GRAND RAPIDS - Dykstra IT LLC, which provides managed information technology services, merged into Quantum Leap Inc., a telecommunications provider, MIBiz Reports. Staff from Dykstra IT moved into Quantum Leap’s facility on 44th Street in Grand Rapids and founder Drew Dykstra became a partner. Terms of the deal were undisclosed. Quantum Leap often used Dykstra
GRAND RAPIDS - Corey Hart returned to Grand Rapids last September to find that support for entrepreneurship and startup companies had grown well beyond what it was when he left for California a decade earlier. The Forest Hills native and serial entrepreneur now wants to help move the local entrepreneurial ecosystem forward even more with
GRAND RAPIDS — Lambert & Co. closed on its second acquisition in two months with a deal for New York-based Casteel Schoenborn Investor Relations & Corporate Communications. For the Grand Rapids-based public relations and investor relations firm Lambert & Co., the deal accelerates the company’s growth strategy and boosts its investor relations and financial services expertise, according to
GRAND RAPIDS - An assortment of state-backed capital funds and initiatives to support business startups, innovation and entrepreneurs recently earned renewal in Lansing. The Michigan Strategic Fund Board last month allocated more than $7 million that will go to back entrepreneurs working to bring innovations to market. Half of the money will go to the Grand Rapids-based Michigan
GRAND RAPIDS — Grand Ventures led an investment round in CRE Simple Inc., an Oakland, Calif.-based fintech firm focused on commercial real estate. The Grand Rapids venture capital firm led the round with Fin Venture Capital in San Francisco. Two Chicago-based firms, Darkknight Ventures and Sandalphon Capital, along with Durham, N.C.-based Duke Angel Network and other private investors
LANSING - A proposed settlement between Consumers Energy and independent power producers could lead to hundreds of megawatts of solar power being built within the next four years. On Thursday, the utility filed the proposed settlement with the Michigan Public Service Commission hoping to resolve a more than year-long dispute with solar developers looking to sell power to Consumers.
GRAND RAPIDS - A majority of retailers across Michigan report higher sales this spring and expect to sustain growth well into the summer. In a monthly survey released in late May by the Michigan Retailers Association, 56 percent of respondents reported a month-to-month increase in sales from March to April, while 29 percent had lower sales.
GRAND RAPIDS - Problems with Michigan’s infrastructure go beyond deteriorating roads and bridges. Michigan also ranks poorly — 42nd among the 50 states — in terms of digital connectivity, according to an annual report on entrepreneurship in the state. The scorecard issued annually by Michigan Celebrates Small Business and the Small Business Association of Michigan ranks the state
KALAMAZOO —Western Michigan University plans to launch an online program designed to improve the ability of I.T. professionals to protect against and mitigate hacks and data breaches. The eight-week, online certification program from WMU’s Haworth College of Business and College of Engineering and Applied Sciences starts in March and consists of four courses in high-demand cybersecurity specialties. WMU
BYRON CENTER — Rural wireless provider FreedomNet Wireless was acquired by an Indiana-based internet provider. The deal for Byron Center-based FreedomNet, which serves rural areas mostly south of Grand Rapids, near Fowlerville and in Southwest Michigan, expands La Porte, Ind.-based Surf Air Wireless LLC’s coverage area north into West Michigan, according to a statement. Surf Air Wireless now
