Ann Arbor USA Blog » Detroit Business

Thomson Reuters Named Coolest Place to Work in Tough Times

admin — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:26:53 +0000

Crain’s Detroit Business recently named Thomson Reuters as one of the Coolest Place to Work in Tough Times. The publication runs Cool Places to Work lists bi-annually; and this year added the ‘tough times’ component given the downturn in the economy over the past year, particularly in Michigan. Continue reading…

SPARK featured in Crain’s article on future of entrepreneurship and innovation to drive Michigan’s future

admin — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:43:28 +0000

November 12, 2009 - Crain’s Detroit Business article on the future of Michigan is entrepreneurship and innovation. “One example is the West Michigan Science & Technology Initiative in Grand Rapids. There is also Ann Arbor Spark, Next Energy and quite a few others, and they’re all doing great work but are limited in the scale they can achieve. We need to expand their capacity — almost putting them on steroids — so they can reach out and help even more companies.” Opinion: Entrepreneurship and innovation will drive our future.

Entrepreneur awards and VC program features SPARK’s Amy Cell

admin — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:57:51 +0000

From Crain’s Detroit Business Nov. 11, 2009; “The seven winners joined about 140 attendees this morning at a networking breakfast followed by peer-to-peer strategy sessions.

Chris Rizik, president and CEO of the Renaissance Venture Capital Fund, presented a session on pitching to venture capitalists and angel investors with Amy Cell, vice president of Ann Arbor Spark.

It’s important to understand the role of venture capital, Rizik and Cell said, and to make a pitch that’s rooted in current trends. Right now, Cell noted, alternative energy is a hot business prospect, compared to a decade ago, when social media or other Web applications might have been the industry favored by venture capitalists.” http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20091111/SMALLTALK/911119984/-1.

Michigan Pre-Seed Capital fund recipient Limo-Reid pays back $750,000, plus interest, to 3 investors

admin — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:45:17 +0000

As reported by Tom Henderson, Crain’s Detroit Business September 30, 2009

Ann Arbor Spark, as well as two other community-development organizations, have been repaid with interest for early support of a Deerfield-based company that hopes to revolutionize transmission systems for trucks and military vehicles.Limo-Reid Inc. has paid back $250,000, plus interest, that Spark loaned to the company as part of the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund in 2007. Also getting paid back their investments of $250,000 each were Detroit-based NextEnergy and Troy-based Automation Alley.

At the time of the loan, the company was known as Hybra-Drive Systems L.L.C.

Last fall, the Michigan Economic Development Corp. invested $3.4 million in the company, which got matching investment from two out-of-state venture capital firms, Ridgewood Capital and Khosla Ventures.

The VC investment was contingent on the company switching from a limited-liability company to a Delaware C Corp. The company also chose to change its name to avoid confusion with a company with a similar name.

Limo-Reid makes hydraulic-based power trains that increase fuel efficiency.

“What is cool is this money goes back into the fund and can be deployed, again,” said Elizabeth Parkinson, Spark’s managing director of marketing and public relations.