Innovation & Job News

Karma Yoga is growing in a number of ways. The Bloomfield Hills-based yoga center has been adding different types of classes, new types of customers, more staff to serve them, looking at opening a second location and partnering with a Detroit school.

The 9-year-old company now employs 25 people after hiring 10 over the last year, and there are plans to add more next year. Spurring that growth in staff is an expansion of yoga classes to a wider audience. Karma Yoga now offers family oriented yoga classes, such as pre-natal yoga classes for mothers and yoga classes for parents and their new babies. The company is also looking at adding yoga classes that service both parents and young children.

"Because of that I have been increasing my staff and my staff has been adding to its knowledge so it now has the certifications to teach those classes," says Katherine Austin, owner of Karma Yoga.

Karma Yoga is also working to establish a partnership with the Catherine Ferguson Academy, a high school in Detroit that specializes in education for pregnant teens and teen mothers. Austin Would like to begin teaching pre-natal yoga classes there.

Austin is also looking at expanding to a second location in 2013. Her business has increased its workload by 25 percent over the last year and expects it to keep growing in 2013.

"I'm really looking for a future expansion in another location," Austin says. We're really outgrowing our space."

Source: Katherine Austin, owner of Karma Yoga
Writer: Jon Zemke

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

Kors Engineering is experiencing a good bit of growth in Waterford thanks to a new partnership with Plex Systems and diversification of its client base.

The 35-year-old business specializes on systems integration and automation for manufacturers and other industrial facilities. It focused more on facilities before this last year when it started to focus more on integrating manufacturing equipment to the SAAS-based ERP system employed by Auburn Hills-based Plex Systems.

"It has provided new growth opportunities," says Tony Kaczmarek, president of Kors Engineering.

That has prompted Kors Engineering to ramp up its operations and cross-train its employees to handle the increased workload. The firm is now looking at adding a couple of controls engineers to its staff of 12 people. It's also looking to add an intern or two in 2013.

Kaczmarek sees his company continuing to grow the manufacturing-integration-side of the business in 2013. It is looking at expanding further into Plex Systems' diverse customer base, such as adding food manufacturers.

"We're adapting into that product side," Kaczmarek says.

Source: Tony Kaczmarek, president of Kors Engineering
Writer: Jon Zemke

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

Brenda Arbelaez has been in business for 30 years, running her language-services business PALS INTERNATIONAL. She sums up the secret to her business success in a few sentences.

"My passion for helping people," Arbelaez says. "It was never about the money. It's a beautiful thing to do."

Arbelaez, a native of Colombia, has molded PALS INTERNATIONAL into a language training, translation, live-and-telephone interpretation, foreign language voice-over, and cross-cultural education company. The Troy-based firm has serviced the Big 3 but now primarily helps automaker suppliers, both local and foreign, conduct business internationally.

PALS INTERNATIONAL has grown to a staff of 25 people after hiring a sales manager and translator in 2012. Arbelaez points out that her business is going strong despite the many recessions it has weathered during its time.

"Every four or five years we seem to have a recession," Arbelaez says. "We have survived all of them."

Source: Brenda Arbelaez, president & founder of PALS INTERNATIONAL
Writer: Jon Zemke

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

Metro Detroit start-ups ran away with the top prizes in this year's Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition earlier this month.

Plymouth-based Algal Scientific took home the grand prize of $500,000 in seed capital for its wastewater treatment system technology that uses algae to remove nutrients from contaminated water, leaving the raw materials for biofuel production. Livonia-based nanoMAG took home the $100,000 runner-up prize for its work developing a new type of Magnesium compound that can be used for biocompatible stents and implants.

Six people and an intern are now employed at nanoMAG, which moved from Ann Arbor to Livonia about a year ago to take advantage of a manufacturing facility. It expects to hire a few more people next year as it continues development of its technology. Steven LeBeau, president of nanoMAG, plans to use the cash and the win to leverage an even bigger seed capital round next year.

"We're using the contest as a PR tool to get in touch with people we have been in contact with over the last year for fundraising," LeBeau says. "We're hoping to leverage the $100,000 into seven figures."

Other Metro Detroit winners include:

- InfiChem Polymers, which won the $25,000 prize in the the Advanced Materials category.  The Sterling Heights-based start-up reuses a main chemical in polyurethane foam as a basic building block to manufacture new polyurethane foam. The old polyurethane foam comes from post-industrial scrap that is normally landfilled.
- BioSavita, which won the $25,000 price in the Life Sciences category. The Plymouth-based start-up is developing biotechnology focused on accelerating therapeutic antibody development.
- Coliant, which won the $25,000 prize in the Next Generation Manufacturing category. The Warren-based start-up's Powerlet brand is an electrical accessory in the powersport industry that allows users of things like motorcycles and ATVs to plug their gadgets into the vehicle.

Source: Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition and Steven LeBeau, president of nanoMAG
Writer: Jon Zemke

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

The advertising firm Organic continues to grow its presence in Bloomfield Hills. The firm has hired 20 people over the last year, expanding its Metro Detroit office to 120 people.

Driving this growth is the continued work from relatively new clients like Kimberly-Clark and Hilton Worldwide. Organic now handles five more brands within the Kimberly-Clark business. It has also landed work with Volkswagon, which company executives are promoting as quite the coup.

"That was a big accomplishment for us," says Joe DiMeglio, senior vice president & general manager of Organic.

DiMeglio expects most of the company's growth to come from within its existing customer base in 2013. That growth should allow the firm to continue hiring at a brisk pace next year.

"There is a ton of opportunity for us there," DiMeglio says.

Source: Joe DiMeglio, senior vice president & general manager of Organic
Writer: Jon Zemke

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

The folks behind Brilliant Chemistry are so creative that they not only came up with a clever name for their tech-based marketing agency but they came up with an original way of describing it.

"We don't like to be called an agency," says Carl Rundell, partner with Brilliant Chemistry. "We liked to be called an ideation studio."

The downtown Royal Oak-based firm more accurately bills itself as a "creative technology and ideation studio." And it has been living up to that billing it its first year of doing business. The company has been creating awareness for its crowdfunding app, eRaise, through a campaign to purchase the Hostess brands (think Twinkies and Ding Dongs) with crowd-funded capital called "Dough for Hostess."

It also recently created an anti-bullying app for Defeat the Label, which is non-profit organization with the mission to make an impact against bullying. The app will help students report bullying anonymously, engage the bullying through a national call center and analyze data collected from it.

"We wanted to create a ubiquitous application that can fit across any organization," Rundell says.

Brilliant Chemistry employs six people and the occasional intern.

Source: Carl Rundell, partner with Brilliant Chemistry
Writer: Jon Zemke

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

ShindelRock started looking to fill a new position a few weeks ago and ended up with two new employees.

The Novi-based accounting firm values its company culture and often has a difficult time finding the right people that fit in it. So when the opportunity to hire two people that not only fit that mold but will help accommodate the company's projected growth, it jumped at the chance.

"When she (the second employee) came to us we said we had to have her," says Maria Montie, managing partner with ShindelRock.

The 22-year-old company now employs 22 people and the occasional intern. The company has watched its revenue jump 10 percent in 2012 and it expects its bottom line to continue to grow for the foreseeable future.

"We're seeing businesses starting to expand, which is nice," Montie says. "Now clients are starting to seek us out."

ShindelRock has enjoyed growth is a number off different areas in recent years. Those sectors include handling the finances for big physician groups, estate trust work, litigation support and damages work, i.e. helping with business partner disputes or divorces.

"We plan on continuing to grow in these areas," Montie says.

Source: Maria Montie, managing partner with ShindelRock
Writer: Jon Zemke

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

The people behind Brooks Kushman talk about valuing quality of the business it does over the quantity of growth it can achieve. That doesn't mean the Southfield-based intellectual property law firm isn't growing.

The nearly 30-year-old law firm 12 people over the last year, expanding the company's staff to 150 people and six interns. The firm's executives expect that sort of growth to continue.

"That's pretty much going to continue for the next few years," says Mark Cantor, president of Brooks Kushman. "We have 75 lawyers now. We want to get to 100 lawyers over the next few years. That would put our staff at about 225 people."
 
Brooks Kushman was recently recognized as a leading law firm in the 2013 Best Lawyers in America "Best Law Firms" list. Brooks Kushman was ranked on both the national level and the Metro Detroit list as a "Best Law Firm," receiving a National Tier 2 ranking in trademark law, a National Tier 3 ranking in patent law and a Metro Detroit Tier 1 ranking in litigation-intellectual property, litigation-patent, patent law and trademark law.

"It's the quality of the work you do, not your size," Cantor says.

Source: Mark Cantor, president of Brooks Kushman
Writer: Jon Zemke

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

The Michigan Israel Business Bridge is looking to raise money for its Educational Foundation, an initiative that will help the Bloomfield Hills-based non-profit continue to bridge the burgeoning entrepreneurial ecosystems in the Great Lakes State and Israel.

The Michigan Israel Business Bridge Education Foundation has received a matching challenge grant from an anonymous donor for all donations made in November and December. The non-profit hopes to raise between $20,000 and $30,000.

"That will allow us to continue to do the work we're doing, reaching out to even more businesses and communities to bring more business from Israel to Michigan," says Pam Lippitt, executive director of Michigan Israel Business Bridge.

The Michigan Israel Business Bridge was established five years ago to help create more connections between Israel and Michigan. The focus is on helping facilitate more commerce but also branches into other areas, such as helping connect stem cell researchers at the University of Michigan with funding sources in Israel.

Israel is smaller than Michigan but has more than 3,000 companies centered on life sciences, homeland security, alternative energy, water technology, and agro-industry, with more engineers and scientists per capita than any other country in the world. Israel was dubbed the "start-up nation" by authors Dan Senor and Saul Singer.

For information, click here or call 248-642-1701.

Source: Pam Lippitt, executive director of Michigan Israel Business Bridge
Writer: Jon Zemke

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

Pleasant Ridge-based ePrize has added 140 new jobs over the last year, the lion's share of which are in its Oakland County headquarters. The tech firm also has 25 open positions that it's looking to fill at an open house today.

The technology meet and greet will feature the latest in what the digital engagement software firm has to offer. It's also looking to attract people to become the newest members of the company's team, including professionals who specialize in software engineering, quality assurance, front-end web development, technical project management and systems support.

"We're expecting to do a lot more hiring in this area in 2013," says Sarah Sheffer, a corporate recruiter for ePrize. "We're hoping to find a few good employees."

The 13-year-old company was founded by Josh Linkner, the current CEO of Detroit Venture Partners, in 1999. It has since grown to 425 people and 20 summer interns. Of those employees, 320 work in Pleasant Ridge. Catterton Partners, a Connecticut-based private-equity firm, acquired ePrize earlier this year.

Shortly after that ePrize spun out LevelEleven, a tech start-up that creates a sales force mobile app. The venture-backed start-up now calls the M@dison Building home and is hiring. The executives behind ePrize are looking to do more of that and are hoping attractive more software talent will help push that along in 2013. The company expects to hire another 50-100 people next year.

"The lion's share of these hires would be in Pleasant Ridge," says Mark Schell, senior director of talent for ePrize.

Source: Mark Schell, senior director of talent for ePrize and Sarah Sheffer, a corporate recruiter for ePrize
Writer: Jon Zemke

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

DataFactZ has enjoyed a growth trend since it opened its doors for business nine years ago. The data-warehousing-and-IT firm has seen double-digit revenue increases in each of those years, including nearly 30 percent growth over the last year.

Propelling that growth is expanded business with some big local corporate names, such as Meijer and Domino's Pizza. It's IT work has helped those companies tweak their business models to become more efficient and profitable.

"The reason we are able to grow is because of the total quality of the projects we deliver," says Krishna Kallakuri, vice president of DataFactZ.

DataFactZ recently hired 12 people in Michigan, most of which are at its Northville headquarters. The company is looking to acquire a similar firm of similar size in Michigan in 2013 to complement its organic growth.

"We are projecting steady growing and more project growth in the next six months," Kallakuri says.

Source: Krishna Kallakuri, vice president of DataFactZ
Writer: Jon Zemke

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

Beringea is adding to both its company portfolio and staff, taking advantage of the Michigan Venture Fellowship Program to grow its office of 25 people.

"We needed more hands on the oars," says Charlie Rothstein, founder & senior managing director of Beringea. "(Our Michigan Venture Fellows Program fellow) brings experience and great analytical ability to the team. It's a reflection that we are a growing business and we wanted to add to our team here in Michigan."

Beringea is Michigan's largest venture capital firm. It's based in Farmington Hills but also has an office in London. It make late-stage investments and has a portfolio of about 60 companies. There are a number of Michigan-based firms in that mix, including Ann Arbor-based Molecular Imaging Research and Mophie, a smartphone accessory maker that is hitting its stride.

"It will do $115 million in sales volume this year," Rothstein says. "It's doing fantastically well."

The Michigan Venture Fellowship Program is a new talent-placement initiative headed up by the Michigan Venture Capital Association. This is its first year, placing four individuals looking to break into the venture capital investment sector with prominent local VCs, like Beringea and Detroit Venture Partners.

"It's a great model that others can follow," Rothstein says. "We are using it to tap into the talent we have here in Michigan."

Source: Charlie Rothstein, founder & senior managing director of Beingea
Writer: Jon Zemke

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

ProNAi continues to raise millions of dollars for its research in Plymouth. The 8-year-old start-up brought in $2 million this year and has raised $20 million in total from the likes of the Apjohn Ventures Fund and the Grand Angels.

Those funds have allowed the company to expand to eight employees and the occasional intern after hiring five people in the last year. The life sciences firm is developing a cancer-fighting drug. It recently finished its initial human clinical trial and has to conduct two more clinical trails before it can be approved by the Food & Drug Administration.

"The drug targets cancer cells and is designed to kill cancer cells," says Mina Sooch, CEO of ProNAi. "Simply put, it doesn't kill normal cells. We had little-to-no side effects in the study that we just conducted."

Sooch expects the next clinical trails to take at least four years. Commercialization could come within five years. In the meantime, Sooch and her team continue to raise more money to push the development of the drug forward.

Source: Mina Sooch, CEO of ProNAi
Writer: Jon Zemke

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

AutoBike just launched out of a brand-name business accelerator, landed five-figures worth of seed funding and is getting ready to start producing the next generation of easy-shifting bicycles from Troy.

The 1-year-old start-up is developing an automatic shifter for bicycles. The new shifter employs a system that constantly monitors the bike and how its rider is peddling, allowing it to automatically shift to the gear for the optimal ride. AutoBike is developing both the shift and a bike to go with it for its first sales.

"Now we have the production bikes integrated with the production shifters," says Sean Simpson, CEO of AutoBike. "Now we can take pre-orders and on the bikes which should arrive in early 2013."

AutoBike recently completed the 3-month-intensive business accelerator program at Betaspring in Rhode Island. Its team of eight people also recently won $10,000 in seed capital at the University of Michigan's Victors Challenge.

The company is using that cash and more like to finish production of its initial product sample bikes. It hopes to sell the bikes with its shifter (both road and mountain bikes) at first and then use that as a way to attract other bicycle manufacturers to include the shifter in their bikes.

"People riding the bikes themselves is what's really going to drive this," Simpson says.

Source: Sean Simpson, CEO of AutoBike
Writer: Jon Zemke

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

Level One Bank is becoming one of the largest banks in Oakland County now that it has acquired Oxford Bank, putting it just behind the likes of Flagstar Bank, Talmer Bank & Trust and Sterling Bank & Trust.

Level One Bank now has combined assets of approximately $750 million and 15 bank branches. It opened a new branch in Bloomfield Township earlier this year and has hired 30 people before the acquisition. The newer, bigger Level One Bank now employs 195 people. The Farmington Hills-based bank now has branches in both southern and northern Oakland County after the acquisition.

"Oakland County is the eighth wealthiest county with more than 1 million people," says Dave Walker, executive vice president & CFO of Level One Bank. "Most of the rest of those counties are on the coasts."

Level One Bank is also moving into a new office in Farmington Hills overlooking I-696. The new space clocks in at 65,000 square feet of space, which nearly triple the size of it current offices. Walker expects to occupy about half of that space right away and use the rest of it to accommodate growth in the next few years.

Source: Dave Walker, executive vice president & CFO of Level One Bank
Writer: Jon Zemke

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