A look back on this week’s economic development headlines, announcements, and other share-worthy news from the Ann Arbor region.
Dynamo Metrics “graduated” to new office space in Ann Arbor this week. Curious where SPARK innovation center graduates land after they leave? An interactive map can be found here.
Ann Arbor SPARK Helps Secure $170,000 in Site Readiness Grants for Washtenaw and Livingston Counties. Thanks to the MEDC, two properties will get funding to make sure they are ready for business investment — a Brownfield property we’re working on along Research Park Drive in Ann Arbor and the former Mitch Harris property near Fowlerville.
Livingston County-made Popcorn Company Growing into a National Company. “Sarafa credits Marcia Gebarowski, Ann Arbor SPARK’s business development director in Livingston County, with helping him find a grant for which he would be eligible to apply.”
Speaking of Livingston, this week Ann Arbor SPARK hosted a showcase of development opportunities at the Village of Pinckney, along with the MEDC. The Dio Theatre was the host, which is a great venue in downtown Pinckney.
In Ypsilanti this past week, A2 Mobility Tech met this week at the Ann Arbor SPARK East Innovation Center for an evening discussing “Strengthening Safety and Trust for Autonomous Vehicles with AI.” The night before, SPARK East co-hosted Ypsi’s 9th Hour, held at Decode Ypsilanti.
This week we hosted an SXSW Pitch Panel info session, in hopes to build on Ann Arbor’s incredible success at the SXSW competition last year, when we had three Ann Arbor-based startups pitch and two companies win. Look for more on this subject, including additional info sessions around the state, in the near future.
INDUSTRY ARTICLES
Here’s Why Ford’s Acquisition [of Quantum Signal] Is Brilliant – “One intriguing aspect about this acquisition that many investors overlook is how a company like Quantum can attract talent that Ford historically could not.”
Orbion Space Technology raises $9.2 million, with participation from SPARK and several other local equity investment funds.
NCRC celebrates 10 years – what was a huge moment for Ann Arbor when Pfizer left, has become a boon for U-M’s research capabilities over the past 10 years.
LLamasoft Reports Significant Revenue and Customer Growth in First Half of 2019
