The Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation sees impact investing as a way to expand and reuse capital. Individual private citizens see it as a more socially positive way to fund their retirements.
A new comprehensive guide to funding and other opportunities for entrepreneurs in Michigan shows a treasure trove in Ann Arbor.
FlexDex Surgical has landed $5 million of investment from a Series B round. It plans to use the capital to turn its laparoscopic surgery tool into the go-to instrument for doctors everywhere.
Ann Arbor-based Strata Oncology recently landed $12 million in venture capital to push forward with the development of its state-of-the-art tumor sequencing operation.
Why do some businesses fail and others flourish? Pittsburgh venture capitalist and former entrepreneur Sean Ammirati discusses his new book The Science of Growth, which looks at why some promising companies peter out while others continue to prosper.
Armune BioScience closed on a newly expanded Series A worth $4 million last week, and the life sciences firm has its target set on a $25M Series B round for later this year.
Michigan Angel Fund is hitting some significant milestones over the last year with even bigger ambitions for 2016. The Ann Arbor-based angel investor group has 100 members between its two investment funds. It finished 2015 by sending out $2.91 million in investments, of which $1.5 million was made in the fourth quarter of last year.
Accio Energy just landed a lot of money. And that means further development of its innovative wind energy generation systems. And the Ann Arbor-based startup has its eyes on raising even more in busy 2016. The 7-year-old startup received a $4.5 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy to fund the field testing of Accio Energy's technology. Accio Energy plans to spend next year laying the groundwork to field test its off-shore wind energy generation systems off the coast of Maine in 2017. "This is our opportunity to scale it more than 10 times and take it offshore," says Jen Baird, CEO of Accio Energy. Accio Energy's technology generates alternative energy from the wind without the turbine. Its aerovoltaic technology harnesses the electrokinetic energy of the wind (think static electricity) through a screen-like piece of equipment with no moving parts. The technology has been proven in wind tunnels, but this new funding means it can be built up for field testing in Penobscot Bay of Maine near the town of Castine. The federal funding is a bit more than a grant because the feds will have an active role in the project, but the money is still non-dilutable government funding. It will also allow Accio Energy to hire a few more people to its staff of eight employees. The federal partnership comes with a 10 percent match requirement for Accio Energy and Baird expects to begin raising a multi-million-dollar seed round next year. "It's a big step," Baird says. Source: Jen Baird, CEO of Accio Energy Writer: Jon Zemke
SkySpecs is gearing up to launch its drone technology early next year. It's on the brink of raising a significant amount of seed capital and already testing its product with customers. The Ann Arbor-based startup is developing aerial drone technology that uses artificial intelligence to inspect infrastructure in dangerous locations, such as the blades of wind turbines. It's WingMan platform allows the aircraft to hover near an object without fear of hitting it. Check out a demonstration of the company's WingMan technology here. "Our first field prototypes are working well," says Danny Ellis, CEO of SkySpecs. "We have customers who are working with them in the field. We’re planning a full roll-out in 2016." SkySpecs got its start three years ago with aspirations of making drones in the rapidly growing industry. That focus shifted to creating technology that makes sure drones can avoid running into objects they are buzzing around, such as wind turbines or hard-to-reach parts of bridges. Now SkySpecs has shifted again to offering an end-to-end solution for its customers, equipping drones with its technology so operations are turn-key for its customers. Ellis noticed many of SkySpecs potential customers loved the technology but didn’t know much about drones. "It was extra work for us," Ellis says. "They would come to us and ask us which drones to buy." SkySpecs won the grand prize worth $500,000 from last year's Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition and is part of the Techstars accelerator in New York City. It currently has a team of eight people mainly based in Ann Arbor after hiring a couple of engineers and a business development professional over the last year. The seed capital raise is expected to help SkySpecs grow out its team rapidly next year as it begins to roll out its technology on a national scale. It currently has two enterprise customers but Ellis doesn’t expect that his client list to remain that short for long. "We have more in the pipeline," Ellis says. Source: Danny Ellis, CEO of SkySpecs Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
Ypsilanti wants to empower its residents by letting some of them purchase the lawns they mow. Talk about grassroots. The city of Ypsilanti is working to launch a side-lot program where homeowners who live next to vacant lots owned by the city can buy them for as little as $1. Often the lots in question are small city lots where the city razed a blighted building and left a grassy area that more times than not the neighbors take care of. "We're looking at increasing someone's yard," says Beth Ernat, director of community & economic development for the city of Ypsilanti. "It rewards property owners who have been taking care of the property." The city hopes selling the lots to local residents will mean generating more property tax revenue and spending less city resources on maintaining vacant land. Similar side-lot programs have been deployed in other Michigan cities, like Detroit, Saginaw and Flint. "It has worked in very well in other cities," Ernat says. "We think it's worth giving it a try here." The city of Ypsilanti hopes to have the program ready for launch in October and selling lots in November. Corner lots and lots of big acreage, such as the Water Street properties, are not available. Available lots will first be offered to adjacent owner-occupants who are in good standing with the city regarding property taxes and code violations. For information, contact Ernat at bernat@cityofypsilanti.com or (734) 482-9774. "We have received a lot of interest from word of mouth," Ernat says. "We will be notifying every neighbor about this." Source: Beth Ernat, director of community & economic development for the city of Ypsilanti Writer: Jon Zemke
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