Weekly Rewind: Ann Arbor’s Business News Recap

Events

• Lots of Ann Arbor representation at this year’s SXSW Online (March 16 – 19)! Learn more: Ann Arbor SPARK, Michigan House to host panels at SXSW

• Two upcoming economic forecasts
  • March 25: Washtenaw County
  • April 13: Livingston County 

Startup Ecosystem

• The State of the Startup: What’s Happening In Michigan Startup Funding?

• See how the Ann Arbor region compares to other U.S. tech hubs

• Ann Arbor-based Saganworks has plans for 3D digital museum, cafe, and retail shop

• Boosted by pivot to remote work, Ann Arbor cybersecurity company Blumira doubles staff during the pandemic.

• U-M’s Kelly Sexton: Biotech industry continues to thrive, find new solutions

• Clinical analytics startup Fifth Eye Inc. announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted its “de novo” classification to Fifth Eye’s Analytic for Hemodynamic Instability

• SPARK.grow Podcast: Conversations with Mike Klein, Genomenon

Mobility News

• Last-mile delivery robotics company Refraction AI raises $4.2 million in new VC funding

• SPARK’s Anne Partington joins the board at Women in Mobility, Detroit

Regional Updates

• U-M and Ford open a huge new robotics center
  “U-M’s Ford Motor Company Robotics Building is a four-story, $75 million, 134,000-square-foot complex situated on North Campus. As the new hub of the U-M Robotics Institute, its first three floors hold custom U-M research labs for robots that fly, walk, roll, and augment the human body—as well as classrooms, offices, and makerspaces. Through a unique agreement, the fourth floor houses Ford’s first robotics and mobility research lab on a university campus, as well as 100 Ford researchers and engineers.”

• Mortgage lender Home Point beats expectations on first earnings report

• Michigan work went remote. Businesses now weigh whether they need offices.

• The Village of Pinckney is one of ten finalists in a pitch competition called “Put Your Town on the Map”

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