Kalamazoo Forward Ventures (KzFV) is a $50 million, Black-founded investment firm based in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Built to bridge gaps and spark opportunity, KzFV backs bold entrepreneurs, game-changing ideas, and community-rooted developments—with capital, connection, and care. We’re not your average fund. KzFV brings together three distinct investment arms under one roof. 1) Venture Capital: Focused on […]
Lakeshore Advantage is the nonprofit economic development organization serving Ottawa County in West Michigan. It provides a full range of economic development services for companies doing business in Ottawa County. The Holland SmartZone serves to provide support to start-ups in Ottawa County by providing navigation to resources such as grants and loan programs as well […]
Pointe Angels is an independent investor club in the Grosse Pointe communities, east of Detroit, Michigan. Founded in 2019, Pointe Angels provides members with opportunities for meaningful financial returns on capital investments in scalable early-stage ventures. Pointe Angels favors Michigan start-ups, but invests globally.
Hope College Entrepreneurial Program provides hands-on coursework, workshops and summer fellowships for students to create startups. Students from all majors are invited to explore entrepreneurship and join teams. From greeting cards and granola bars to video resume apps and underwater drones, the program is a hub for innovation where students are making a positive impact […]
Starting Gate is a student business accelerator that gives WMU students rich and valuable resources to develop their startup companies. Since its inception in 2013, the program has helped over 55 student companies prepare and launch their startup. The free program is open to all WMU students and runs across both fall and winter semesters, […]
The University of Michigan’s Economic Growth Institute leverages the University of Michigan’s expertise, research, technologies, and other resources to work with small- and medium-sized enterprises to foster innovation and boost local, state, and national economies.
At Eastern Michigan University (EMU), much of the research has the end goal of developing or improving a product with commercial potential. The Technology Transfer Office at EMU is responsible for business engagement and dissemination of University-developed technology into the marketplace, much of which has broad application in industry. Numerous opportunities for collaboration on research […]
Lake Superior State University (LSSU) Product Development Center offers prototyping and engineering services, provided by students and managed by administrative professional staff with extensive industrial, manufacturing and entrepreneurial experience. LSSU engineering students get real world project experience, and clients benefit from economical engineering services. The related LSSU Business Development Center can provide business plan support, […]
The CMU Isabella Bank Institute for Entrepreneurship is a campus-wide early stage entrepreneurship and innovation center that provides education, experiential learning, and support for student entrepreneurs to create and incubate business ideas and launch startup ventures. Support programs include workshops and events covering ideation/concept crafting, team building, customer discovery, business model generation, lean startup concepts, […]