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Michigan Venture Capital Association Announces Nominees for 2024 Annual Awards Celebration

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August 14, 2024 (Bloomfield Hills, MI) — Michigan Venture Capital Association (MVCA), the trade association for the venture capital and angel community in Michigan, today announced the nominees for the 2024 MVCA Annual Awards Celebration. The event will be held Thursday evening, October 10th at Elevate | One Campus Martius to celebrate the achievements of the Michigan entrepreneurial and investment community. 

 “We are excited to celebrate our 17th annual awards with such a great list of nominees that embody the growth we see in Michigan,” said Ara Topouzian, Executive Director of MVCA. 

 The awards ceremony recognizes founders that have fostered a vibrant entrepreneurial community, companies that are producing groundbreaking solutions in their sectors, organizations working to engage with their communities and enrich local economies, significant financing milestones that enable companies to grow and excel in Michigan, and individuals whose achievements have had pivotal influence on Michigan’s entrepreneurial and investment ecosystem. 

 MVCA members will be voting to select the awardee for each of five categories and awardees will be announced live at the event on October 10, 2024. Inductees for the Hall of Fame will also be honored at this time. The 2024 MVCA Annual Award nominees are: 

 Entrepreneur of the Year Award 

Recognizes founders of Michigan-based, venture-backed companies that have fostered a vibrant entrepreneurial community. The following nominees are innovators who are setting the stage for the next generation of startups and entrepreneurs in Michigan. 

 Up-and-Coming Company of the Year 

 Recognizes Michigan companies across all stages of growth that are producing groundbreaking solutions in their sectors. The following nominees are making a national impact by transforming legacy industries. 

  •  Livegistics: Based in Detroit, Livegistics is a fully digital material management platform for the construction and waste industry, facilitating real-time and seamless digital transactions that empower businesses to optimize their operations. They prioritize sustainability and community, advocating for the environment and community engagement and education. Livegistics’ tech has saved more than 400,000 pounds of paper across more than 1,200 customers. They are part of the 2023/2024 Renaissance Venture Capital Startup Hotlist, and received the top prize at Pharrell Williams’ Black Ambition competition. 
  • Optilogic: Ann Arbor-based Optilogic offers a cloud-native supply chain design application built on a sophisticated and scalable architecture that enables users to build more complex models and solve them faster than competitor solutions. In just six years since its founding, Optilogic has grown to 79 employees across nine countries. This impressive management team has positioned the company at the front of a large, high-growth market by providing a unique combination of cloud-native technology and try-before-you-buy methodology. In 2024, the company announced a strategic supply agreement with Detroit-based General Motors’ Customer Care and Aftersales (CCA) organization, to use Optilogic’s proprietary supply chain solution, Cosmic Frog. The software will enable the CCA organization to solve complex supply chain design problems at the SKU level to deliver increased accuracy and logistical efficiency. 
  • Rivet Work: Detroit-based Rivet Work is growing 2-3x year over year and recently raised a $6M round. This funding enables RIVET to provide its platform to multi-trade businesses like mechanical, and bring even more value to existing electrical partners. Their team has grown to 30+ people, all located in downtown Detroit.  
  • Zeck: Zeck is redefining the board book with a clever, mobile first alternative. In addition to board meetings, companies and nonprofits are using Zeck for investor updates, all hands meetings, and quarterly business reviews. Zeck raised a new oversubscribed round this year and is led by Co-Founders Edward Norton, Robert Wolfe, and Jeffrey Wolfe. 

 Community Impact Award 

 Recognizes organizations, individuals, or events that create meaningful and effective connections necessary to build Michigan’s entrepreneurial economy. The following nominees promote collaboration and provide critical resources to grow Michigan’s entrepreneurial and investment community. 

  • Black Tech Saturdays: Black Tech Saturdays was founded in Detroit just over a year ago by Alexa and Johnnie Turnage and has skyrocketed in growth and attendance. It’s now the premier network for Black professionals and entrepreneurs in tech. It’s a community where members learn, find jobs, find new teammates and co-founders, and find potential investors. BTS aims to foster collaboration and innovation within the tech startup community and has grown organically in a short period of time. BTS’s vision is empowering Black tech communities to close the racial wealth gap through tech-focused initiatives, while also driving economic growth and fostering diversity within the tech industry. Johnnie and Alexa are not only receiving local accolades, but national attention as well. 
  • Michigan Founders Fund: The Michigan Founders Fund (MFF) is a unique, founder-first network dedicated to bringing together and advocating for high growth entrepreneurs and inclusion across Michigan. Founded in 2021 by Trista Van Tine, Dug Song, Adrian Fortino and Bhushan Kulkarni, MFF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization representing the collective goals of Michigan’s high-growth founders. By equipping startup leaders with founder-first programming, company-building support, equity and inclusion-focused resources, and a simple mechanism for philanthropic giving, they empower one another to accelerate business growth as well as contribute back to the community.
  • Michigan Innovation Fund Coalition: ID Ventures, University of Michigan Innovation Partnerships, Ann Arbor Spark, Michigan State University Research Foundation, Western Michigan University Biotechnology Research Commercialization Center, and the Michigan Venture Capital Association worked together to advocate over a two-year period for the establishment of the Michigan Innovation Fund to significantly expand the growth of evergreen venture capital, traditional venture capital and entrepreneurial services in the state. This statewide initiative was included in the FY2025 state budget with $60M with potential additional funding to be made available in the following years. 
  • Venture 313: Launched in 2022 by the Gilbert Family Foundation with founding partners, Invest Detroit, TechTown Detroit, and the Detroit Development Fund, Venture 313 is a three-year, $10M investment to better support entrepreneurs “from first idea to first round.” Venture 313 is a commitment to build economic opportunity in Detroit neighborhoods, and create a mindset shift in the Detroit community that will get more Detroiters in the game and building successful businesses that lead to long-term generational wealth. 

 Capital Event of the Year | Venture Capital Fund 

 Recognizes significant financing milestones that enable companies to grow and excel in Michigan. The following nominees are Michigan venture capital firms that are fueling growth and innovation in the state with a recently closed fund. 

 Capital Event of the Year | Portfolio Company 

 Recognizes significant financing milestones that enable companies to grow and excel in Michigan. The following nominees are Michigan-based portfolio companies that are fueling growth and innovation in the state. 

 Hall of Fame Award 

Recognizes individuals whose achievements have had pivotal influence on Michigan’s entrepreneurial and investment ecosystem. The following inductees have paved the way for the next generation of investors in the community through their leadership and expertise.  

  • Tim Petersen: Tim has been an instrumental person in the success of venture in Michigan. Starting with the founding of the Wolverine Venture fund as the Managing Director, to co-founding Arboretum Ventures in 2002. His leadership in both entities led to their successes and longevity. He has led investments into over 20 portfolio companies and has had many large exits, including IPO’s (Inogen and SI Bone) and acquisitions (My Health Direct, Accuri, HealthMedia, Intellicyte, and others). Tim served as Chair of the MVCA and under his leadership, helped secure MEDC funding for the organization including the initial launch of the Venture Fellows program. Over several investment funds, Tim has also been able to attract out-of-state VC firms to invest in promising Michigan companies, helping to put our state “on the VC map.” He is in the process of transitioning from an active investor at Arboretum to a role supporting his prior investments as a board director. 
  • Chris Rizik: Chris, Managing Partner for Renaissance Venture Capital has been a catalyst for venture capital in Michigan for several years. Chris brings strong leadership, character and a passion for Michigan Venture Capital. The work of Renaissance Venture Capital has been a steadfast contributor to the burgeoning Detroit start-up ecosystem. With his success as a fund of funds manager, he and the RVC team have continued to contribute to the ecosystem beyond their work as a fund of funds (e.g., UnDemo Day).

CLICK HERE to purchase tickets. $200 for MVCA members and $275 for non-members.