GRAND RAPIDS - A consortium of regional partners, including the Michigan 21st Century Jobs Fund, have cobbled together a $10 million Venture Capital fund aimed at supporting early stage life science and technology companies. Michigan Accelerator Fund I has been made possible through a $6 million award from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and investments
KANSAS CITY ? The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation on Monday announced it has launched a web-based platform that helps colleges and universities simplify how they market and administer business-plan competitions. The iStart.Org is designed to connect entrepreneurs to a network of support, including mentors and others who can assist them in the growth of their
LANSING - While firm numbers are not yet final, indications are that Michigan's new workplace smoking ban will affect sales of Michigan Lottery club games, especially Keno, and could mean a drop in school funding from those games alone by $10 million. The executive director of the Michigan Licensed Beverage Association said his members are
ANN ARBOR - Swift Biosciences announced Wednesday it has completed a $3 million Series A financing round led by DFJ Mercury, a Houston, Texas based early stage venture capital company. DFJ Mercury was joined in the Series A by several Michigan-based individual investors who also helped launch the company with seed funding in January 2010.
LANSING - The Michigan budget shortfall facing Gov. Jennifer Granholm and the Legislature for the 2010-11 fiscal year shrunk by more than $300 million, and the state's public schools will likely receive an infusion of cash, as nearly $700 million in federal money is headed to Michigan as an aid package to the states received
LANSING - Personal incomes in most of Michigan's largest metro regions fell in 2009 compared to 2008, according to data released Monday by the U.S. Department of Commerce, but by far less than the average decline nationwide. The data, which looked at incomes in metro areas across the United States, also showed that in the
WASHINGTON DC - CEOs from Google and Verizon Communications on Monday announced a proposal to policymakers for keeping the Internet open. The companies jointly suggested a legislative framework for consideration by lawmakers. The major breakthrough in the proposal is an agreement that the nondiscrimination clause that the Federal Communications Commission has proposed as part of
LANSING - They just won their party's respective nominations, but Republican Rick Snyder has more support among likely voters than Democrat Virg Bernero, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll. The survey of 500 likely voters contacted the day after the primary showed Snyder with 49 percent support to Bernero's 37 percent. Another 3 percent of
LANSING - Republican gubernatorial nominee Rick Snyder sent a letter to Democratic nominee Virg Bernero on Wednesday urging that the two conduct three debates before the November election. While Bernero did not make an official response to the request, there are indications he will call for as many as eight debates. In the letter, Snyder
LANSING - With the two gubernatorial candidates set for November, one of their immediate focuses turns to the task of selecting a lieutenant governor nominee, and the question of drawing to each party's base has already emerged as a key factor in making a decision. For Republican Rick Snyder, the questions are two: whether he