Technology and Innovation

Ingenex Digital Marketing leverages long-term biz to grow staff

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March 27, 2013

Ingenex Digital Marketing's recent growth curve might rest on the new economy of website design and Internet marketing, but it's building its company on some age-old business ideas, like word-of-mouth referrals. It has tackled website redesigns in the last year for some major players in Michigan, including Cranbrook.edu and Aiag.org. The downtown Ann Arbor-based company wants to continue taking on some more major institutions in the Great Lakes State as clients, but it's going to be choosy. "We don't want too many clients," says Derek Mehraban, CEO of Ingenex Digital Marketing. "We want clients that are progressive and want to do smart things online." He adds the idea behind this line of thinking is to take on more clients who are interested in long-term work in building their online brands. Ingenex Digital Marketing has also grown its staff to seven employees and four interns. The 7-year-old company has hired four people in the last year, including a new client-experience manager, account manager, social media director and Google search specialist. The firm is also looking to hire a web developer right now. "We just do a lot of websites," Mehraban says. "We need more people." Source: Derek Mehraban, CEO of Ingenex Digital Marketing Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Latest in Technology and Innovation

U-M research unlocks iridescence to evolve e-reader displays

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Economic Development

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March 20, 2013

File this under "really cool." University researchers have found a way to create light relective displays, which will not only give e-reader and electronic paper colors sheen but can also eliminate the need for a light source. Excerpt: "In a peacock's mother-of-pearl tail, precisely arranged hairline grooves reflect light of certain wavelengths. That's why the resulting colors appear different depending on the movement of the animal or the observer. Imitating this system—minus the rainbow effect—has been a leading approach to developing next-generation reflective displays. The new U-M research could lead to advanced color e-books and electronic paper, as well as other color reflective screens that don't need their own light to be readable. Reflective displays consume much less power than their backlit cousins in laptops, tablet computers, smartphones and TVs. The technology could also enable leaps in data storage and cryptography. Documents could be marked invisibly to prevent counterfeiting." Read the rest here.

Gema Diagnostics set to close on $2M Series B round

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Economic Development

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March 13, 2013

Gema Diagnostics recently landed an investment from the Pure Michigan Venture Match Fund, which is part of a $2 million Series B round of venture capital the bio-tech start-up expects to close on later this month. Gema Diagnostics raised $625,000 in a Series A round when it launched in 2006, licensing technology from Michigan State and Yale universities. Its most recent round of seed capital comes from North Coast Technology Investors (which led the round), the First Step Fund and the Blue Water Angels. "It will be for a pivotal clinical trial to get the company's product to market," says Dave Repp, president & COO of Gema Diagnostics. Gema Diagnostics is developing technology that will help improve the odds of a successful in vitro fertilization. "Our tool will help clinicians figure out which of a woman's eggs is the best to fertilize," Repp says. "No other non-invasive technology can do that." Repp expects the final clinical trial to take six months and wrap up later this year, which should prompt the two-person start-up to expand its staff. Commercialization could begin by the end of the year. Source: Dave Repp, president & COO of Gema Diagnostics Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Ann Arbor’s Duo Security shows Google login vulnerability

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Economic Development

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March 6, 2013

What do bears and snakepits have to do with your gmail account? They illustrate how the less-than best laid traps often fail. An Ann Arbor software firm shows how hackers get into your account and wreak havoc. Excerpt: "Some months ago, we found a way to (ab)use ASPs to gain full control over Google accounts, completely circumventing Google’s 2-step verification process. We communicated our findings to Google’s security team, and recently heard back from them that they had implemented some changes to mitigate the most serious of the threats we’d uncovered. Here’s what we found:" Read the rest here.

U-M lands $7.5M medical discovery fund

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Economic Development

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March 6, 2013

U-M docs and researchers are constantly making new discoveries and innovations. But is there a way to help monetize some of them? The Michigan Translational Research and Commercialization says yes. Excerpt: "A new $7.5 million fund aims to help University of Michigan medical discoveries move from the laboratory to the market. The Ann Arbor school says Monday the effort will help its Medical School and its Office of Technology Transfer identify and advance medical research projects with a high potential of commercial success." Read the rest here.

Chelsea record collector launches online store

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Arts & Culture

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March 6, 2013

Vinyl records prove the Peter Allen song true: "Everything old is new again". Though LPs represent less than one precent of the recorded music business, a Chelsea collector sees good potential for a return on his investment. Excerpt: "Branham, a longtime resident of Chelsea, has been collecting records since the 1970s. When he's not fulfilling his duties to Sylvan Township as township treasurer, he travels around the state "picking" through estate sales and personal collections, on the prowl for rare discs by obscure bands like The Kegs and The Phantom 5." Read the rest here.

North Coast Technology invests in Detroit-based Stik

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Economic Development

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March 6, 2013

Last year meant several things to North Coast Technology Investors. The Ann Arbor-based venture capital firm made some high-profile investments, expanded its portfolio and began deploying its third investment fund in earnest. "It was one of the most active years we had in a while," says Hugo Braun, co-founder of North Coast Technology Investors. The 20-year-old venture capital firm has in excess of $100 million under management through three investment funds that are invested in 35 companies. It closed on its third investment vehicle, worth $30 million, in 2010 and currently has eight portfolio firms in that fund. It's latest investment is in Stik, an Internet start-up based in downtown Detroit's M@dison Building. North Coast Technology Investors co-led the Series A round worth $2.3 million with Detroit Venture Partners. Stik's technology helps authenticate that online reviews were made by actual people. It was founded by two Metro Detroit natives that graduated from Harvard with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg. They moved it to downtown Detroit last fall and have since hired six people. North Coast Technology Investors' investment in Stik was its fourth of 2012. Among its higher-profile investments from last year was a follow-up investment in Ann Arbor-based CytoPherx, a clinical stage medical device company. Braun expects North Coast Technology Investors' team of three to make four investments this year. Source: Hugo Braun, co-founder of North Coast Technology Investors Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

U-M student-led EXO Dynamics scores $15K in seed capital

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Entrepreneurship

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February 27, 2013

Exo Dynamics just secured $15,000 in seed capital and plans to use it to move into a new home in University of Michigan's North Campus Research Complex. Exo Dynamics is leveraging the PhD work of a University of Michigan student to developing an electro-mechanical back brace for medical professionals. The back brace focuses on preventing injury and reducing pain without decreasing mobility. The team of five people is developing a second prototype and hopes to commercialize the device in early 2014. The 1-year-old start-up scored the $15,000 from the Michigan Business Challenge which is sponsored through the university's Ross School of Business. The company won the $10,000 Pryor-Hale Runner up award and the $5,000 Williamson Award for Outstanding Business & Engineering Team. "It was a fantastic experience," says Maren Bean, chief medical officer and co-founder of Exo Dynamics. "We got to meet a lot of great student entrepreneurs and some local entrepreneurs and investors. They gave us a lot of feedback on our business plan." Source: Maren Bean, chief medical officer and co-founder of Exo Dynamics Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Warmilu preps for clinical trials, commercialization

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Healthy Communities

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February 27, 2013

Warmilu, the start-up creating a better blanket for infants, is now running a pre-clinical trial of its product. The Ann Arbor-based company is prepping for clinical trials later this year and commercialization in 2014. "This is the first time it has been tested on infants, and it works," says Grace Hsia, CEO of Warmilu (formerly M-Wrap). Hsia and her team of eight people (mostly University of Michigan students and recent graduates) launched the company last spring. The idea is to help premature infants retain and increase their body heat, which helps improve their rate of survival. The blankets would be used both in hospitals and homes. Warmilu is targeting low-income groups with this blanket. Think families living below the poverty line in the first world or in third-world countries. Members of Warmilu have already taken an exploratory trip to India and is planning on a follow-up trip later this year. Warmilu is also beginning the process of raising angel round to fund the clinical trials of the blanket. The group is aiming to secure $20,000 for the clinical trials this year. Source: Grace Hsia, CEO of Warmilu Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Molecular Imaging doubles revenues, hires 10

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Healthy Communities

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February 27, 2013

Molecular Imaging is turning its growth spurt into a growth streak in Ann Arbor, expaning its revenues by triple digits and more than doubling its staff since its acquisition nearly two years ago. The Ann Arbor-based company provides in vivo pre-clinical imaging services for pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical devices industries. The 10-year-old firm was acquired nearly two years ago by a group of venture capital firms led by Farmington Hills-based Beringea. Since then, Molecular Imaging tripled its revenues in 2012 and expanded its staff from 13 employees to 28 employees today after hiring 10 people over the last year. "We're looking for roughly a doubling of the business this year over 2012," says Tom Ludlam, CEO of Molecular Imaging. Ludlam attributes the growth spike to a few factors. First, he points out that there is an underlining growing demand for the types of bio-tech imaging services his firm offers. He adds that Molecular Imaging has doubled down on its sales and marketing efforts, which is accelerating his firm's sales. Molecular Imaging has also expanded its service offerings. Two of those offerings include Fluorescence Molecular Tomography, which enables quantitative imaging of the fluorescent probe, or marker concentration to the picomolar level with no tissue depth limitation. It can be used as a discovery screening tool for assessing biologics biodistribution rapidly and cost effectively in the whole body. The other is Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography, a 3-D nuclear medicine imaging technique that provides qualitative and quantitative physiologic measurements. It is beneficial for earlier stage testing of pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, disease/tissue targeting as well as later stage regulatory, biodistribution and drug metabolism studies. Source: Tom Ludlam, CEO of Molecular Imaging Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.