Michigan Technology News and Entrepreneurs
GRAND RAPIDS - The trade group for venture capitalists in Michigan wants to form a $100 million fund to match millions in private capital with public investment. Under the proposal that’s being pushed by the Michigan Venture Capital Association, private investors would put $75 million into a fund to seed new venture capital funds, an
JACKSON - IChallengeU, which invites high school students to develop solutions to real-world business problems, will include a state competition in 2017 sponsored by Baker College. The sponsorship was announced on the final day of the 2016 IChallengeU regional competitions in Jackson and Holland. IChallengeU is an intense, two-week summer educational opportunity for high school juniors
LANSING - Michigan lawmakers last week introduced legislation to restore a state angel investment tax credit that would allow an investor to receive a 20-percent tax credit against the state’s personal income tax for qualified angel investments. The two bills were sponsored by state Rep. Jeff Farrington, a term-limited Republican from Macomb County. Farrington’s bills
BRIGHTON - FlexDex Surgical has completed a $5 million Series B financing round that will be used to commercialize the company’s first product, fund development of a second-generation device and a create a catalogue of instruments for laparoscopic surgery. Financing was led by current investors and included the co-founders, board members, individual investors and distributors.
DETROIT - The DTX Launch Detroit teams have been working hard for the past 10 weeks, and now is their time to shine! Come see these entrepreneurs Aug. 4 at TechTown pitch their business ideas to a panel of experts—and to the public. The teams will go public with their concepts and the public will
LUDINGTON - Mason County is offering entrepreneurs with viable business ideas or those who run a start-up with less than $100,000 in annual sales to compete for $50,000 in prize money that is on the table until July 31. The fine print is if your company or idea wins, you must either start the business
DETROIT - A group of community-minded people in Detroit are focusing this summer on how to solve policing problems, certainly a hot topic with violence raging across the country between police and the citizens they have been hired to serve and protect. Design Action Lab, a free program focused on community-driven problem solving, and Bamboo
SAN FRANCISCO - Pokeman Go isn’t the only breakout Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality success this year. Early stage Venture Capitalists and corporations invested a record $2 billion into AR/VR startups in the last 12 months, despite the fact the market is still in its earliest stages. As the fourth wave of platform change (after PC, online and mobile)
DETROIT - Venture Capital company Fontinalis Partners - who counts William C. Ford Jr. among its partners - closed its $100 million second fund, Fontinalis Capital Partners II, bringing Fontinalis Partners’ total committed capital to $165 million. The money will be used to invest in the best and brightest companies in next-generation mobility - described
AUBURN HILLS - Oakland County’s Tech248 on July 26 will be hosting a program that brings some “nontraditional” talent options for IT companies in Michigan - some are “out of the box” thinking and others are very “bleeding edge” thinking. Speakers include Jennifer Llewellyn, manager, Workforce Development, and Greg Doyle, One Stop Shop Business Center
