Evergreen Climate Innovation’s 501vc Investment Fund now invests $200k – $300k in early-stage climate tech startups in the Greater Midwest. This climate tech-focused investment fund is looking to support climate startups specifically in the tech space that are headquartered in places like Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and the surrounding states, a location that is historically under-funded for climate tech.
Entropy is generally regarded as a force of chaos or disorder in physics. but it’s entropy that researchers at the University of Michigan are using to harness and assemble nanoparticle crystals for future use in creating designer materials that could be used in high-tech applications from healthcare to materials science.
Boomerang Catapult has just announced a significant investment in Uru Sports, a Traverse City, Michigan, startup that has created a global digital network connecting athletes to resources, opportunities, and one another. Boomerang adds Uru Sports to its portfolio of high-potential, Traverse City-based companies.
Women in Tech is a newer conference added to Ann Arbor’s a2tech360 week, which includes over a dozen tech conferences, networking events, pitch competitions and investing summits covering the latest growth and trends in Michigan’s tech-related industries, from life sciences and mobility to software and security. This year’s Women in Tech panel included Lauren Bigelow from Growth Capital Network, MJ Cartwright from Matterhorn by Court Innovations, and Ariella Shikanow from ArtOva Therapeutics. The event was moderated by Margarita Hernandez from Ann Arbor SPARK.
We’ve all gotten them: the endless COVID-19 emails. Maybe you’ve even sent one. Every organization is shifting its policies to handle the coronavirus outbreak. But what happens when your new COVID-19 initiative or your entire company needs to pivot or rebrand in order to cope with changing times? Danielle Milner, founding partner and brand strategist of branding studio Do:Better, helps companies telling the story of how they’re helping and changing during COVID-19, and it’s more than spin. It can be surprisingly difficult, especially during stressful times, to figure out how to tell the story of how your organization is trying to help out, or why your mission has shifted to align with new circumstances. Do:Better helps companies of all sizes. Clients include United Way of Washtenaw County, Automation Alley, Ann Arbor SPARK, and Toyota. The design-focused branding studio out of Ypsilanti, Michigan, works with companies big and small, and according to Milner, “We do have a program specifically for tech startups.
Givitas, a company we’ve highlighted previously on Cronicle, has recently launched a network that is designed exclusively for Michigan startups to give and receive requests for help and information. Givitas is a social network by Give & Take that is designed into hubs for specific work groups within companies or industries.
Michigan-based EntryPoint has just released their 2020 Detroit Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Report, two months ahead of schedule to provide extra data to aid in the development of business support programs to address the COVID-19 outbreak in Michigan. The report consists of comprehensive analysis of Detroit’s high-tech entrepreneurial community over the last six years, along with notes on how businesses are handling the current coronavirus outbreak in a city that has just recovered from municipal bankruptcy only to be hit by another economic downturn.
LANSING, MICH. The Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity today provided guidance to Michigan employers on how to avoid potential layoffs related to COVID-19.
“We know that many families and businesses are and will experience economic pain as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said LEO Director Jeff Donofrio. “Through Governor Whitmer’s executive action and existing state programs, there are resources for employers affected by COVID-19. We are also strongly urging job providers facing work shortages to place their employees on temporary leave as opposed to termination, so that they may remain eligible for potential federal assistance.”
Ann Arbor is a great place to raise kids, and a great place to found a new tech company, but it’s not often you can do both at once! Wild Swan Theater in Ann Arbor is celebrating the launch of their new production Coding To The Moon: Margaret Hamilton and the Apollo Missions, with a pre-party at Circ Bar February 5th. This production is a great family event, appropriate for anyone 9 years old and up, and will run March 4th through 7th in Ann Arbor. If you would like a preview, join The Wild Swan Theater a month before the play comes to the stage for a $20 ticket.
