University of Michigan’s Social Venture Fund Announces Investment in Querium

Student-led impact investing fund to provide bridge financing for edtech company

The Social Venture Fund, a student-led venture fund within the Samuel Zell & Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at the University of Michigan’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business, today announced that it has participated in the early-stage bridge round for Austin, Texas.-based Querium, an edtech company that uses artificial intelligence to provide students with step-by-step coaching for math, science and engineering. The Social Venture Fund contributed $50,000 towards a total $720,000 convertible note round and was one of approximately 10 investors.

The Social Venture Fund, the nation’s first student-led impact investing fund, invests in and supports innovative, for-profit companies that place social and environmental impact at the heart of their business model. The Fund is managed by a team of approximately 40 MBA and BBA students – many of whom are pursuing dual-degrees with education, environment, health, law and public policy – along with faculty advisor Uday Rajan, the Chair of the Finance Department at the Ross School of Business. The Fund focuses its investments in four key industry verticals: education, healthcare, food systems and environment and urban revitalization.

“As an institution whose mission it is to improve lives through learning, we understand the potential Querium has to change the world through education,” said Stewart Thornhill, executive director of the Zell Lurie Institute, which houses the Social Venture Fund. “The Social Venture Fund has done an excellent job of selecting a company with a bright future and the capacity to expand its place in the market.”

Querium, the Fund’s third direct investment in the education space, helps teens and adult learners master critical STEM skills at their own pace. Recently named by Fast Company as one of “The Most Innovative Companies of 2016: Education,” Querium’s unique Virtual Tutor evaluates student work step-by-step to provide instant feedback and assist in the development of cognitive skills. Students receive real-time grading and coaching that mimic a live tutoring experience through smartphones and tablets as well as PCs, opening up access for students who may not have home computers. Querium collects 20 pieces of data including types of errors made from every step a student enters, enabling teachers to understand exactly where and why students make mistakes so that they may better tailor their lesson plans to provide differentiated instruction. Ultimately, Querium drives significant social impact by improving high school test scores and helping community college students avoid exceptionally costly and burdensome remedial STEM courses.

A team of seven students, led by Wiles Kase, MBA/MS ’18, sourced the deal and conducted in-depth due diligence on the company. The Fund’s rigorous deal sourcing process began with consideration of applications for funding from more than 150 companies; companies selected for due diligence then participated in the fund’s months-long process, which included analysis of their products’ effectiveness, markets, financials and social impact. “Leading a team of talented, experienced peers was an invaluable learning opportunity; the due diligence team challenged my analytical assumptions and forced me to evolve as a leader, and I emerged stronger for it,” said Kase. “I also learned what it takes to fully understand every inch of a young company—what questions require answers, what questions can’t be answered and where an investor can and cannot work with ambiguity.”

The team determined Querium would be a strong investment for the Fund due to the company’s impressive technology, dynamic management team, and potential to improve test scores and minimize the burden of remedial STEM coursework. “Founder Kent Fuka and his team bring an impressive more than 40 years of experience in the education space, disruptive energy to challenge traditional STEM education, and a passion to work with the students on Michigan’s Social Venture Fund. Querium is an ideal investment for the Fund,” said Aysha Malik, MBA ’17, part of the due diligence team.

“Given Social Venture Fund’s mission, this investment is a strong validation of the work Querium is doing to help students hit their STEM education milestones and start college on the right foot,” said Kent Fuka, founder and CEO, Querium. “We’re proud to have been selected for investment and are looking forward to working with the Social Venture Fund team and helping more students find success as we grow our company.”

About the Social Venture Fund
The Social Venture Fund is a leader in university-based impact investing, with several active investments. The Fund’s previous investments include Conversa Health, Powerhouse Dynamics, LearnZillion, Mytonomy, Loveland Technologies, and Jack and Jake’s.  To learn more, visit www.umsocialventure.com.

About the Samuel Zell & Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies
The Institute and its Center for Venture Capital and Private Equity Finance bring together an impactful combination of deep-seated knowledge, enriching experiences and strategic opportunities from the front lines of entrepreneurship and alternative investment. Students’ learning experiences are further enhanced through internships, entrepreneurial clubs, business competitions and campus-wide events that foster valuable networking and engage the business community. The School’s four student-led investment funds, with over $7M under management, immerse students in the entrepreneurial business sourcing, assessment and investment process. Founding Zell Lurie advisory board members include Samuel Zell, chairman of Equity Group Investments, and Eugene Applebaum, founder of Arbor Drugs Inc. For more information, visit the Institute’s website at www.zli.bus.umich.edu.

About Querium Corp
Querium was founded in January 2013 to help teens and adult learners master critical STEM skills, enabling them to achieve their college and career goals. Designed for digital natives, our patented products  deliver personalized, bite-sized lessons with expert system, step-by-step tutoring assistance that motivate learners to succeed.  Users write math steps by hand on mobile devices for instant feedback 24/7. Querium licenses its cloud-hosted, artificial-intelligence (A.I.) software products to online learning solution providers. www.querium.com.

Three Newcomers Join This Year’s University Research Track at MGCS

The University Research Track, now in its third year at the Michigan Growth Capital Symposium, showcased promising research projects and spinout companies emerging from seven leading Midwestern research universities. This year’s cohort included three newcomers ─ Medical College of Wisconsin, Purdue Research Foundation and Wayne State University ─ along with four returning schools ─ Notre Dame, University of Minnesota, Michigan State University and the University of Michigan.

Technology-transfer and commercialization officials from each participating university outlined the research facilities, spending and sector focus at their respective institutions. They also highlighted innovative spinouts that have licensed intellectual property originating at their schools. “There are real bargains in the Midwest,” remarked Dan Hasler, president of the Purdue Research Foundation. He said corporations and venture capitalists visit Purdue’s Discovery Park, a 40-acre interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research park located in the West Lafayette campus, to scope out research for commercialization and investment.

“Smart money invests in our innovations,” stated Kalpa Vithalani, licensing manager at Medical College of Wisconsin. “We have promising early-stage companies and success stories.” As an example, Gen-Probe (Nasdaq: GPRO) acquired Medical College spinout company Prodesse Inc., a leader in molecular testing for influenza and other infectious diseases, for approximately $60 million in cash in October 2009. In January last year, Roche disclosed it was paying up to $625 million for non-invasive prenatal testing firm Ariosa Diagnostics, another Wisconsin spinout. “Our goal is to advance community health through innovation,” Vithalani added. “We want to turn IP into useful products.”

Gaylene Anderson, senior innovations officer at Notre Dame, predicted nanomedicine will be the next hot biotech market, with sales expected to triple in five years. “We use a service-based business model,” she explained. “Our go-to-market strategy is to target a big pharma with toxicity issues or patent expirations.” For example, Notre Dame spinout Certus, which offers a nanoparticle drug delivery platform known as Lypos, will do the bioengineering and give formulations to another company to take to market.

The University of Michigan spun out 19 startups in 2015 and is on track to do 12 this year, reported Jack Miner, director of the U-M Venture Center. Among the standouts are RPNI, a team developing nerve interface to give amputees fine motor control of prosthetic upper limbs, and Xondas, which is developing a way to charge batteries remotely in implantable devices.

To learn more about MGCS visit www.Michigan-GCS.com. Follow conversations surrounding the symposium through #MGCS2016 on Twitter.

Reinventing Investment: The Future of Healthcare VC

Investment Opportunities in Healthcare Look Much Improved, Says MGCS Keynote Speaker James Flynn

Healthcare is going to reinvent itself over the next decade in terms of the therapeutic options available and how health care is delivered, predicted James Flynn, managing partner at Deerfield Management Company, during his keynote remarks on May 18 at the Michigan Growth Capital Symposium. That’s good news for healthcare investors seeking opportunities in the sector.

Historically, returns on investment in life science have disappointed venture capital investors, Flynn said. Between 1998 and 2008, the average rate of return was 2.7%. The successful sequencing of the human genome in 2003 rekindled investor interest. Big pharma, biotech and venture capital poured millions of dollars into the development of promising new drugs, hoping to reap big returns. However, medical researchers did not fully understand the underlying diseases they were trying to treat, and the drug-development process was far from perfect. “We ended up with 1,600 drugs approved that either didn’t work or didn’t work so well,” Flynn explained. “Off-target effects (side effects) were another problem in drug development.”

Since then, things have changed dramatically. “We now have a fundamental grasp of the biological mechanisms and pathways of many diseases,” Flynn reported. “In parallel, tools have been developed to try to target that biology more exactly.” The Internet also has come into play, he added. “Now a lot of academic institutions are putting their research online immediately, so people all over the world who are studying the same thing can gain access to it. That has led to an eight-fold increase in the generation of knowledge.”

The regulatory landscape, which historically has been challenging for the life science industry, also has changed significantly. “During the 1990s and 2000s, the FDA was a watchdog agency,” Flynn said. “The FDA removed drugs from the market because of their side effects, and required long, intensive, extensive clinical trials.” Greater understanding of diseases and targeted biological pathways has recalibrated the regulatory process. As a consequence, the FDA has developed four approaches to expedite the development and review of drugs that treat serious diseases.

The bottom line is that the investment prospects for healthcare investors in therapeutics, particularly drug development, look much improved, according to Flynn. “By knowing the biological pathways, you have a higher probability of success. By targeting the drug better, you have a lower probability of side effects. If the drug treats something with significant unmet need and you have a biomarker, the regulatory pathway is quicker and less expensive.

“That all adds up to a much more favorable equation than I have seen in any period over the last 20 years,” Flynn concluded.

To learn more about MGCS visit www.Michigan-GCS.com. Follow conversations surrounding the symposium through #MGCS2016 on Twitter.

MGCS Founder and Director David Brophy Receives Leaders and Best Award

David J. Brophy was recognized for 35 Years of Visionary Leadership at MGCS 2016

University of Michigan Finance Professor David Brophy, the founder and director of the Michigan Growth Capital Symposium, received the Leaders and Best Award today in recognition of the visionary leadership he has brought to the symposium for more than three decades.

“Dave has been the guiding light of this event for 35 years,” said Ken Nisbet, executive director of U-M Tech Transfer, who presented the coveted award during a ceremony on the second day of the 2016 MGCS. “He also has been a wonderful teacher, adviser, mentor and friend to all of us, and has launched countless students into careers in venture capital and private equity finance and investment. In addition, Dave has been an active participant and supporter of economic development in Ann Arbor and the state of Michigan.”

In accepting the award, which he characterized as the equivalent of the Nobel Prize, Brophy said: “This is the love of my life. When (venture capital investor) Ian Bund, (business leader and philanthropist) Ted Doan and others began to talk about launching the first venture fair, it seemed like a good idea and a short-term solution to the economic situation in Michigan.” The University’s Institute for Social Research sponsored the event for a number of years. Later, the Center for Venture Capital and Private Equity Finance, which Brophy founded in 1994, and the Zell Lurie Institute, launched in 1999, lent their support to the symposium.

Brophy extended special thanks to Mary Nickson, manager of the symposium, for her tireless efforts to expand the reach, scope and quality of the event. This year, 450 individuals, including in-state and out-state venture investors, entrepreneurs, startup company CEOs, university commercialization experts and others drawn from the entrepreneurial ecosystem, both locally and nationally, attended the symposium.

“Looking forward, we want to expand and deepen the symposium and improve its quality every year,” Brophy said.  “It’s been my pleasure to be here with you, and I hope we can continue what we started so many years ago.”

To learn more about MGCS visit www.Michigan-GCS.com. Follow conversations surrounding the 2016 symposium through #MGCS2016 on Twitter.

 

University of Michigan Student Startups Excel at World’s Largest Business Plan Competition

More than $400,000 in Prize Money Awarded to Promising Young Companies in IT & Biotech Sectors

Ann Arbor, Mich. – April 18, 2016 – The Samuel Zell & Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business today announced that two University of Michigan student-run startups have been awarded substantial prizes at this year’s Rice Business Plan Competition (RBPC), the world’s largest and richest graduate-level business plan competition. Neurable and PreDxion Bio, the two winning teams, both started their successful business plan competition seasons at the Zell Lurie Institute’s Michigan Business Challenge, and together took home $430,000 in total cash prizes and investment dollars at RBPC, which took place April 14-16, 2016.

Beating out more than 400 original business plan submissions and 40 competing teams, Neurable took second place in the competition, earning the $50,000 Second Place Prize, as well as the OWL Investment Prize of up to $280,000. Co-founded by Ramses Alcaide (PhD Neuroscience ’16) and Michael Thompson (MBA ’17), Neurable has created the first non-invasive brain-computer interface (BCI) that allows for real-time control of software and physical objects. Neurable’s fully functional prototype incorporates proprietary, patent-protected technology developed at the University of Michigan’s Direct Brain Interface Lab. Neurable’s technology has already allowed people to control wheelchairs, robots and even a full-sized car in real time with no training and at a significantly lower cost than existing BCI technologies.

PreDxion Bio took home the $100,000 TiE Boston Angel Investment Prize. Co-founded by Walker McHugh (MSE Biomedical/Medical Engineering ’17) and Caroline Landau (MBA ’16) PreDxion Bio™ is a precision medicine diagnostics company with a beachhead product called MicroKine™, a patent-pending near-bedside diagnostic device that measures proteins in the blood of critically ill patients. MicroKine delivers this information in less than 30 minutes–ten times faster than that of any existing technology on the market–from a single drop of blood, providing physicians with the information to precisely tailor treatments to a specific patient’s immune response.

“The Rice competition is one of the largest and toughest competitions in the nation. Having two Michigan teams rise to the top of this very competitive field validates the notable talent and innovative technology coming out of our university,” said Stewart Thornhill, executive director, Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies. “The funding they’ve received from this competition, in addition to the feedback they’ve gathered and the network connections they’ve made, will significantly help both teams advance their ventures.”

In the spirit of the Institute’s action-based approach to learning, intercollegiate competitions provide further opportunities for students to refine their plans, expand their networks, receive funding and learn about other aspects of their startup. Student teams from across the university receive in-depth training and support from the faculty and staff at the Zell Lurie Institute, including business development, refinement and presentation sessions. This guidance ensures students from multiple disciplines have the solid business foundation necessary to commercialize a great idea.

“The recognition and funding from a competition the scale of Rice is an amazing achievement for our team and for the growth of Neurable,” said Alcaide. “Everyone at the Zell Lurie Institute and the Office of Technology Transfer has provided invaluable support and expertise since day one, coaching and guiding us to a place where the judges and potential investors could fully recognize the promise of our technology. The additional mentorship and support from TechArb and the Center for Entrepreneurship set us up for success.”

“The entire PreDxion Bio team is overwhelmed by the show of support we received at Rice. The $100,000 we are taking home will be allocated to funding manufacturing devices that will revolutionize the way we treat and manage critically-ill patients,” said McHugh. “Our time at RBPC has shown us what an incredible place the University of Michigan is to start a student-run venture. The support we have received from the Zell Lurie Institute, Fast Forward Medical Innovations/MTRAC, the UM Coulter Program, the Center for Entrepreneurship and the Law School Entrepreneurship clinic has been exceptional and a definite driver of our success.”

Neurable and PreDxion Bio are among the many successes for University of Michigan teams on this year’s business plan competition circuit. Earlier this year, PreDxion Bio took home the Pryor-Hale Award for best business for $25,000 and the Williamson Award for $5,000 for the most outstanding business and engineering team at the Michigan Business Challenge, and Neurable was a finalist in both the Michigan Business Challenge and the Startup Competition at the University of Michigan. Student teams have also competed at the Thought for Food Global Summit in Zurich, the Venture Capital Investment Competition at the University of Colorado Boulder, the Undergraduate Venture Capital Investment Competition Global Finals at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, the Cardinal Challenge at the University of Louisville and the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition. The RBPC ends the season for intercollegiate competitions, and the strong showing by Neurable and PreDxion Bio capped it off well for the University of Michigan.

For more information on the Michigan Business Challenge or related entrepreneurial student competitions, please visit http://www.zli.bus.umich.edu.

Two student teams from the University of Michigan selected to vie for more than $1M in prizes at Rice Business Plan Competition

World’s richest and largest student startup competition launches new People’s Choice Competition

Chosen from nearly 400 entrants, two University of Michiganstudent teams, Neurable and PreDxion Bio, will compete with some of the world’s top universities for more than $1 million in prizes at the 16th annual Rice Business Plan Competition at Rice University, April 14-16.

This year, teams will compete for $5,000 online in the People’s Choice Competition that challenges the spirit of each university. Team members, fellow students, alumni, family and friends can vote for their favorite team via a Facebook survey. People can participate by going to https://apps.facebook.com/rbpc-polls/form/rbpc2016.

Neurable, co-founded by Ramses Alcaide (PhD Neuroscience ’16) and Michael Thompson (MBA ’17), has created the first non-invasive brain-computer interface (BCI) that allows for real-time control of software and physical objects. Neurable’s fully functional prototype incorporates proprietary, patent-protected technology developed at the University of Michigan’s Direct Brain Interface Lab. Neurable’s technology has already allowed people to control wheelchairs, robots and even a full sized car in real-time with no training and a significantly lower cost than existing BCI technologies. Neurable was a finalist in the 2016 Michigan Business Challenge (MBC).

Co-founded by Walker McHugh (MSE Biomedical/Medical Engineering ’17) and Caroline Landau (MBA ’16), PreDxion Bio is a precision medicine diagnostics company with a beachhead product called MicroKine, a patent-pending near-bedside diagnostic device that measures certain proteins (“cytokines”) in the blood of critically-ill patients.  MicroKine delivers this information at the bedside, in less than 30 minutes, from a single drop of blood, providing physicians with the information to precisely tailor treatments to a specific patient’s immune response. Earlier this year, PreDxion took home the Pryor-Hale award for best business for $25,000, and the Williamson Award for $5,000 for the most outstanding business and engineering team at MBC.

“The true measure of success for the Rice Business Plan Competition is the number of teams that launch, raise funding and go on to succeed in their business,” said Brad Burke, managing director of the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship at Rice University, which hosts the event. “The competition has served as the launch pad for a great number of successful entrepreneurial ventures, and the success rate exceeds the national average.”

The winner of the Rice Business Plan Competition will take home a grand prize valued at more than $450,000, including seed funding and the opportunity to ring the closing bell at NASDAQ Marketsite. Judges select the winner based on the company that represents the best investment opportunity.

“Events like the Rice Business Plan Competition allow University of Michigan students to showcase their ventures, commercializing technologies developed at the university,” said Stewart Thornhill, executive director of the Samuel Zell & Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies. “These opportunities allow students to raise funding and gain traction in front of a wider community of investors and business leaders. We are proud of the tremendous entrepreneurial spirit and drive shown by PreDxion and Neurable, and are confident that the resources they’ve received from the Zell Lurie Institute will help them achieve even greater success.”

More than 140 corporate and private sponsors support the business plan competition, which includes 275 judges from the investment sector and awards more than $1 million in prizes. Top prizes include the $250,000 Investment Grand Prize from The GOOSE Society of Texas, two OWL Investment Prizes totaling at nearly $250,000 and the $100,000 Mercury Fund Tech Transfer Investment Prize.

For more information on the 2016 Rice Business Plan Competition, visit http://alliance.rice.edu/rbpc.aspx.

MGCS Industry Insights – Inventiveness Paves the Way to Success for Neuvokas Corp.

Join us for the 35th annual Michigan Growth Capital Symposium (MGCS) to take place on May 17 & 18 at the Marriott Resort in Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti. In addition to providing a platform for Midwest startups to pitch investors; the two-day conference will feature two keynote speakers, several panel discussions, a technology transfer pitch session and ample networking opportunities. More than 450 investors, entrepreneurs and related stakeholders are expected, with nearly 75 investment firms represented. The deadline for presenting company applications is Thursday, March 10. Apply online. Register to attend at www.MichiganGCS.com.

“Inventiveness” or “resourcefulness” constitutes a key building block for entrepreneurial ventures, and the Finnish translation, “Neuvokas,” is the moniker of an advanced-materials company from the far reaches of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. For founders Erik Kiilunen and Ken Keranen, inventiveness inspired a breakthrough product that gave them a promising foothold in the $140 billion annual global market for rebar, a ubiquitous and generic construction industry material.

In 2009, Kiilunen, a Michigan U.P. native, launched a precursor company EcoStud, which manufactured, distributed and installed green building materials. Three years later, his efforts to develop a second-generation product and manufacturing process led to the development of a low-cost method of producing fiber-based rebar and the launch of a new company with the potential to transform the reinforced-concrete building materials market.

“Fiber reinforced polymer rebar (FRP) has been around for more than 30 years ─ but it has been too expensive for nonspecialized uses,” Kiilunen explains. “We created a high-speed processing technology that takes the manufacturing cost out of the equation. We are able to price our product at parity with conventional steel rebar and maintain very healthy margins.”

In the past couple of years, Kiilunen has purchased and refitted a scuttled turn-of-the-century, 32,000-square-foot mining building in Ahmeek, Michigan, to house Neuvokas’ FRP rebar manufacturing line. The Neuvokas team has boosted its production rate from 30 feet to 75 feet of rebar per minute ─ more than 10 times faster than the nearest competitor.

“We now have a saleable product and a manufacturing process that is bullet-proof,” Kiilunen says. “Our factory is located in Michigan’s Keewenaw Peninsula and sits on a ridge of basalt that was mined from the late 1800s to the 1970s.  We plan on using existing mine waste as a feedstock to produce basalt fiber, a key component of our FRP rebar. This vertical integration not only will allow us to drop our price below that of steel rebar, but also will help to remediate prior environmental damage and promote economic development in the region.”

Neuvokas’ FRP rebar offers labor, transport and insurance savings while providing superior performance at the same cost as untreated steel rebar. In addition, it is lighter, rust-proof and more eco-friendly compared to steel.

In 2013, Kiilunen landed the company’s first customer, Stahl Concrete in Door County, Wisconsin, after trailing a semi-trailer truck carrying steel rebar for two hours to the concrete contractor’s facility. The intrigued facility owner introduced Kiilunen to a local businessman looking for an opportunity to invest the proceeds of a recent exit. One month later, Neuvokas received the first tranche of a $1.2 million investment from that high-net-worth investor and a tag-along investor.

In late September, Neuvokas began selling in its target market, Houston, where its FRP rebar is being used for slab-on-pavement applications, such as parking lots, private roads and home patios. Kiilunen estimates the company’s revenues in the fast-growing Houston alone could reach $40 million over the next four years.

Neuvokas’s ability to scale more quickly depends in large part upon fundraising. To date the company has raised $2.2 million in angel capital, $1.45 million in grants and $350,000 in unsecured debt. Kiilunen met with investors last May at the Michigan Growth Capital Symposium in an effort to drum up support to fill out the remaining $1 million of a $2 million Series B round.  “We will reach profitability in November 2016, if we raise enough capital to put the proper people and processes in place,” Kiilunen predicts.

Register to attend MGCS 2016, visit www.michigangcs.com. Follow conversations about the Symposium through the hashtag #MGCS2016 on Twitter.

The Zell Lurie Institute Awards University of Michigan Student Startups Over $100,000

Michigan Business Challenge and Dare to Dream Teams Take Home Top Prizes

What began with 100 student teams across the University’s 19 schools and colleges came down to one winner on Friday, February 19, at the Ross School of Business. Over the course of the four-month, multi-round Michigan Business Challenge business plan competition, student startup PreDxion emerged the winner and took home a total of $30,000 from the Samuel Zell & Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies‘ 33rd annual competition award ceremony.

“Prior to joining the Michigan Business Challenge, PreDxion did not have a framework or mechanism for pressure-testing our assumptions for market entry,” said Walker McHugh (MSE ’17), co-founder of PreDxion. “The competition, combined with amazing support from the Zell Lurie Institute, provided the structure and resources we needed to launch our venture and hopefully receive the financing necessary to bring our product to market.”

Founded by McHugh and Caroline Landau (MBA ’16), PreDxion fills a critical unmet need in acute care: currently, doctors using CAR T-cell therapy for high-risk cancer patients are unable to quickly and accurately monitor their patients’ immune response, increasing their risk of death. PreDxion’s groundbreaking technology, called MicroKine, solves this problem in 30 minutes from a single drop of blood and enables precision medicine in the intensive care unit for the first time. In addition to the Pryor-Hale award for best business for $25,000, PreDxion took home the Williamson Award for $5,000 for the most outstanding business and engineering team.

Michigan Business Challenge teams took their ventures, both for-profit and socially driven, through a rigorous four-part competition, shifting and reworking initial concepts to create a viable business plan. To guide student teams through this process, the competition process is supported by one-on-one coaching from Zell Lurie entrepreneurs in residence, individualized training through startup workshops run by the Zell Lurie Institute, and feedback from judges in venture capital and industry.

“Through programs like the Michigan Business Challenge and Dare to Dream, Michigan students apply what they’ve learned in the classroom to real-world situations,” said Stewart Thornhill, executive director of the Samuel Zell & Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies. “These opportunities allow students to validate their ideas in front of a wider community of entrepreneurs and investors. We’re proud of the tremendous entrepreneurial spirit and drive shown by the student teams, and are confident that the coaching and financial resources they’ve received from the Zell Lurie Institute will help them achieve even greater success as they pursue their business ideas.”

Michigan Business Challenge
The Michigan Business Challenge is a multi-round competition for students from across the University’s campus. The competition focuses on student teams testing real-world business concepts through engaging in customer discovery, vetting financial models, conducting market research, and developing a complete business plan. Over the course of the competition, $85,000 was awarded to winning teams.

In addition to PreDxion, the Michigan Business Challenge Winners include:

• Gaudium, a video game development company focused on developing eastern-inspired games, received the Pryor-Hale Runner-up award for Best Business for $10,000, the Best Written Plan award for $2,000, and one of two Marketing Awards, sponsored by the Marketing Associates, for $2,500. The Gaudium team, comprised of David Cai (BS ’16), Amanda Li (MAcc ’16), Kevin Jeon (BA ’16), Ni Yan, and Andrew Yang, is looking to launch its first product, Armor Blitz, in late 2016.
• AOE Medical, a durable medical equipment manufacturer, took home the Most Successful Undergraduate team award for $2,500 and one of two Outstanding Presentation awards for $2,000. Represented by Arianna Carley (BSE ’17), Eli Fox, (BA ’17), Christina Tang (BS ’18), and Brandon Boot(BSE ’17), AOE Medical is looking to create innovative solutions for bariatric patient transfer.
• Sage & Grace, a concierge service for those who are addressing or will need to address end of life issues, was awarded the second Outstanding Presentation award for $2,000. Holly Price (MBA ’17), created Sage & Grace as a service and information portal for individuals with limited resources who require estate planning, hospice information, funeral planning, and burial options.
• CARt, a social enterprise, received the second Marketing Award, sponsored by Marketing Associates, for $2,500. Represented by Ali Jensen (MPH ’16), Stacey Matlen (MPH ’16), Christine Priori(MBA/MPH ’17), Mikaela Rodkin (MBA/MS ’17), CARt coordinates rides for low-income, low-vehicle access individuals to get to and from supermarkets so they have increased access to healthy, affordable food.

The Social Impact Track
Debuting in 2015, the Social Impact Track, presented in partnership with Frederick A. and Barbara M. Erb Institute and the Center for Social Impact, showcases companies that prioritize social or environmental considerations. Four teams competed for the top prize during the finals on February 19.

The grand prize for $15,000 went to Kulisha. Founded by Eric Katz (BBA ’17), Kulisha is a sustainable aquafeed company that produces commercial-grade fish feed from insects to help small-scale aquaculture farmers in Kenya increase profitability while supplying the food insecure in the region with more healthy animal protein. Kulisha helps to divert food waste going into landfills, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and stop trawling. “The Michigan Business Challenge has given us mentorship and guidance to create a business plan that we can execute on,” said Katz.

StepFor received the runner-up prize for $7,500. Represented by Jordan Golshan (BBA ’17), Andy Jinseok Lee (MS ’17), and Hyorim Kim (BS ’17), StepFor maximizes the marketing value of every dollar spent on corporate donations by effectively engaging users through fitness-powered crowdfunding.

Dare to Dream Grants
The Michigan Business Challenge awards ceremony concluded with the announcement of the Dare to Dream Startup Grants. Twenty-three student teams were awarded funding and access to resources to test their entrepreneurial ideas, formulate business plans, and work toward launching their new ventures.

The Dare to Dream grant program has three phases, and students may enter their business at any phase. The first phase, a Venture Shaping grant of $500 sponsored by the Mayleben family, allows teams to determine how to transform identified opportunities into businesses. More advanced teams may apply for a $1,500 Assessment grant to establish the feasibility of their business, or a $5,000 Integration grant to move their company toward launch. Grants are awarded in the fall and winter terms.

Applebaum Dare to Dream Assessment Grants of $1,500:

• The Broke App (Christina Czuhajewski, MSI ’16; Michelle Fiesta, MSI ’15; Prashant Iyer, MSI ’16; Kristen Sheppard, MSI ’16; Jacqueline Wolf, MSI ’15): A redesigned version of current mobile banking applications for banks to use to teach college students how to build wealth for the future based on their current spending approaches
• CARt (Ali Jensen, MPH ’16; Stacey Matlen, MPH ’16; Christine Priori, MBA/MPH ’17; Mikaela Rodkin, MBA/MS ’17): A rideshare program to connect low-income, low-vehicle access individuals with healthy, affordable food
• Cheekycase (Briana Feng, BBA ’18): An innovative accessory company that specializes in smartphone cases
• HiveLend (Noah Hirschl, LSA ’18; Nicholas Zajciw, LSA ’17): An online marketplace enabling the pollination industry to reach a new level of efficiency to add stability to the current food system
• Morning Brew (Michael Kessler, BBA ’17; Simon Mody, BBA ’18;  Austin Rief, BBA ’17): A free daily e-mail newsletter written by millennials for millennials that acts as a quick, conversational and quality read to keep business-minded students up-to-date on all things business
• Perfarm (Louis Roberto Sodre, MBA ’16): A cloud-based farm management software solution for Brazilian farmers
• Saturnup (John Desilva, CSE ’16; James Hamet, BSE ’16; Howard Sobel, BBA ’16; Ittai Svidler, CSE ’18): A mobile app advertising solution that drives brand lift and makes app monetization simpler
• Woodside Distributors (Alex Glassman, BBA/BSE ’18; Mitchell Kasselman, BBA ’18; Rami Kadouh, BBA ’18; Danny Sheridan, BBA ’18): An online distributor that buys products at wholesale prices and resells them on Amazon.com, eBay.com, and WoodsideDistributors.com for a competitive price leading to single digit profit margins with high revenues

Mayleben Family Venture Shaping Grants of $500:

• Academy Analytics (Rami Sherman, JD ’17): Scalable facilitation of congressional information access and communication between clients and Congress members with a focus on big data
• Argo (Dania Abdulhamid, CSE ’18; Andrea Kopitz, LSA ’18): An application that will empower students to initiate conversation with others in real life through a gamified, challenge-based coaching process
• Athena (Ally Stewart, MBA ’17): Connects young professionals with high quality career coaches in minutes
• Beerlab.co (Mauricio Kalil Steinbruch, MBA ’17): A platform that allows users to create their own customized, high-quality labeled craft beer within a few clicks
• Bishop (Anthony Nelson, MBA ’17; Rishabh Sharma, MBA ’17): Helps part-time international students on work visas get student loans on their own merit
• Catalyst (Westley Hoffman, BA ’18): The first crowdfunding website exclusively for social entrepreneurship
• Community Power Company (Takashi Takizawa, MBA ’17): A small-scale power retail company with ONEF members working to develop the first power autonomy in Japan
• Crystallize (Alex Park, JD ’17): A social networking platform for venture shaping that both new and career entrepreneurs can use
• EatLikeMe (Udai Mody, MBA ’17; Michael Thompson, MBA ’17): A Yelp competitor that offers restaurant recommendations based on reviews from consumers who eat like you
• Flowgram (Elizabeth LaCroix, MBA ’17; Aditya Pradhan, MBA ’17; MacCalvin Romain, MBA ’17; Antonio Scaramuzzino, MBA ’17): A SaaS platform for designing and collaborating on complex cloud architectures
• Kozy (David Bickel, MBA ’16; Marco Hidalgo, MBA ’16; Brandon Hodges, MBA ’16; Atsunori Kaneshige, MBA ’16; Kozue Yuzawa; MBA ’16): A platform that brokers peer-to-peer luxury goods sharing
• Kulisha (Eric Katz, BBA ’17): A sustainable aquafeed company that produces commercial-grade fish feed from insects to help small-scale aquaculture farmers in Kenya
• NELO (Chiedozie Okafor, MBA/MA ’16): An online tool and app designed to improve the number of students who graduate in a position to be competitive for the type of job they want
• PostPlay (Jared Weisman, BBA ’17): Conveniently connects sports fans with the Top 25 plays by and for the user
• Sage & Grace (Holly Price, MBA ’17): A concierge service for those who are addressing or will need to address end of life issues
• Zenith Fitness (Catherine Cheung, MBA ’17; Joe Price, MBA ’16): A personal energy management application that tracks energy in and energy out across the four dimensions of wellness: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual

The Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies and its Center for Venture Capital and Private Equity Finance bring together a potent mix of knowledge, experience, and opportunities from the front lines of entrepreneurship and alternative investments. The student learning experience is further enhanced through internships, entrepreneurial clubs, and events that serve to provide viable networks and engage the business community. The School’s three student-led investment funds, with over $6.5M under management, immerse students in the business assessment and investment process. Founding Board Members include Samuel Zell, Chairman of Equity Group Investments and Eugene Applebaum, Founder of Arbor Drugs, Inc. For more information, visit the Institute at www.zli.bus.umich.edu.

 

Michigan Business Challenge Spotlight – Neurable

The Finals for the Zell Lurie Institute’s campus wide business plan competition, the Michigan Business Challenge (MBC), are only one day away! Leading up to the competition, ZLI has been highlighting one of the innovative teams from the MBC Semi-Finals each day.

MBC Semi-Finalist Team 

Neurable – Ramses Alcaide (PhD ’15), Max Jacobson (MBA ’17), Xiaoya Ma

 How did you develop team name?

This was a really long process that included writing about 100 names and voting on which ones we liked with the original founders. Neurable got second place but it was everyone’s second place so we went with it.  What is more interesting is the meaning. Neurable = Neuron + Able. So we are enabling people to use their neurons to control devices.

Tell us briefly about your business idea. 

Our technology allows anyone to control devices like wheelchairs or video games using their thoughts. The passion to do this came to me when I was 8 years old and my uncle got into a truck accident, losing both his legs. Although at the time I did not know how to create the tools to help him. At that moment I decided to dedicate my life to creating technology to allow people with disabilities to live without limitations. It wasn’t until college when I studied engineering, and now as a soon to be neuroscience PhD, that I have the tools to make a difference.

My long term goal is to bring this technology to the mass market allowing everyone to interact differently with the world and transform the lives of people disabilities.

 How has the MBC experience helped transform your business strategy?

MBC has helped me form a team of incredibly talented MBAs and also helped us shift our business to a market that will allow us to grow and scale.

What do you think will be the long-term impact of the implementation of this idea?

Neurable’s technology has the potential to change the way humans interact with the world. Long-term this will allow people with disabilities to live without limitations and also create new interaction methods for everyone.

What has been your biggest takeaway from this experience? 

Our biggest learning experience was developing our business plan and getting feedback on everything we assumed incorrectly. The mentors really changed how we viewed our company’s growth and allowed us create better assumptions on how we plan to scale.

If you win, what will you do immediately following the competition?

We plan on investing the money towards hiring a full time development team to help create Neurable’s final technology. Thus, allowing to effectively raise seed and series A funding.

Final thoughts? 

We are an early startup looking for seed funding on an exciting and transformative technology. Also we promise we can’t read your mind from afar and don’t plan to create SkyNet!

Learn more about these great student startups by attending the Michigan Business Challenge Showcase and Finalson February 19. Route for your favorite team during the MBC final presentations at 3p.m., mingle with local entrepreneurs during the showcase at 5p.m., then stay to cheer on the winners as they accept cash award prizes totaling up to $85,000!

Michigan Business Challenge Spotlight – Sage & Grace

The Michigan Business Challenge (MBC), is the Zell Lurie Institute’s campus wide business plan competition. The four month long event concludes this Friday with the Semi-Finals and Finals at the Ross School of Business.  Each day leading up to the competition, ZLI will highlight one of the Semi-Finalist teams competing for $85,000 in cash prizes.

MBC Semi-Finalist Team

Sage & Grace – Holly Price (MBA ’17)

What inspired your team name?

In dealing with the funeral industry, it was important to me that the name didn’t directly sound like a funeral company. I want to evoke feelings of comfort and warmth since those feelings are largely absent when someone is grieving. Sage is an ancient herb that has been used historically to represent healing and purification. Grace stems from the Christian principle of grace, a belief that love and forgiveness is available to all, not just those who “earned it.”

Tell us briefly about your business idea.

After reading about how manipulative and expensive funeral planning can be, and reading about emerging trends to make funerals more affordable, environmentally friendly, and less stressful, I became intrigued by the industry but not sure what I could do to help. When my mom got really sick last summer, I realized I had no idea how to plan her funeral and the idea of planning one sounded so overwhelming I was not sure how we would get through it. After she recovered, I decided to pursue the idea of Sage & Grace. Through this idea, I hope to empower consumers and peel back the curtain on what goes into a funeral so that planning can be done more effectively and affordably. There are a lot of disparaging practices that are commonplace and I believe a little bit of consumer education and some well-designed planning tools could go a long way towards quashing predatory methods. Sage & Grace is only unique insofar as it applies proven methods, techniques, and design principles that have been established in other industries to the death care industry.

How has the MBC experience helped transform your business strategy?

MBC has pushed me to be much bolder in my aspirations: I realized I was discounting my vision before anyone else could. This crash course in building a business has made my MBA courses feel much more relevant and interesting because I’m applying concepts to my idea instead of thinking about them theoretically.

What do you think will be the long-term impact of the implementation of this idea?

Grieving for a loved one who has recently died is one of the hardest periods of our lives. I believe Sage & Grace has the potential to reduce the stress of funeral planning during an immensely stressful period and, at scale, fundamentally shift how the funeral industry communicates with consumers and raise the standards on how funerals are planned.

What has been your biggest takeaway?

It has been very encouraging to see how many people are excited about the idea of Sage & Grace and its potential impact. I started this idea almost embarrassed to talk to people about the funeral industry, worried that people would see me as morbid, and I am now so excited to spread my ideas with others because I continue to find amazing individuals who understand how big the problem is and excited to help.

If you win, what will you do immediately following the competition?

If I win, I’m immediately going to start looking to hire a UX designer. Win or lose I have karaoke plans that night, but whether or not I win may influence my song choice.

Final thoughts?

I am so grateful for the opportunity to compete in the semi-finals of MBC. The further I go, the more impressed I am by the resources that ZLI offers to our community and the talents of my fellow students. ​#outsideofmycomfortzone

Learn more about these great student startups by attending the Michigan Business Challenge Showcase and Finals on February 19. Route for your favorite team during the MBC final presentations at 3p.m., mingle with local entrepreneurs during the showcase at 5p.m., then stay to cheer on the winners as they accept cash award prizes totaling up to $85,000!