KALAMAZOO - The Great Lakes Entrepreneur's Quest and Kalamazoo Venture Tuesday will co-sponsor an hour-long Venture Capitalist Panel in December that will include a discussion of GLEQ?s fall business plan competition. The event is scheduled for Dec. 7 at the Southeast Michigan Innovation Center. The First Tuesday meeting, a series of elevator pitches by three
GRAND RAPIDS ? It?s been a decade since the Region 7 Office of the Michigan Small Business & Technology Development Center moved to Grand Valley State University. This Thursday, a few Grand Rapids dignitaries will help Regional Director Nancy Boese celebrate the event with a breakfast hosted by GVSU. The Region 7 office relocated from
SAN FRANCISCO - Nationally, venture capital investing dipped in the third quarter of the year with investments of $4.3 billion going into 601 companies according to the MoneyTree Survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers, Thomson Venture Economics and the National Venture Capital Association, some $1.6 billion less than in the previous quarter. Over the past two years, quarterly
ANN ARBOR ? Fifteen entrepreneurs will split $45,000 in the Dare To Dream Grant Program, aimed at University of Michigan Business school students with a great idea that needs funding. The program is run by the Samuel Zell & Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business.
GRAND RAPIDS ? The Iserv Co., which has aggressively been snapping up smaller Internet Service Providers, now has its sights set on acquiring distressed software and other technology companies. The company announced Wednesday that is had created the Iserv Technology Group to buy complementary technology companies in the Midwest. CEO Vice Shepherd would not say
ANN ARBOR ? A $250,000 investment made by the University of Michigan?s Wolverine Venture Fund turned into a million dollar payday Thursday when a Life Sciences company developed from UM technology went public on Wall Street ? the first portfolio company to do so since the Fund was created in 1998. The company, called IntraLase,
BLOOMFIELD HILLS ? The Great Lakes Angels, a group of well-healed private investors, pumped nearly $4 million into 24 deals in fiscal 2003, up from just $225,000 the year before. Many of those investments were in Michigan companies. "I feel with the continued build up in attendance at our events, our steady increase in deal
ANN ARBOR ? The Great Lakes Entrepreneur?s Quest business-plan writing contest announced Tuesday a new governance structure, which includes a board of directors and a 10-member executive committee. This year?s GLEQ executive committee includes David Brenner (chair), managing partner of IdeaWorks Rajesh Kothari, managing director of Seneca Partners Mary Ann Alger, CFO Velcura Therapeutics Paul
ANN ARBOR ? Dow Chemical?s loss is Great Lakes Entrepreneur Quest?s gain. Arthur DeMonte, the former Dow e-Business Center global director became the first ever executive director of GLEQ, the state-sponsored business plan writing contest, now entering its fifth year. DeMonte took the job Oct. 1. He?ll now be responsible for managing GLEQ and all
GRAND RAPIDS ? Entrepreneurs will get to test their elevator pitches in a social environment with real investors in December when StartupCentral hosts its Pitch Your Business in Five Breaths cocktail party. The workshop, in the guise of a holiday event, will give entrepreneurs real world experience of crafting a message with impact that could