FARMINGTON HILLS - Manoj Bhargava, CEO of Living Essentials, maker of the popular 5-Hour Energy drink, is reportedly the money behind the new $100 million Stage 2 Innovations Fund announced last week. This report was published Wednesday by Crain?s Detroit. Stage 2 Innovations President Simon Boag had declined last week to tell MITechNews.Com Editor Mike
BINGHAM FARMS ? Benzinga, a media Web site that generates trading ideas, has received a $1.5 million investment from Lightbank, started by the cofounders of Chicago-based Groupon. Benzinga is a fast-growing media source that delivers streaming news, trading ideas, original commentary and analyst ratings. It will use its new resources to add personnel and fund
ANN ARBOR - Ann Arbor SPARK recently added five to its team and also promoted two of its staff. The new hires are: Britany Affolter-Caine, Ph.D., director, talent; Lukas Bonner, vice president, business development; Donna Doleman, vice president, marketing, communications and talent; Maricatharine Eggenberger, events manager; and Erin Wiley, executive assistant. Skip Simms was promoted
DETROIT - Wayne State University is helping TechTown startup companies secure college talent with a new incentive program that rewards entrepreneurs for hiring work-study students. Companies in the TechTown community will now be eligible to receive a 50 to 100 percent reimbursement from Wayne State of the students' work-study salaries. "The goals of the program
ANN ARBOR - Ann Arbor SPARK that said, in collaboration with state and regional partners, the economic development group helped 29 businesses expand while attracting 13 new companies, resulting in $151 million in new investment commitments and the creation of more than 1,400 new jobs. SPARK also said more than 250 companies in the region
WASHINGTON ? Smart phone users interested in starting or growing a small business can now find helpful resources at their fingertips via a new SBA mobile application from the U.S. Small Business Administration. ?Increasingly, smart phones are the vehicle through which Americans access information. This is certainly true of many entrepreneurs and small business owners
LANSING - Registration is open for Entrepreneur Connect 2011, a first-time event showcasing the energy and direction of entrepreneurship in Michigan. The two-day event is set for June 9-10 at the James B. Henry Center for Executive Development in Lansing. It will be presented by Great Lakes Entrepreneur?s Quest (GLEQ), Lansing Economic Area Partnership (Leap,
ANN ARBOR - At its annual meeting, Ann Arbor SPARK elected its officers, board of directors and executive committee for 2011-2012. New members to the Ann Arbor SPARK board of directors are Ric DeVore, regional president, PNC; Marty Kahn, CEO, ProQuest; Mike Miller, head of online sales, Canada, and head of Ann Arbor office, Google;
HOLLAND - Since Grand Angels was created in 2004, the angel investing group has made 18 investments for a total of $6.5 million. Half of those investments were in Western Michigan. This update was provided by Jody VanderWel, president Grand Angels, during an interview with MITechNews.Com Editor Mike Brennan at the Momentum Lean Startup Summit
FARMINGTON HILLS ? The public is invited to join leading business professionals for a networking event hosted by the Michigan Council of Women in Technology that promises to educate and inspire thinking about diversity and inclusion. Keynote speaker, Steve L. Robbins, published author and consultant, will confront the way we think about the world, while