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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Michigan MTRAC Innovation Hub awards $700,000 for advanced transportation projects

Three autonomous driving technologies are among 10 projects to receive approximately $700,000 in investments from the University of Michigan MTRAC Innovation Hub program. The Michigan Translational Research and Commercialization statewide Innovation Hub for Advanced Transportation is backing the products that have potential to reach the transportation market, the program announced Monday. The MTRAC program is […]

University of Michigan’s Zell Lurie Commercialization Fund Invests in Neurable

The Zell Lurie Commercialization Fund (ZLCF) – one of five student-led funds at the Samuel Zell & Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies – announced that it has participated in the Series A round of breakthrough brain-computer interface (BCI) technology startup and University of Michigan spinout, Neurable. The ZLCF’s investment will support Neurable’s continued growth in the virtual reality and augmented […]

University of Michigan’s Desai Accelerator Invests in Six Startups to Kick Off 2018 Summer Cohort

This week, the Desai Accelerator, a joint venture between the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business and the College of Engineering, welcomed six teams into its Summer 2018 cohort and debuted an expanded intern program to support those startups in their development.  The Desai Accelerator, managed by the Ross School’s Samuel Zell & Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studiesand […]

University of Michigan Vesper Mics Up With $23M From Amazon, American Family, Baidu, Bose

Vesper Technologies, a high-tech microphone startup trying to ride the wave of voice-controlled devices, has summoned a $23 million investment from a group of well-known tech companies, venture capitalists, and an insurance firm. The Series B funding round was led by American Family Ventures, the venture arm of Madison, WI-based American Family Insurance. Other investors in […]

Midwest Venture Investors To Raise As Much As $100M To Fund Health Startups

Venture Investors plans to raise up to $100 million for a new, healthcare-focused venture capital fund, the Madison, WI-based firm said in a documentrecently filed with federal securities regulators. VI is the oldest and largest venture capital fund in Wisconsin. It created a new business entity, “Venture Investors Health Fund 6 LimitedPartnership,” under whose name the document was filed. The filing lists the same business address and some of the same executiveofficers as previous funds VI has raised for investing in startups. Scott Button, a managing director at VI, declined to say what the organization’stimeline is for raising the new healthcare fund, citing regulatory restrictions. The Wisconsin-based healthcare businesses that VI has backed include CellectarBiosciences, FluGen, and TAI Diagnostics. Two Madison-based startups in VI’s portfolio were acquired by large, publiclytraded companies in the last two years: NeuWave Medical, which was sold toEthicon, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson; and Virent, which was acquired byAndeavor. Source: Xconomy: Venture Investors To Raise As Much As $100M To Fund Health Startups