Larky lands $650K in investment, creates 5 jobs in Ann Arbor

Consumers love to boast about the deals they have taken advantage of, and a new downtown Ann Arbor-based start-up would love to help them turn up the volume. Larky is developing mobile apps that help consumers maximize the discount available to them through membership organizations, loyalty programs and coupons from local businesses. Gregg Hammerman, co-founder of Larky, was inspired to create the software when he realized he didn't have the time to keep up with all the opportunities his membership in things like the Detroit Institute of Arts, AAA and the University of Michigan Alumni Association offered when he needed them the most. Larky does that work for him now. "I can walk into the DIA and it will tell me that my membership paid for me and a family member this week," Hammerman says. The mobile app makes money from the institutions and businesses that employ it and it doesn't come out of the consumer's pocket. Larky has landed $650,000 in an initial seed round with money coming from angel investors, the Michigan Microloan Fund and the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund. Larky's team of three employees, it is also looking to hire a business development and software programmer now, is working on testing the 6-month-old start-up's app and hopes to roll it out nationally over the next year. Source: Gregg Hammerman, co-founder of Larky Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.