Author: Ara Topouzian

Michigan Venture Capital Association (MVCA) hosted the 2017 MVCA Annual Awards Dinner on November 15, 2017 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit to celebrate the organization’s 15-year anniversary.  With a record-breaking attendance of nearly 300 individuals from across the country, the event was a full-filled awards ceremony that focused on highlighting the strengths of Michigan’s […]

In anticipation of the upcoming North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), The State of Michigan’s PlanetM program and NAIAS are proud to announce the new platform of matchmaking to take place at the show for startup companies looking to meet and connect with corporate OEM, tier ones, and venture capital firms. The deadline to submit […]

What began as a volunteering opportunity at MVCA’s Follow-On Reception turned into a chance for Brandon Epstein to become a MVCA Venture Fellow. Now, Brandon is an associate at Detroit Venture Partners (DVP) where he focuses on deal sourcing, portfolio company support, and fund operation management! In this Q&A, Brandon shares why his perception of venture capital has evolved and his […]

In this exclusive guest series, Tom Stasi of Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP (Taft) explains why the “Golden Rule” to recruiting pension plans, foundations, endowments, and other tax-exempt investors to invest in your fund is to avoid “unrelated business taxable income” (UBTI). Taft is a 2017 Silver Service Provider member who represents both venture capital funds and […]

As the 2017 MVCA Annual Awards Dinner rolls around the corner, MVCA is looking back at one of our previous awards known as The “100” Award with a special spotlight on one of our first awardees – Neogen! The following awardees earned The “100” Award by achieving significant capital or funding milestones in Michigan’s entrepreneurial […]

Renaissance Venture Capital Fund announced during its annual meeting in October that Houston has launched its first fund of funds based on the best practices model developed by Renaissance CEO and Fund Manager, Chris Rizik. Renaissance has set the standard for success with its model that has outperformed national benchmarks for the rate of return […]

Hi, MVCA Members! It’s MVCA Program and Events Manager, Molly Theis, here to encourage you to get connected as 2017 comes to a close! The next couple months are filled with exciting events to top off the year, including pitch competitions and celebrations of Michigan’s entrepreneurial and investment community! Speaking of celebrations, have you registered […]

MVCA Venture Fellow, Blake Robbins, associate at Ludlow Ventures recently attended the event, Expanding the Stream, hosted by Streamlabs. In this guest post, he shares his insights from the conference and why he thinks live streaming is the future of media. I recently had the incredible opportunity to attend an eye-opening event highlighting the future […]

This week, Delphi Automotive announced the acquisition of nuTonomy for $450 million. MVCA member and past winner of The “100” Award, Fontinalis Partners, first invested in the nuTonomy’s seed round in November 2015 and significantly expanded its position in the company’s Series A round the following year. Chris Thomas, founder and partner of Fontinalis Partners, served […]

It’s been a busy year for MSU Foundation since the formal launch of Red Cedar Ventures in 2016! The fund deployed over $1M in seed and follow-on funding in 20 separate transactions to entities involved in commercializing technologies created at Michigan State. Michigan Venture Capital Association spoke with MSU Foundation Executive Director, Dave Washburn, to […]