Eight Grand Rapids technology startups are among dozens of businesses statewide selected to receive a combined $3 million from Michigan’s Tech Start Up Stabilization Fund.
On Thursday, the Michigan Economic Development Corp. (MEDC) announced 58 companies that would receive financial support ranging from $10,000 to $125,000. The fund is administered by ID Ventures in Detroit and designed to help companies trudge through the economic hardships brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Greg Clark, Inductive Intelligence
The funds are intended to prop up these tech businesses, helping them to retain their workforce, advance vital high-tech research initiatives and support operating costs, in addition to meeting other critical needs.
Grand Rapids-based recipients are Assemble Technologies, CertifID LLC, Eighty-Six Inc., Inductive Intelligence, The Patient Co., Sportsman Tracker, Towel Tracker and VNN Inc.
“We’re using the funds we received to make payroll and keep our technology development moving forward,” said Greg Clark, co-founder and CEO of Inductive Intelligence, which develops products that harness induction technology to heat and cook food and beverages. Clark did not disclose the amount his company received.
“Invest Detroit’s support at this time is invaluable to a small startup company as ours, and their support of the broader entrepreneurial ecosystem is an enormous asset to us and the state,” he added. “We need more firms like Invest Detroit, if we want to keep young people, technology and startups in the state of Michigan.”
The MEDC announced in April that ID Ventures would administer the fund, which was designated for companies with fewer than 50 employees and that were especially affected by the economic fallout from the pandemic. The fund garnered 214 applicants from around the state.
“This outbreak presented unprecedented challenges for businesses of all sizes over the past three months, and we are proud to help support Michigan’s small businesses to not only survive COVID-19, but continue innovating long after,” MEDC CEO Mark Burton in a statement. “The technologies and discoveries these small businesses are pursuing will have an invaluable impact on our ability to strengthen and rebuild our state’s economy over the coming months as we work to enable economic prosperity across all corners of our state.”
As criteria for choosing applicants, fund administrators looked for companies that demonstrated a strong customer value proposition, comprised a team with proven execution capability and were on a path for an additional round of funding before COVID-19 struck.
More than half of the fund’s recipients specialized in advanced information, but the companies also belong to industries that included life sciences, mobility and advanced manufacturing.
