Ann Arbor

AdAdapted expands staff as it expands mobile app platform

By Newsroom

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October 24, 2012

Internet companies big and small have been struggling with how best to commercialize advertising on mobile devices. A new start-up based in Ann Arbor, AdAdapted, thinks it has an answer. "Mobile advertising really isn't working for anyone," says Michael Pedersen, founder of AdAdapted. The Tech Brewery-based start-up's software solves this problem with an advertising platform that allows advertisers to work with developers to strategically place ads in things like mobile video games. Think of it as an in-app product placement. "We allow the developer to have more control where an ad will go," Pedersen says. AdAdapted recently received financing from the Michigan Microloan Fund. Loan amounts from that fund aren't disclosed but are about five-figures in size on average. The 4-month-old start-up and its seven team members plan to use its loan to expand its product platform and prepare for the launch of its Beta version. "The Beta should be done with in the next few weeks," Pedersen says. "We're also working on landing our first pilot." Source: Michael Pedersen, founder of AdAdapted Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

$875K fellowship to U-M prof to study ice

By Newsroom

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Education

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October 24, 2012

Greenland is hardly anyone's idea of a celebratory destination but that's where University of Michigan assistant professor Sarah Aciego is headed with her Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering award. Though far from paradise, it is a great place to study what melted ice water can reveal about global climate change. Excerpt: "Aciego is an assistant professor of earth and environmental sciences in the U-M College of Literature, Science, and the Arts; and assistant professor of atmospheric, oceanic and space sciences in the College of Engineering. Among the classes she teaches is an undergraduate class in geomorphology, the study of how glaciers, rivers and landslides have shaped the surface of the earth." Read the rest here.

Violin firm Weinreich Labs scores Michigan microloan

By Newsroom

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Arts & Culture

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October 24, 2012

Weinreich Labs is reinventing the violin in Ann Arbor, creating technology that preserves the quality of the amplified and recorded sounds of the instrument. The 2-year-old start-up was founded by a violin maker, a physicist, an engineer and a designer. The company's instrument is a violin that produces heirloom quality music when amplified or recorded. It is expected to give musicians the ability to amplify a acoustic sound (think stereo speakers) without feedback or loss of tonal character, problems that have long plagued the music industry. "If a players buys one of our products they're buying an instrument that sounds great in an amplified setting," says Alex Sobolev, CEO of Weinreich Labs. "It also works in a recording studio where it can be very challenging to properly mic stringed instruments." Weinreich Labs' four person team is putting the finishing touches on its prototypes and plans to begin commercializing its violins early next year. The firm recently received financing from the Michigan Microloan Fund (each microloan is worth about five figures worth of seed capital on average) that it is using to buy production-quality electronics and develop a mobile app. "This loan does a number of things for us," Sobolev says. "In the worst-case scenario, this gets us to a trade show with a number of prototypes to showcase." Source: Alex Sobolev, CEO of Weinreich Labs Writer: Jon Zemke

Latest round of microloans funds 7 start-ups, 5 from Ann Arbor

By Newsroom

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Economic Development

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October 24, 2012

The Michigan Microloan Fund, a program managed by Ann Arbor SPARK, has made another round of microloans to a broad range of start-ups, most of which are based in Ann Arbor. The Michigan Microloan Fund makes microloans worth between $10,000 and $50,000 to small businesses developing new technology in Michigan. The loans are meant to help augment the shrinkage of traditional financing options since the onset of the recession. One of the recipients, Grand Rapids-based FoodCircles, is using the seed capital to develop more versions of the 4-month-old's mobile apps. "The mircoloan has allowed us to try a lot of different experiments," says Jonathan Kumar, managing director of FoodCircles. He oversees a team of four employees and two interns. The Michigan Microloan Fund has made $2.8 million in microloans to 62 companies since its launch in July, 2009. This latest round of microloans disbursed $232,000 to seven company, of which five are based in Ann Arbor. Among the Ann Arbor-based start-ups to receive microloans are: - AdAdapted, a software firm developing an advertising platform for games played on mobile devices. - AMF-Nano, a bio-tech company developing innovative nano sensors. - Child Care Daily App, a mobile app business creating software that simplifies the daily activities of child care providers by doing things like automating handwritten tasks. - PicoSpray, a tech firm commercializing a low-cost electronic fuel injection system for small engines. - Weinreich Labs, a tech business developing heirloom quality amplified violins. Source: Jonathan Kumar, managing director of FoodCircles Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Perich Advertising & Design adds 7 as it grows digital team

By Newsroom

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Arts & Culture

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October 17, 2012

Perich Advertising & Design is beefing up its digital presence now that is has been hiring more web programers, software developers and other similar professionals. The Ann Arbor-based advertising firm has hired seven people over the last year, expanding its staff to 31, along with a handful of interns at any given time. Those new hires will be handling both traditional and new media projects. "It's a little bit of everything," says Ernie Perich, president & creative director of Perich Advertising & Design. "Staying on top of everything digital is very important to us." He adds that his company's growth is coming evenly from both traditional and digital revenue sources. The 25-year-old company got its start handling more traditional work, such as TV and radio. It has moved more and more into the digital spectrum as the Internet has grown and taken a more prominent position in the advertising world. Making that transition to handling both ends of the advertising spectrum has allowed Perich Advertising & Design to continue to grow throughout the years. "We're going to project a steady growth," says Ernie Perich, president & creative director of Perich Advertising & Design. "We're going to keep doing it the same way we have done it all this year." Source: Ernie Perich, president & creative director of Perich Advertising & Design Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Wolverine Energy finds second niche in explosives detection

By Newsroom

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Education

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October 17, 2012

Wolverine Energy Solutions & Technology is not only a green start-up, but one that helps detect explosive materials. Stick with us for a few more paragraphs. The 2-year-old company launched out of the lab of Theodore Goodson III, a University of Michigan chemistry professor. He first developed a organic material that could help make super capacitors more energy efficient, which led to the creation of the start-up Wolverine Energy Solutions & Technology. Now further exploration into the that technology has also led the start-up to realize it can used for the "creation of a remote and safe explosive detection device, which offers an integrated wide-area surveillance solution with relatively high sensitivity and low cost," according to the company's website. The four-person company is still working toward developing the super capacitor and explosive detection angles of the technology. They hope to add on a few more employees next year as it pushes forward with the development of its technology. "I would love to see our personnel triple, at least," says Stephanie Goodson, president of Wolverine Energy Solutions & Technology, who is also the wife of Theodore Goodson III. "I would love to see us produce samples for a third party." Source: Stephanie Goodson, president of Wolverine Energy Solutions & Technology Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

By night, downtown A2 parking lot becomes Bill’s Beer Garden

By Tanya Muzumdar

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Arts & Culture

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October 17, 2012

The parking lot behind Ann Arbor's Downtown Home & Garden, which is arguably as scenic as parking lots get, is getting its own scene. Bill's Beer Garden opens there on October 18, next to Mark's Carts outdoor food court. Patrons may bring food from the carts into the garden. It's "the combination of the location, the existence of [Mark' Carts] and the incredible Michigan craft beer industry all kind of coming together, and I think we're going to produce a very nice operation, a very nice place where people will want to come to and want to be," says owner Bill Zolkowski. A beer shed modeled after a Parisian news stand now sits in the lot. A pavilion with a permanent roof, radiant heat, and seating has been built on either side of the greenhouse to the rear of the garden store at 210 S. Ashley St. Bill's Beer Garden will be open from 5-11 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 4-9 p.m. on Sundays, until December 2. It will re-open on St. Patrick's Day 2013, Zolkowski says. He plans to hire 8-12 staffpersons. It can seat 160 people at tables on the pavilion and classic open-air beer garden benches. "You're very likely to be sitting next to someone you don't know and end up in a conversation with people, interactions with people that you did not come in with and you didn't anticipate when you walked in the front gate. And that really has been almost a trademark of classic beer gardens, and we want to replicate that..." Zolkowki says. "We'll expand the community, give the community a space with which to come and to hang out. We think it's going to work real well in a city like Ann Arbor." Source: Bill Zolkowski, owner of Bill's Beer Garden Writer: Tanya Muzumdar

From Mani To Mexico

By Natalie Burg

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General

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October 17, 2012

Long seen as a Bermuda Triangle for businesses, Mani Osteria has transformed the downtown corner of Liberty and Division into an Ann Arbor hotspot. Now, owner Adam Baru is adding another eatery right next door. Concentrate's Natalie Burg gets the lowdown on the restaurateur who has worked with not one, but two iron chefs.

Craiglist rolls out mapping app, Ann Arbor a test city

By Newsroom

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General

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October 17, 2012

It's impressive for our college town to be mentioned in the same breath as Los Angeles and San Francisco. Craiglist is testing their mapping feature in several communities and we are one of them. Excerpt: "Ann Arbor joins Los Angeles and the Bay Area as a testing ground for Craiglist’s newest feature according to a report on thenextweb.com. The new application will allow apartment hunters to use a map view to find apartments in specific neighborhoods or areas." Read the rest here.

Colleen O'Brien and Tiffany Cho at Ozone House in Ypsilanti

WorkZone Helps Youth Get Ready For Employment

By Patrick Dunn

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General

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October 17, 2012

Finding work in today's job market is tough enough. For at-risk teens, it can seem impossible. WorkZone, a program created and run by Ozone House, helps young adults to develop job-seeking skills and hone them through training and paid internships.