ANN ARBOR - Four Michigan companies recently received investments from the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund totaling $1 million. To date, the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund, a collaborative effort of Michigan?s SmartZones to support start-ups? product commercialization, has awarded 83 Michigan companies with seed funding totaling more than $19 million. ?It?s exciting to see how Michigan
LANSING - The Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation is strictly a regulator, but the launch of the Department of Insurance and Financial Services is an opportunity to take the lead on some issues, Kevin Clinton, director of both, told Gongwer News Service. But the change will not mean much of an expansion in staff
ANN ARBOR - Great Lakes Entrepreneur's Quest will be announcing ten winners in the first Vision to Action Challenge at ACE'13 on January 31 in Livonia as part of the GLEQ Business Plan Competition awards presentation. The Vision to Action Challenge was introduced as a new track in the Fall 2012 GLEQ Business Plan Competition.
LANSING - The federal government has awarded Michigan a $30.7 million grant to help set up the health insurance exchange through a state-federal partnership. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the grant Thursday as part of $1.5 billion awarded to 11 states to assist with setting up the exchanges that are part
LANSING - A major effort to win Republican control of Michigan's Legislature, along with similar efforts in other states, helped ensure the U.S. House stayed in Republican control in the 2012 election because of redistricting changes enacted in the states, so said a report that was released earlier this month by the national Republican State
LANSING - Voting will be more convenient, but more secure under changes proposed Wednesday in Governor Rick Snyder's State of the State Address, Secretary of State Ruth Johnson said afterward. A particular focus for Johnson was the expansion of no-reason absentee voting. Under the plan, voters could go in person to their local clerk's office
LANSING - Though he would not say how much of the funds would be in the budget, Transportation Director Kirk Steudle said the $1.2 billion in new transportation funds Governor Rick Snyder requested in his State of the State Address was the minimum needed. The additional funds work out to $120 per vehicle on the
TROY - Long-time Plex Systems CEO Mark Symonds has left the cloud-based ERP solutions company and has been replaced by Jason Blessing, a former Oracle senior vice president. The change at the top comes as Plex continues to position itself for an Initial Public Offering, which Symonds said last year could come during 2013. In
LANSING - Sharpening his focus on issues he says will help build Michigan's economy, Governor Rick Snyder is calling for the Legislature to develop a plan to raise at least $1.2 billion in addition transportation funding and to put limits on Michigan?s no-fault auto insurance law. Snyder he will create a new department to put
LANSING - Michigan's economy should continue to grow, the House Fiscal Agency projected Thursday, as the U.S. economy continues to slowly pull itself forward, auto sales continue to rise, inflation stays relatively low, job growth continues, and state revenues, therefore, continue to increase. The forecast came one day before the Revenue Estimating Conference, and a