Company Registration Deadline is August 16th for the 10th Annual Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition!
by Martin Dober, Senior Vice President, Invest Detroit This year, the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition (AMIC) is celebrating 10 years of innovation in Michigan! The competition is on November 13 at Detroit’s recently renovated State Savings Bank. To qualify, we are looking for companies that have: A strong proof of concept Raised less than $3… read more
Meet MVCA Venture Fellow Ashwin Puri, ID Ventures
New to Michigan’s entrepreneurial and investment community, MVCA Venture Fellow Ashwin Puri is excited to learn as much as he can in his new role as an analyst for ID Ventures. Puri graduated from Georgetown University with a bachelor of arts in government where he focused on public policy in economic development and international relations. The Venture… read more
MVCA 12 at 12: Entrepreneurs & Investors Share How Michigan Can Improve its Seed Investment Process
By Patti Glaza, Managing Director & SVP of Invest Detroit Ventures An ongoing discussion in Michigan’s entrepreneurial and investment community is the increasing need for capital to fund entrepreneurs. As noted in the 2017 MVCA Research Report, an estimated $504 million of additional venture capital will be required to adequately fund the growth of Michigan’s 141 startup… read more
Entrepreneur Spotlight: Autobooks CEO & Co-Founder, Steve Robert Discusses Company Growth
In February, Detroit-based fintech startup Autobooks announced it raised $10 million in a Series A1 funding round! Investors included Draper Triangle, Baird Capital, Detroit Venture Partners, Invest Detroit and Invest Michigan. Autobooks provides online invoicing, payment and accounting software for the business customers of banks and credit unions. We spoke with Autobooks CEO and Founder, Steve… read more
Hacker Fellows Kicks Off Third Year – Let the Matchmaking Begin!
Hacker Fellows is kicking off its third year of supporting the Michigan tech ecosystem by providing vetted junior development talent to the state’s most promising startups! Hacker Fellows, managed by Invest Detroit Ventures, is a tech talent retention program incentivizing recent computer science graduates from top-tier universities to work for Michigan tech companies. Our 15… read more
2016 MVCA Annual Awards Dinner Recap
MVCA closed its year with their signature event, the 2016 MVCA Annual Awards Dinner, celebrating the successes of the entrepreneurial and investment community in Michigan. Chief amongst those successes: more Michigan startups have received more venture backing than ever before. In 2015, there were 74 companies that received $282 million from Michigan venture capital firms,… read more
Local Orbit Moves Into LLamasoft’s New Office
Established and emerging supply chain technologies in Ann Arbor collaborate to further field ANN ARBOR, Mich. (September 9, 2016) – LLamasoft, a global leader in supply chain optimization and software solutions is happy to welcome Local Orbit, the supply chain platform for the new food economy, into its new office space in the McKinley Towne… read more
Hacker Fellows Offers Talent to Startups by Recruiting and Training Top Developers
By Seun Oyewole, Analyst, Invest Detroit The Michigan entrepreneurial and investment climate has certainly found its beat over the last few years with $328.4M invested into 54 deals in 2015. Despite such investment growth, Michigan tech companies face a huge hurdle: finding strong tech talent to grow their companies. Hacker Fellows, an Invest Detroit program, offers… read more
ICYMI: 2015 MVCA Annual Awards Dinner
With record attendance, the 2015 MVCA Annual Awards Dinner focused on the tremendous growth of the entrepreneurial and investment community in Michigan and the broader Great Lakes Region. Our Executive Director Maureen Miller Brosnan welcomed our members and guests to an evening of celebration and reflection, and took a moment to recognize some special guests in… read more
Michigan-based LLamasoft Raises $50 Million in Venture Funding
Supply chain technology company continues to push innovation in the marketplace ANN ARBOR, Mich. (September29, 2015). LLamasoft, a supply chain software innovator, announced that it has closed a $50 million Series B financing round with affiliates of Goldman, Sachs & Co. The minority investment will be used to fund numerous technology development and growth initiatives. … read more