Michigan angels raising $25M venture capital fund 

A local angel investor organization has set out to raise a $25-million venture capital fund. Grand Rapids-based Grand Angels said yesterday it filed a form Regulation D with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to create Grand Angels Venture Fund III. GA Fund III will invest in 12-15 “emerging companies” in four market segments: advanced […]

Accelerator program propels Alabama Birmingham startups to successful launches 

Tan and other Fledging team members are proud that their startup company is profitable. (Alicia Rohan/UAB) Fledging – one of seven student-led ventures of the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Commercialization Accelerator – has moved into Innovation Depot, allowing students to work in the hub of Birmingham’s startup network. “We’re extremely proud to have Fledging join Innovation Depot,” said Devon […]

Celgene Donates $100K to Rutgers’ TechAdvance® Gap Funding Program

Rutgers University’s TechAdvance Fund, a proof-of-concept fund created through the university’s Office of Research and Economic Development (ORED) to advance early stage Rutgers technologies toward commercialization, received $100,000 from Celgene Corporation, marking the first corporate donation since the program’s inception in June 2017. “The TechAdvance program serves as a catalyst to move Rutgers inventions beyond […]

U Michigan fund invests $100,000 in plant-based jerky

The Zell Lurie Founders Fund at the University of Michigan announced Wednesday morning that it has made a seed investment of $100,000 in Chicago-based Mindwell Snacks LLC, which makes and markets jerky made from plants. The fund is led by students in the Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies. This investment was in a company […]

Healthcare startups to participate in business accelerator program

South Louisiana welcomes ten companies from across the United States to participate in a healthcare-focused business acceleration program, Accelerate South. For the next four months, a host of healthcare partners, investors and subject matter experts will assist the selected companies to identify challenges and opportunities while strategically helping to move their business forward. Acadian Companies, […]

Rhode Island Foundation awards $340K in grants to medical research projects

Sixteen medical research projects will benefit from nearly $340,000 in seed funding from the Rhode Island Foundation. The grants are intended to further study of Lyme disease, diabetes, stroke, cardiovascular disease and cancer, among other disorders and conditions. Foundation funding for the projects is expected to help researchers win larger funding from national sources. Some […]

New Fund for New York Startups Won’t Take VC Money

New York has a new venture-capital fund run by people who disavow the term “venture capitalist.” The Fund, as it is called, collected $3.2 million from some 75 startup founders and operators with the aim of investing in the next generation of New York entrepreneurs. No professional venture capitalists were allowed into the Fund as […]

The Zell Lurie Founders Fund Makes $100,000 Seed Investment in MINDWELL 

The Zell Founders Fund, a student-led venture fund in the Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at the University of Michigan, announced today that it has made a $100,000 investment in MINDWELL, a plant-based jerky company. The funds will be used to expand the business through investments in working capital and marketing. Founded in early 2017 by Allyson Stewart, MBA ’17, and Bridget Henley, […]

University of Michigan’s $10M funding program aims to encourage big, darling ideas

The University of Michigan College of Engineering is kicking off a $10 million funding program that’s designed to encourage the pursuit of big, daring ideas. The Ann Arbor school says Thursday the projects include artificial photosynthesis in making a sustainable vehicle fuel; a new approach to making “nanobiotics” to fight drug-resistant bacteria; new ways to take carbon […]