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September 11 MEMBER NEWS: Fontinalis Partners portfolio updates

Detroit-based Fontinalis Partners invested in Telogis, which provides fleet management software for enterprises.  Telogis is working closely with many companies in Detroit, such as Ford and GM (for example, they’re powering Ford Crew Chief to help small Ford fleet owners manage their assets).  More information on the investment can be found at http://www.marketwatch.com/story/telogis-announces-strategic-investment-from-fontinalis-partners-2014-09-10.  The investment […]


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September 09 MEMBER NEWS: Piton Capital and Beringea invest $10 million into online luxury watch retailer Watchfinder

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. –Piton Capital, the specialist marketplace investor, and Beringea, a private equity firm providing growth capital to market-leading businesses, have invested $10 million into Watchfinder, the UK’s leading pre-owned watch resale marketplace. The investment, which was funded by Piton and Beringea’s London office, Beringea LLP, will be used to broaden the company’s inventory […]


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September 05 MEMBER NEWS: Daimler Acquires RideScout

moovel GmbH, a subsidiary of German car giant Daimler, has acquired Huron River Ventures portfolio company RideScout, which offers a mobile app for transportation choices in cities. The move is part of Daimler’s continued push beyond car manufacturing and into developing technology for urban mobility, as a next generation of city-dwellers is increasingly giving up on car […]


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September 04 MVCA Venture Fellow Linda Chamberlain sees possibility in every deal

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 […]


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September 02 MEMBER NEWS: Plymouth Ventures III makes 2nd Investment

Plymouth Ventures today announced that it has made its second investment out of Plymouth Venture Partners III, which had its final closing at the end of June.  The investment was made into the Chicago-based 3D virtual simulation technology company InContext Solutions as part of a $12+ million Series D round.  www.incontextsolutions.com  The round was led […]


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August 28 MEMBER NEWS: Beringea leads InContext Solutions’ $12 Million Series D Round

BERINGEA LEADS INCONTEXT SOLUTIONS’ $12 MILLION SERIES D ROUND Investment to Support Company’s Rapid Growth, Expansion and R&D FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich.—Beringea, LLC, a private equity firm providing growth capital to market-leading businesses, today announced its Fund has made a $5 million investment in InContext Solutions, Inc., a Web-based company providing three dimensional (“3D”) virtual store […]


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August 28 MEMBER NEWS: Beringea leads InContext Solutions' $12 Million Series D Round

BERINGEA LEADS INCONTEXT SOLUTIONS’ $12 MILLION SERIES D ROUND Investment to Support Company’s Rapid Growth, Expansion and R&D FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich.—Beringea, LLC, a private equity firm providing growth capital to market-leading businesses, today announced its Fund has made a $5 million investment in InContext Solutions, Inc., a Web-based company providing three dimensional (“3D”) virtual store […]


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August 28 Venture Fellowship prepares Adrian Fortino for career on other side of table

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 […]


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August 20 PORTFOLIO COMPANY NEWS: University of Michigan Spin-Out Sakti3 Delivers Double the Energy Density of Current Lithium Ion Battery Technology, Cells Produced in Ann Arbor Lab

ANN ARBOR, Mich., August 20, 2014 – Sakti3, Inc. (www.sakti3.com) announced that it has produced a battery cell on fully scalable equipment with over 1100 Watt hours per liter (Wh/l) in volumetric energy density.  This translates to more than double the usage time in a wearable device like a smartwatch, from 3.5 h to more than 9 h. It also translates to […]


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