Displaying items tagged: Start Garden LLC

Anew nonprofit organization looks to build a network of startup company founders across Michigan that entrepreneurs can turn to for support and advice while also growing their philanthropy work.

GRAND RAPIDS — Food, technology and recycling startups were among the 10 winners to receive individual $20,000 awards at this year’s 100 competition hosted by Grand Rapids-based business incubator Start Garden LLC.

GRAND RAPIDS — The city’s Local Development Finance Authority has recommended that Start Garden Inc. and Spartan Innovations L3C administer the Grand Rapids SmartZone business incubator through a collaborative approach.  

When Darren Riley graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in 2014, he took with him in-demand skills rooted in software development and cybersecurity.

After taking a year off, Start Garden is bringing back a business pitch competition that awards $1,000 to 100 contestants and $20,000 to 10 finalists.

GRAND RAPIDS — The autonomous shuttle that runs through downtown could transition to an on-demand format with new vehicles under a proposal before city officials to renew the pilot program that’s set to expire on April 30.

GRAND RAPIDS — City officials are seeking proposals from companies to operate its business incubator as part of a broader push to bring more equity to economic development.

Michigan cannabis businesses have overwhelmingly white ownership despite the state’s 2018 voter-approved marijuana law encouraging participation by people who have been “disproportionately impacted by marijuana prohibition and enforcement.”

The corporate foundations of the state’s two major energy utilities have distributed nearly $26.5 million in direct relief funds to meet basic needs such as food, shelter and personal protective equipment since the COVID-19 pandemic began. 

Kent County officials have provided $40,000 to help minority business owners facing language barriers access COVID-19 relief funding.

GRAND RAPIDS — Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. is reallocating $50,000 it initially budgeted for ArtPrize 2020 toward a new event tentatively planned for September. 

Kent County’s top official says it is “critically important” that a $25 million business relief program launched this week is accessible to minority-owned businesses, following recent criticism that the program isn’t properly compensating minority business and social equity groups for their assistance.

Ryan Vaughn can count many accomplishments over the last decade after co-founding and scaling VNN Inc., originally known as Varsity News Network. 

  GRAND RAPIDS — In partnering on a $25 million small business relief fund, Kent County and the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce want to tap a number of community and entrepreneurial support organizations to get the word out to companies and provide volunteers to vet grant applicants. 

The foundation for the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce wants to raise another $2 million for an emergency relief fund for small businesses affected by closures from the COVID-19 pandemic.

GRAND RAPIDS — At $6.9 billion in revenue for its most recent fiscal year, Spectrum Health holds significant economic clout and buying power in the Michigan economy.

GRAND RAPIDS — A business accelerator in East Lansing wants to extend into Grand Rapids this fall to tap into the local entrepreneurial ecosystem and support more high-tech startups.

GRAND RAPIDS — Aiming to create greater ethnic and racial diversity in business ownership across the region, The Right Place Inc. teamed with Bank of America and the Consumers Energy Foundation to form a capital investment fund.

Corey Hart returned to Grand Rapids last September to find that support for entrepreneurship and startup companies had grown well beyond what it was when he left for California a decade earlier.

GRAND RAPIDS — The economic power of  Grand Rapids’ immigrant community grew by more than $100 million in just one year.

GRAND RAPIDS — More than seven years, $2 million and 500 companies later, Varnum LLP signed on for a third round of providing free legal services to help new companies get off the ground. The Grand Rapids-based law firm will give away another $1 million in legal services through the MiSpringboard program that launched in 2011 under a push by then-Gov. Rick Snyder to support entrepreneurism as Michigan’s economy began recovering from the Great Recession.

GRAND RAPIDS — When  realized it needed to add vehicles to its fleet to grow the business, founder Rich Flowers ran into some roadblocks familiar to many African American and minority entrepreneurs. 

GRAND RAPIDS –– An array of organizations in West Michigan have launched new initiatives aimed at bridging the wealth gap in a region characterized by vast income disparities.

GRAND RAPIDS –– The city of Grand Rapids over the next year will join the growing ranks of cities around the world seeking to enhance their data management practices.

Mayors and city officials across Michigan consider economic development a top priority in their communities, but they tend to put more emphasis on placemaking and quality of life than jobs and entrepreneurship.

More automotive suppliers these days are finding it’s easier to buy cutting-edge technology companies than to develop the complex systems on their own.

GRAND RAPIDS — A growing manufacturer of high-tech food carts could serve as an example of the kind of business development that’s possible in West Michigan.

MOVE Systems International, a New York City-based manufacturer of eco-friendly food carts and accompanying electrical systems, plans to expand its manufacturing facilities in West Michigan.

LANSING — A New York-based venture capital firm wants to propel Michigan’s nascent fashion industry to runways everywhere.

Oxx LLC, a manufacturer of rugged appliances, closed a $2 million capital raise earlier this month.