Zell Lurie Institute Executive Director Tom Kinnear recently spoke with Xconomy’s Sarah Schmid about the recent Michigan Business Challenge. In addition to discussing some of the great business ideas emerging from student teams that participated in this year’s event, Tom reflected on the the evolution of the entrepreneurial and startup community in Michigan and pointed to how far it has come in the past 30 years since the competition first began.
To read all about what Tom had to say, check out the Xconomy article here.
Check out this report on WVF’s investment in Sonitus Medical from Sarah Scmid of Xconomy:
Student-Led Wolverine Venture Fund Invests in Sonitus Medical
Sarah Schmid
6/4/12
The Wolverine Venture Fund, a $5.5 million fund led by students at the University of Michigan, announced last week that it joined Arboretum Ventures in a $25 million Series A investment in Sonitus Medical, a California-based medical device company. This is the second time the Wolverine Venture Fund has invested in Sonitus Medical. This time around, the Wolverine Fund invested $100,000 in Sonitus Medical; in March 2011, it invested $250,000. The round was led by Abingworth.
“It’s exciting—we expect to make money and we feel pretty good about their product, which will make peoples’ lives better,” says Erik Gordon, associate director of U-M’s Samuel Zell & Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies and managing director of the Wolverine Venture Fund. “For us, it’s a grand slam home run.”
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“The way I would sum it up as an outsider, the big feeling is that Detroit is back!” So says Boston-based Bob Buderi, founder, CEO and editor-in-chief of Xconomy, a news and event network covering business technology and innovation. With offices in Boston, San Francisco, New York, San Diego, and Seattle, Xconomy laid roots in Michigan with a Detroit office in 2010, attracted by efforts in the state to strengthen and diversify the economic base by growing technology industries. Buderi saw the work being done in Michigan as “incredibly important to the country.” And, he says, Xconomy has received a warm welcome here. “Nowhere else in the country have we been so welcomed. There is a spirit of openness and collaboration that we don’t see everywhere.”
Buderi shares some insights he’s gained through Xconomy’s experience in Detroit:
In the fall of 2010, not long after we opened in Detroit, I wrote an essay for the Kauffman Foundation about Michigan and why we went there. In it I said, “If Michigan were a stock, I’d buy a ton of options.” What I’d say now is, first, that my options would be incredibly more valuable than they were in the fall of 2010 when I ‘bought’ them. And second, I would keep buying.
I feel a much greater confidence from within Michigan about what is going on there. In Detroit, there is action and buzz around mobile, design, security, gaming, and a lot more. Finally, the Detroit startup and innovation scene is being noticed. Detroit is cool again. Everybody loves a comeback story, and the Michigan economy is one. The stories we write about Michigan are becoming increasingly popular in our other regions. That means people are taking notice, and are interested in what is happening.
Xconomy has shown strong support for the Michigan Growth Capital Symposium (MGCS), taking a sponsorship role. “Xconomy has enjoyed supporting, attending, and promoting the MGCS and its mission of helping to build the innovation economy in Michigan,” said Buderi. “As a new company coming into Michigan, the MGCS has provided a great opportunity for Xconomy to build its network. The level of content and ideas are very high, as the University of Michigan, the Michigan Venture Capital Association and other partners provide a great way for entrepreneurs to network and discuss how to grow their businesses.”
