Venture Capital

Dare to Dream grants send $28.5K in seed capital to U-M start-ups

Ann Arbor VC chairs launch of TiE Detroit Angels

An Ann Arbor-based venture capitalist is helping connect Metro Detroit's emerging investment community with the rest of the world by opening the Detroit chapter of TiE called TiE Detroit Angels. Sonali Vijayavargiya is the managing partner of Augment Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm that launched out of Ann Arbor last year. She is now chairing TiE Detroit Angels as a way of growing the region's investment community and connecting it with opportunities around the world. TiE Detroit Angels will focus on investing in a broad range of promising start-ups. "This group is made up of a diverse group of people," Vijayavargiya says. "We have physicians and entrepreneurs. We will invest across sectors." TiE is a global, not-for-profit, non-political, and non-religious organization dedicated to fostering entrepreneurs around the world. When TiE first started it stood for The Indus Entrepreneurs, which signifies the ethnic South Asian or Indus roots of the founders. Today TiE stands for Talent, Ideas and Enterprise. TiD Detroit Angels will focus on forming an investment consortium of wealthy individuals willing to provide seed capital to promising startups in Metro Detroit. The group expects to grow to a size of about 30 members within its first year and will look at the pitches from dozens of local startups from a number of different sectors. Source: Sonali Vijayavargiya, chair of TiE Detroit Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

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

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.

DeNovo Sciences raises $1.75M, aims for $6M Series A next year

DeNovo Sciences continues to hit its milestones again and again, raising seven figures worth of seed capital, growing its team, and pushing forward the development of its cancer warning system. The Michigan Life Sciences and Innovation Center-based start-up has raised in excess of $1 million since winning the $500,000 first place prize at the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition last year. "I was looking for $1 million," says Kalyan Handique, CEO of DeNovo Sciences. "I was happy to get $1.75 million from a network of angel investors and the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund and some grants." DeNovo Sciences is developing a platform for early detection of cancer from blood as an alternative to painful biopsies. It got its start in Ypsilanti and has since moved to the Ann Arbor SPARK managed Michigan Life Sciences and Innovation Center in Plymouth. There it has grown to four full-time employees and eight part-time consultants. It is in the process of hiring a researcher now. The company is also hitting some of its development milestones, successfully using its technology to capture cancer cells in the blood. Handique expects to begin commercializing the product next year and have the full product platform available by 2014. His team is also gearing up to raise $6 million in a Series A round next year and land some corporate partnerships. "We're beginning to speak to corporate partners who would benefit from our technology," Handique says. Source: Kalyan Handique, CEO of DeNovo Sciences Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Arboretum Ventures adds staff as it deploys 3rd fund

Arboretum Ventures isn't wasting any time investing its third investment fund. The Ann Arbor-based venture capital firm closed on a $140 million fund a year ago and has so far deployed about one third of it in six investments over the last 18 months. "There are a lot of excellent opportunities in this environment," says Paul McCreadie, managing director of Arboretum Ventures. "There are a lot of great companies that need investment." Arboretum Ventures has $235 million under management across three investment funds. That has allowed the 10-year-old firm to expand to 11 people after hiring two new employees over the last year. It recruited one investment professional from a venture capital firm in Silicon Valley and brought on another administrative person. That staff is making investments in local start-ups, such as ArborMetrix. The health-care analytics firm raised $1.5 million in a Series A round last year. Arboretum Ventures was the sole investor in a company. "It's based in Ann Arbor," McCreadie says. "We have been investing in it since the middle of last year. It was started by a University of Michigan student who came to us with the idea last year." Source: Paul McCreadie, managing director of Arboretum Ventures Writer: Jon Zemke

Amplifinity closes on $1.5 million worth of venture capital

Student Powered Investments

What happens when you give 24 college students a few million dollars to invest in start-ups? They double their investment value within a few years. The Wolverine Fund is one of three venture capital programs created by the University of Michigan to give students an insider's view of investment and entrepreneurship.

Michigan eLab wrestles Silicon Valley for start-ups

How does Ann Arbor develop start-ups and keep the business that blossom from them? Michigan eLab is working to just that. Excerpt: "Stefanski -- who lives blocks away from downtown Palo Alto, the original home of many high-profile tech companies -- said he sees a promising start-up corridor growing between State Street and Main Street in downtown Ann Arbor. But to hasten the growth, he said, Ann Arbor would have to become more than just "one of the biggest exporters of talent through the country."" Read the rest here.

Ann Arbor welcomes new early stage VC firm, Michigan eLab

Michigan eLab is the latest venture capital firm to pop up in Ann Arbor's growing dandelion field of investment companies. The downtown Ann Arbor-based venture capital firm will specialize in making early stage investments in technology and IT start-ups. Its founders will also focus on making investments that will keep local entrepreneurs, inventors and their innovative technologies in Michigan and grow the region's burgeoning entrepreneurial ecosystem. "We're really passionate about creating the next evolution of the next entrepreneurial ecosystem here," says Doug Neal, director of Michigan eLab. Neal is also the executive director at the University of Michigan's Center for Entrepreneurship. He and three other co-founders started working on Michigan eLab earlier this year. The other co-founders include Rick Bolander, Scott Chou (venture capital veterans since the 1990s) and Bob Stefanski (a Silicon Valley serial entrepreneur with a number of technology start-up exits under his belt). "We pretty much live and breathe this technology space," Neal says. Michigan eLab is aiming to create a $40 million fund in its first go around. Neal expects to have the fund's first funding round closing this fall. The venture capital firm's first investments should come shortly after that. The Ann Arbor area is traditionally a hub for bio-technology and life sciences venture capital firms. However, a number of tech/IT-oriented VCs have launched from the college town or nearby in Metro Detroit over the last few years. Many of these firms specialize in early stage investments, such as Resonant Venture Partners and Detroit Venture Partners. The latter, based in downtown Detroit, is resetting the benchmark for local investing, aggressively investing in start-ups in a local sector that is known for a slower, more conservative approach. Neal expects Michigan eLab invest more like Detroit Venture Partners. "There will probably be a handful (of investments) this fall," Neal says. "The goal is to make 40 investments over the next 4-5 years." Source: Doug Neal, director of Michigan eLab Writer: Jon Zemke