SE Michigan firms dominate Accelerate Michigan competition

Eleven startups took home cash prizes at last week's Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition and each one of them is based in southeast Michigan.

While Ann Arbor-based firms took home the lion's share of the winnings, companies based in Metro Detroit also won some of the category awards worth $25,000 apiece. Those winners included Wixom-based SurClean (Product and Service category), Plymouth-based Beet Analytics Technology (Manufacturing), and Detroit-based Inventev (Advanced Transportation).

Ann Arbor-based firms SkySpecs (drone technology) and Cribspot (online platform for off-campus housing) took the top two spots worth $500,000 and $100,000, respectively. Ann Arbor startups also took six of the nine category wins. More info on those here.

Accelerate Michigan is an annual business plan competition held in downtown Detroit. It aims to promote and grow the cream of the crop of startups based in Michigan or looking to move to the Great Lakes state. Its $1 million in prize money and services also serves as a motivational tool to push startups closer to investment and commercialization.

"It's a very good learning process," says David Wang, CEO of Beet Analytics Technology. "I have never prepared so much for a 10-minute pitch process."

Beet Analytics Technology provides diagnostic and analytical tools that accelerate problem solving in complex manufacturing and automation operations. Its software improves problem identification and reduces production downtime so the user can optimize productivity gains.

SurClean is developing a laser-based technology that replaces the harmful chemicals, media blasting, and other abrasives typically used in the removal of paint and other coatings from aircraft, vessels, and bridges undergoing maintenance. Its technology uses a laser beam to disintegrate and remove paint and other coatings like rust from substrate in a cost-effective, safe, energy-efficient and earth-friendly way.

Inventev is creating a hybrid-electric system for commercial trucks. The technology is a new transmission architecture that allows electric machines to operate other aspects of the trucks, such as the hydraulic lift. That way the truck's diesel engines don't need to idle while they dump their load.

Source: David Wang, CEO of Beet Analytics Technology
Writer: Jon Zemke

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