Update: Axonia closes on $2M in seed funding. Gap funds play a role (Ann Arbor SPARK, Western Michigan University RF, and others)

Axonia Medical, an early stage company pioneering a revolutionary approach to repair and restore damaged peripheral and central nervous systems, announced today that the company has closed on $2.0 million in seed financing. The financing was led by Southwest Michigan First Life Science Venture Fund and included participation from Ann Arbor SPARK and Western Michigan […]

The SUNY Fredonia Technology Incubator’s Chautauqua Seed Fund grants $20,000 to Henlie Inc.

The Chautauqua Seed Fund is a collaboration among Chautauqua County Executive Gregory J. Edwards, the Chautauqua Region Industrial Development Corporation, the SUNY Fredonia Technology Incubator and the city of Dunkirk. Created in 2009 with an economic development grant from the County of Chautauqua Industrial Development Agency, the fund provides early-stage capital investments from the Chautauqua […]

UTexas Entrepreneurial Faculty Member Urges State to Support Start-up Funding

University of Texas professor James McGinity has defied the odds as an academic entrepreneur. In 1996, he and a colleague, Bill Williams, went in hock for $1 million to start a company, PharmaForm LLC, in a small building off Yager Lane. By the time they sold the company in 2007, it had 85 employees and […]

Utah Kickstart raising a second fund

Kickstart Seed Fund, a seed investor based in Salt Lake City, is seeking to raise $20 million for a second fund that will back technology and life science companies in Utah and nearby Rocky Mountain states

Iowa initiative to launch a seed fund

Op Ed by Jack Harris For years as an executive at Rockwell Collins, I worked with state universities and entrepreneurs who were producing research and products that we needed to enhance our product line or create efficiencies. It could be a tedious process, but it was often more cost-effective than attempting to do the same […]

MI pre-seed fund invests in 9 new start-ups

From official press release: ANN ARBOR, Mich., April 23, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Nine Michigan companies recently received investments from the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund, totaling more than $2 million. To date, the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund, a collaborative effort of Michigan’s SmartZones, has awarded 72 Michigan companies with seed funding totaling more than […]