TROY ? A consortium of financially independent Michigan investors will announce a new angel fund next week that will be managed by former Clarity Technologies CEO Raymond Gunn.
The unnamed fund will not focus on any particular industry sector, rather look to put money into promising ideas or start ups ignored by other private equity finance firms in Michigan and the Midwest. Any money invested from the fund will go to Michigan companies or companies with strong ties in the state, Gunn said in an interview Monday.
?A group of guys in town have been investing in companies collectively and have asked me to run a fund for them,?? Gunn said. ?We?re focused on early stage ideas that no one will do, and see those investments through a stage where a venture capital company will invest in them or another company is interested in buying into them.?
Gunn said the fund will be sufficiently wide to capture a lot of ideas that get abandoned in Michigan ? even great ideas gathering dust at big Michigan corporations. The fund also hopes to mine great ideas developed at the state?s major research institutions. Those include the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Wayne State University.
He described the new venture as a side car fund based loosely on similar funds established in Boston. Gunn said he?s not sure how much money wil be raised by the fund, but ?already millions of dollars are committed to this fund.?
Gunn left Clarity on March 15 after CSR plc, a leading provider of Bluetooth technology worldwide, purchased Clarity for $17.1 million in cash. The next day, he started Wingspan Partners, a consulting firm to work with start up, venture and fledgling companies in the Midwest. Gunn is managing partner of the firm and Fred Nussbaum, a longtime associate of Gunn and former executive vice president of Clarity, his partner.
Wingspan has five clients tucked under its wings already, Gunn said. The company also plans to become a licensed financial advisor and money finder.
To contact Gunn, telephone him at (248) 961-0247. Or email him at [email protected]
