Midtown : News

Shinola Watch Co. gives the Swiss some competition with precision watches plus hundreds of jobs.

Watch the video here. 

SIB Medical Technologies took second place in the student portion of the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition last month.

It's a win that brought $15,000 in seed capital to the Wayne State University spin-out, among other things. The startup's co-founders made a large number of contacts at the event, which was held in downtown Detroit. Contacts that helped get the word out about the up-and-coming biotech firm.

"There was a marketing aspect as well," says Adham Aljahmi, co-founder & COO of SIB Medical Technologies.

The 1-year-old company is developing a medical device that its co-founders hope will become the simpler and cheaper option for colon-cancer screening that will eventually open the door for home screenings. The technology preserves tissue samples in a liquid solution rather than with heavy, bulky cryogenic materials. Check out a video explaining it here.

"Our device allows for a cleaner-and-simpler approach to collecting stool samples for testing," Aljahmi says. He and Sagor Bhuiyan, seniors at Wayne State University, created the technology. They have been working with TechTown and the Blackstone LaunchPad business incubator at Wayne State to develop the technology.

They are using the prize money from Accelerate Michigan a $5,000 grant from the Warrior Fund to launch a second pilot study next year.

"We hope to get it started by at least the beginning of the summer," Aljahmi says.

Source: Adham Aljahmi, co-founder & COO of SIB Medical Technologies
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Microcide, a clean-tech cleaning firm, is starting to make a name for itself and is aiming to become a household name in 2014.

The Midtown-based business, it calls the Metropolitan Center for High Technology home, made the semifinals of the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition this fall. It is also prepping to bump up its marketing efforts next year in an effort to scale it sales.

"We are selling to grocery stores and food processing companies," says John Lopes, president of Microcide.

Microcide makes nontoxic and environmentally safe microbicidal cleaning supplies for personal care, public health, food and agriculture industries. They range from non-toxic soaps to mouthwashes.

"We thought we could do it without adding extra toxins to the environment and help improve the health of people," Lopes says.

Microcide employs three people. It holds close to a dozen patents for its technologies. It is also looking at moving to a bigger space next year.

Source: John Lopes, president of Microcide
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

If you haven't already, you might soon see a familiar brand featured in a national American Express Small Business Saturday/Shop Small campaign. Our very own Pure Detroit is one of five small businesses from across the country featured in a series of Shop Small videos from American Express. The campaign launched Nov. 4 and will run through the rest of the month.
 
The two-minute video highlights the three Pure Detroit shops and their employees, loyal customers, and the variety of cultural programming they host.
 
In this video Pure Detroit, which celebrates 15 years in business this year, announces the launch of their Detroit Small Business Passport, which encourages customers to shop at all of the other independent retailers throughout the city by receiving "Shop Small" stamps when they make a purchase at each of the 18-plus participating locations, unlocking various discounts and freebies. Passports are now available for pickup at each of Pure Detroit's locations in the Renaissance Center, Guardian Building, and Fisher Building and will be active and valid through Jan. 31, 2014.
 
Particpating passport retailers include Pure Detroit, Vera Jane, Stella Good Coffee, HUMAN, RUNdetroit, Cass Corridog, Nest, City Bird, Detroit Hardware, Source Booksellers, Emily’s Fashion Place, Todd’s Facets & Jewelry, Detroit Athletic Co., Workshop, Hugh, Nora, Detroit Gallery of Contemporary Crafts, and the Rowland Cafe. Each business is offering at least 10 percent off your purchase (terms vary per store).
 
Source: Ryan Hooper, Creative Director for Pure Detroit
Writer: Nicole Rupersburg 

Got a Development News story to share? Email Nicole here.

Ebony Rutherford remembers her first job out of college. It was a sales position in the corporate world that demanded a better wardrobe than the average student has in their closet. She ended up nearly breaking her bank account getting the right clothes for the job.

That experience inspired Rutherford to start Trish’s Garage, a consulting business that helps students and recent grads put together a professional look on a budget.

"I want to help college students who are making the transition from school to work without breaking the bank," says Rutherford, who is also a seamstress. Part of her business is consulting on the best clothing buys to make. The other part is providing them with some affordable options.

"So you can find a pieces to put together with your cool jeans or skirt," Rutherford says.

Rutherford has graduated from D:hive's BUILD program, which teaches business basics to aspiring entrepreneurs, and TechTown's Retail Boot Camp program this year. "They were my spark of joy," she says. "If their resources weren’t available to me my business wouldn’t be where it is right now."

The name Trish's Garage is play on t-shirts (which Rutherford loves) and the Motor City's heritage. "I took the word "shirts" and made it into a gird (Trish)," Rutherford says. She plans to open a retail outlet in Midtown or on the Avenue of Fashion (Livernois in Detroit’s University District neighborhood) early next year.

Source: Ebony Rutherford, founder of Trish’s Garage
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

DragAroundMe is looking to make it easy for people to share large files online. The TechTown-based startup is creating software that will enable its users to share large documents in a more efficient manner.

"The idea is to simplify file-sharing ability," says Kum Wang, founder of DragAroundMe.

Wang was inspired to start the company six months ago to help make it easier for college researchers to share large files. What makes DragAroundMe's technology unique is that its users can drag and drop its files in a place that will make them easily accessible to all of its users in the group and erase them after 24 hours unless the users designate them to remain.

"After 24 hours everything is gone," Wang says.

DragAroundMe has participated in TechTown's accelerator programs this summer and is a semi-finalist in the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition. The startup's team of five people is still developing the technology, Wang says its development is nearly complete, with an eye on the higher-education market.

Source: Kum Wang, founder of DragAroundMe
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Excerpt:

Artist John Dunivant spent a decade building up the Theatre Bizarre carnival near the old Michigan State Fairgrounds site — outside the law — before the law’s long arm finally caught up with him in 2010, putting the kibosh on that year’s event at the venue. Dunivant, though devastated, wasn’t to be stopped and the 2010 Theatre Bizarre was held at the Fillmore with only 18 hours’ notice. The following year, it moved to the Masonic Temple, which has been its home ever since.

Read more. 

Excerpt:

Rachel Maddow celebrates the use of a 60-foot, fire-breathing, rolling, mechanical dragon (with DJ booth in the back) to protest the possibility that the holdings of the Detroit City Art Museum could be auctioned to help settle some of the city's debts.

View the video. 

Excerpt:

The national coverage of Detroit's recent bankruptcy filing reminds me of 1967, when rebellion erupted in the city after police raided an illegal after-hours bar. It was one of the worst of the riots that roiled the country during the 1960s in Watts, Newark, Chicago, and other places.

Detroit remains a major American city.

Read more. 

Excerpt:

There's a strip on Lahser Road near Grand River Avenue in Detroit where you can find a slice of sweet potato pie that you'll swear was made by your mom, a coffee shop offering piping hot lattes or fruity smoothies, a vintage clothing store for your browsing pleasure and a shoe repair shop that will make your boots look brand new.

Read more. 

Excerpt: 

Detroit has an open-door policy, and it goes something like this: What you see is what you get.

There is no slick skin, no artifice. Thankfully, some people get us. They understand what it means to operate simply and honestly. It’s how we make the sausage, so to speak. It’s messy and it’s complicated and it’s necessary. And that’s what makes this city work.

Read more. 

Excerpt:

The debt-laden city of Detroit has been an incubator for new strategies in urban revitalization, including a downtown People Mover, casinos, urban farms, artist colonies and large scale down-sizing.

In the wake of the city's bankruptcy, many in the community are thinking small.

Read more. 

Detroit-based startups and organizations did well at the first Pure Michigan Social Entrepreneurship Challenge, taking home $76,000 of the $93,000 in seed capital awarded.

A couple of those winners came from a local same small business incubator, Green Garage. The Midtown-based incubator describes itself a "a business enterprise, and a community of people dedicated to Detroit's sustainable future" on its website. It adds that its "principal business focus is helping triple bottom line businesses grow naturally." Triple bottom line businesses focus on the economic, ecological, and social aspects of their enterprise.

That focus means Green Garage attracts a lot of social entrepreneurs who are looking to improve their community through their business. One of its early clients, Fresh Corner Cafe, is a startup that is helping bring healthy eating options to corner stores in underserved areas of Detroit. The 3-year-old business took first place in the Emerging Company category of the Pure Michigan Social Entrepreneurship Challenge. Noam Kimelman, co-owner of Fresh Corner Cafe, credits Green Garage's tutelage as a major factor in his company's win.

"Once you're in this space there are a lot of advantages to be had, ranging from networking to resources that allow us to grow," Kimelman says.

Fresh Corner Cafe has expanded its staff to 10 people over the last year thanks to three recent hires. The $20,000 it won at the Pure Michigan Social Entrepreneurship Challenge (the second largest prize) will go toward a larger fundraising round (with a goal of raising $50,000) to grow its reach even further.

Patronicity is another Green Garage startup that placed at the Pure Michigan Social Entrepreneurship Challenge. It won the Millennial Social Innovation Prize (worth $3,000) for its crowd-funding platform that focuses on connecting local projects with local donors. Chris Blauvelt, the company's founder, believes Green Garage's entrepreneurial ecosystem helped significantly in Patronicity's win at the competition.

"Everyone supports one another," Blauvelt says. "We want to collaborate with each other. That mindset is powerful."

Source: Noam Kimelman, co-owner of Fresh Corner Cafe and Chris Blauvelt, founder of Patronicity
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

When it comes to crowd funding, Detroit is an early adopter. Detroiters have harnessed the idea of gathering small donations from many over the Internet to make a number of projects happen that might otherwise not. Now the Motor City is working to become an innovator in crowd funding with a new startup, Patronicity.

The Midtown-based company, it calls Green Garage home, is creating a software platform that makes crowd funding more local. The problem with crowd funding platforms now is they are so popular it creates an environment filled with white noise of a growing number of projects from all corners of the world competing for the same dollars. Patronicity cuts through that by creating a funding environment with only local projects in a Metro area.

"They can't donate to you because they can't find you," says Chris Blauvett, founder & CEO of Patronicity. "There is so much noise out there."

Patronicity currently has helped eight local projects since its official launch in March. One of those is helping Treats by Angelique, a local baker starting a business from scratch, raise $2,000 to buy a computer and other electronics to help grow her business. Before that Treats by Angelique's owner, Angelique Robinson, ran the business from her smart phone. Eight hundred dollars of that $2,000 came from Robinson's personal network.

"That was nice because we were driving more business toward local business," Blauvett says.

Patronicity is composed of two employees and three interns. Last week it won the Millennial Social Innovation Prize at Pure Michigan Social Entrepreneurship Challenge, a win worth $3,000 in seed capital. Blauvett plans to grow Patronicity throughout Metro Detroit this year and expand to Ohio next year. He hopes to help projects in those areas raise more than $1 million over the next year.

Source: Chris Blauvett, founder & CEO of Patronicity
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Today, McDowell is part of that phenomenon. He has a hip gig at the M@dison Building, Quicken Loan’s Founder and Chairman Dan Gilbert’s remarkable transformation of a crumbling downtown movie palace built in 1917 into a high-tech incubator. McDowell works for mobile app developer Detroit Labs, one of the startups that, assisted by Detroit Ventures Partners, fill the M@dison with new, web-based businesses.

Read more.