Category: Member Feature

A career as an advocate for Michigan’s innovation and entrepreneurial community has earned Michael A. Finney the 2014 MVCA Lifetime Achievement Award (click here to see the video tribute Mike’s colleagues and friends made in his honor). [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3ASwb402A0?feature=player_detailpage] Finney is President and CEO of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), where his responsibilities also […]

Graduating MVCA Venture Fellow Sam Hogg has become immersed in the world of early-stage agribusiness, with ag-tech venture investor Open Prairie Ventures.  Sam recapped his two years in the MVCA Fellowship Program for us, and how he became an expert on spider venom’s most useful properties: Tell us about your Fellow position–where are you, what […]

Welcome back to Michigan, Kathryn Gardner, MVCA’s newest Fellow!  Kathryn starts her Fellowship at Arboreum Ventures, and we asked her to introduce herself to our MVCA community: How did you find out about the Fellows program?  What advantage do you think the Fellows program gives younger professionals and venture firms when trying to make a […]

Spartan Innovations, part of the Spartan Innovation Center at Michigan State, is nearing its second anniversary of providing the educational and financial support necessary to turn MSU research technologies into successful Michigan businesses.  So we thought we’d check in with Director of Student & Community Engagement Paul Jaques and ask: What are you excited about, and […]

When Linda Chamberlain became a MVCA Venture Fellow at Grand Rapid’s Michigan Accelerator Fund-1 in 2012, she assumed her previous experiences leading corporate innovation business units, a high tech start-up, a life sciences incubator and a university center for entrepreneurship made her experienced enough to remain objective, even skeptical, of investment opportunities.  As she nears […]

Former entrepreneur Adrian Fortino is nearing the end of his MVCA Venture Fellowship, but after leading the venture capital funds at Invest Detroit, First Step Fund (FSF) and Detroit Innovate (DI), he says there’s one challenge he’s found common to both VCs and entrepreneurs: fundraising.  “I spent several years as a venture backed entrepreneur prior […]

We tracked down Daniel, our newest Venture Fellow, as he starts his MVCA Venture Fellowship at Fontinalis Partners in Detroit, to learn more about why he’s excited to be a Fellow, his thoughts about our venture community and the one deal his wishes he’d found first. MVCA: What advantage do you think the Fellows program […]

With eye on future, IncWell hires MVCA Venture Fellow to expand medical market sector Throwing the traditional model of VC on its head, IncWell is quickly establishing itself for being the go-to funding source for companies that want to move fast. IncWell’s process begins with an online application that’s followed – within seven days – […]

  Fund Celebrates 10 years: Invests $14 million in 29 companies   Grand Angels is one of the investment engines making Michigan’s economy more competitive and robust. Its focus is on investments that will have a positive effect on the state through business growth, job creation, and the attraction and retention of talent. Since its […]

A hallmark of the Michigan Venture Capital Association has long been our ability to offer members access to top-tier talent through Venture Upstart, a suite of programs designed to grow and sustain a vibrant venture capital community in Michigan.