labs co-founder to exec team

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Economic Development

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June 12, 2013

Protean Payment landed a big fish in Michigan's mobile technology pond last week when the mobile payment start-up announced that Detroit Labs co-founder Henry Balanon is joining Protean Payment's executive ranks as its chief technology officer. Detroit Labs has emerged as one of the biggest mobile app companies in Michigan since it was launched in 2011, handling mobile work for Quicken Loans, Stryker and Domino's among other larger corporate clients. It is now one of the fastest-growing companies based in the M@dison Building in downtown Detroit. Enticing the likes of Balanon, one of Metro Detroit's early mobile app developers, is not a new thing for Protean Payment. The Ann Arbor-based start-up also has Dug Song serving as a key advisor. Song is a serial tech entrepreneur and current co-founder of Duo Security, a venture-backed Internet security start-up based in Ann Arbor. Protean Payment is developing technology called "Echo" that will serve as a "skeleton key for the wallet" by combining all of the user's credit, debit, loyalty and ID cards into the Echo card. Echo comes equipped with a tiny computer that syncs with the user's mobile phone. The accompanying mobile app allows the user to convert Echo into the card of his or her choice, allowing them to swipe it as they would their normal credit card. "It is in essence a virtual wallet," says Chris Bartenstein, co-founder of Protean Payment. "The card can become any of your cards for payment." Barnestein co-founded Protean Payment with Thiago Olson a year ago. The original technology was developed by the pair when they went to school in Vanderbilt University. Olson was working at TARDEC in Warren when he and Barnestein, who had a brother attending the University of Michigan School of Law, moved to Ann Arbor and launched Protean Payment out of the Tech Brewery. It is now looking at moving into space at the former home of Bay Design in Kerrytown, which is the home of Duo Security and a couple of other start-ups that launched out of the Tech Brewery. Protean Payment has begun raising angel investment money. Bartenstein declined to say how much specifically but said it has raised six-figures so far and plans to put together a formal seed-round of funding later this year. Source: Chris Bartenstein, co-founder of Protean Payment Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.