Press

This is an article about portfolio company, Refraction AI.

The testing comes after a city council resolution passed a few years ago asking City staff to explore robotic delivery models.

AUSTIN, Texas — Don’t worry, robots are not invading South Congress Avenue – at least not yet!

On Monday, the Austin Transportation Department said crews were out testing a fleet of 10 personal delivery devices throughout the district and surrounding neighborhoods to assist with “last-mile deliveries.”

The department said the three-wheeled devices are owned and operated by a private company called Refraction AI. This company launched a similar service in Michigan in 2019.

View source version on kvue.com: https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/austin-transportation-department-testing-delivery-bots-on-south-congress/269-f93707d6-a746-425a-98ff-2c41ce796905

This is an article about portfolio company, GreenMark Biomedical.

East Lansing-based GreenMark Biomedical Inc. is an entrepreneurial instance of how “it takes a village.”

The corporate, which obtained approval from the Meals and Drug Administration in March for dentists to make use of its oral rinse made with starch nanoparticles to detect tooth decay a lot sooner than beforehand attainable, has raised or gained greater than $6 million in funding from massive grants and all kinds of angel and institutional traders across the state, together with three seed funds financed by the Michigan Financial Growth Corp.

View source version on crainsdetroit.com: https://www.crainsdetroit.com/crains-michigan-business/greenmark-biomedicals-nanoparticle-technology-could-change-game-tooth

This is an article about portfolio company, Genomenon.

What was the Michigan Pre-Seed Fund III, an East Lansing fund created to invest in start-up and very early stage companies, doing investing in Genomenon Inc., a 6-year-old Ann Arbor company that had previously raised almost $5 million in equity funding and received nearly $2 million in three grants from the National Institutes of Health?

View source version on crainsdetroit.com: https://www.crainsdetroit.com/crains-michigan-business/unlikely-msu-connected-investments-help-um-spinoff-genomenon-get-past

SaaS Providers to Accelerate Autobooks Solution Deployment for Finxact Clients

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., June 8, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Finxact, the leading provider of next gen core systems to the US regional and super-regional banking sector, today announced that Autobooks has joined its Marketplace and that the companies will accelerate the path for banks running the Finxact core to deploy the Autobooks all-in-one small business account receivables product suite.

Small businesses are a critical part of the economy, employing nearly half of the private workforce in the U.S. and accounting for a staggering 99.9% of all businesses in the country as of 2020. Reaching the SMB, family owned, and sole proprietor bank customer segments with business banking tools that allow them to digitally manage their receivables from invoicing to payment acceptance to cash management has become a priority for financial institutions.

A war for merchants1 is being waged online by big tech providers, well beyond ecommerce and payments, battling for the entire small business relationship. Autobooks aims to help financial institutions better compete, by embedding essential back-office services that help customers manage and run their business - all within internet and mobile banking.  

“The team at Autobooks is doing important work and the company is fast becoming rec

This is an article about portfolio company, SkySpecs.

ANN ARBOR, MI— A historic site that formerly housed the Ann Arbor Music Center is being leased to a local energy data company.

The site at 312 S. Ashley St., was rehabilitated and is set to be ready by the end of the month after a year of renovations. Its new occupant, Ann Arbor-based SkySpecs, is planning to move in some time in July, officials said.

View source version on mlive.com: https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2021/06/ann-arbor-historic-site-will-house-locally-based-tech-company.html

This is an article about portfolio company, Genomenon.

NEW YORK – Genomenon said Tuesday that it has partnered with German bioinformatics startup Nostos Genomics to integrate its Mastermind genomic search engine into the Nostos AIon AI-driven variant interpretation platform.

According to Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Genomenon, this integration will allow AIon users to preview lists of published articles related to their searches from within the AIon interface. This, the companies said, will help improve diagnosis of rare genetic diseases.

View source version on genomeweb.com: https://www.genomeweb.com/business-news/genomenon-nostos-genomics-integrate-technologies-improve-rare-disease-dx#.YO9ZmpNKhpQ

ANN ARBOR, MICH. (PRWEB) APRIL 07, 2021

Ripple Science is being recognized as one of the 2021 awardees for the Michigan 50 Companies to Watch award, presented by Michigan Celebrates Small Business. Ripple Science will be honored at an awards ceremony during the 17th annual Michigan Celebrates Small Business gala event, July 20.

Ripple Science is an emerging innovative Saas and fast growing eClinical company dedicated to accelerating clinical trials through improved patient recruitment and retention. By adapting marketing and sales automation techniques to patient engagement Ripple speeds the enrollment process while reducing participant drop out rates. With consistently ever-growing communication tools and collaboration features, users are given the opportunity to upgrade functionalities at any time. Ripple’s research site teams achieve on average >96 percent patient retention.

“It’s a real honor to be recognized by the Michigan business community following a very competitive review. The team and our investors remain focused on building value, delighting our customers, and contributing to the economy in Michigan,” commented Peter Falzon, Ripple Science President and CEO.

This year’s Michigan 50 Companies to Watch have made a substantial economic impact, totaling $365 million in total annual revenue for 2019. From 2016 through 2019, these

This is an article about portfolio company, Autobooks

Less than half (47%) of U.S. based small businesses believe their primary financial institution understands their needs. This general dissatisfaction is allowing new digital challengers to thrive. Companies like Square, Shopify, and Intuit are capitalizing on serving SMBs with digital products and services more closely aligned to their needs. 

It doesn’t have to be this way. Despite many challenges, financial institutions can become well positioned to attract and service small businesses — more effectively than any fintech challenger actually can.

View source version on tearsheet.com: https://tearsheet.co/sponsored/report-building-a-winning-small-business-bank/

This is an article about portfolio company, Shoulder Innovations

GRAND RAPIDS — A venture capital firm that invests in medical device technologies wants to raise $30 million for a new fund to support portfolio companies progressing with commercializing their innovations.

Grand Rapids-based Genesis Innovation Group LLC’s Cultivate(MD) Capital Accelerator Fund GP LLC has so far raised $7.75 million from 44 investors toward a $30 million goal, according to a May 5 regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

View source version on mibiz.com: https://mibiz.com/sections/finance/new-30m-vc-fund-aims-to-get-medical-devices-to-market

This is an article about portfolio company, SkySpecs.

SkySpecs has acquired Vertikal AI, a pioneer in predictive maintenance for wind energy. The combined entity brings together world-class data insight and automation to help wind farm owners and operators to optimally invest in, maintain, and manage their assets for sustainable returns.

View source version on globallegalchronical.com: https://www.globallegalchronicle.com/skyspecs-incs-acquisition-of-vertikal-ai/

ANN ARBOR, Mich., May 20, 2021 (Newswire.com)

Genomenon®, Inc., an AI-driven genomics company, announced that it has published a new pharma report: Key Findings from the Genomic Landscape for ALS. Also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, ALS is a rare neurodegenerative disorder that affects about five in 100,000 individuals and causes devastating motor, cognitive, and behavioral impairment. Furthermore, clinicians and researchers are faced with a frustrating shortage of actionable information, which results in limited genetic testing and few successful drug programs.

This report describes key findings from Genomenon’s comprehensive Genomic Landscape for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), and their implications for drug discovery and development.

Genomic Landscapes are curated collections of all published genes and variants associated with disease causation and provide profound insight into complex disease mechanisms. By producing these datasets fo

ANN ARBOR, Mich., May 19, 2021 (Newswire.com)

Sparta-based ChoiceOne Bank has helped customers save more than $1 Million with Plinqit, the only savings platform of its kind that pays users for learning about personal finances.

Plinqit, developed by HT Mobile Apps, improves users’ financial literacy through its patented Build Skills™. Users can take a quiz and get rewards added to their savings goal. Customers securely link their Plinqit account to their checking account, set a savings goal and automatically set aside a small amount of money at a schedule they choose. This out-of-sight-out-of-mind savings helps users continue to save without temptation to withdraw before reaching their goal and the ChoiceOne Bank is seeing real results.

Since launching Plinqit, ChoiceOne has grown total Plinqit users month-over-month, resulting in an average savings goal of $1,300 per account. After the Bank offered a new feature allowing users to save towards multiple goals, it has seen users create emergency funds as well as vacation funds. In fact, many of ChoiceOne’s customers have already rea

ADHD Online Experts highlights need during May’s Mental Health Month

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – May 19, 2021 – (Newswire.com)

ADHD can be challenging for any adult, but failing to recognize the symptoms specific to young girls and women can lead to years of unnecessary hardships. Michigan-based telehealth company ADHD Online seeks to confront the notion that ADHD is a diagnosis limited to hyperactive boys and inattentive men. ADHD is characterized as a neurological disorder that affects the brain structurally and chemically. It is also a disorder marked by an ongoing pattern of inattention and hyperactivity that interferes with functioning or development. When comparing boys to girls, how each of the diagnostic criteria for ADHD is met can be stark. These differences can be attributed to gender biases, symptomatic differences, comorbidities, and other strategies that may mask or overshadow symptoms of ADHD in girls.

“ADHD Online, through its team of experts, seeks to bring to light the disparities identified in girls and women who are unnecessarily struggling with undiagnosed ADHD,” says Randall Duthler, MD and CMO of ADHD Online. “May is Mental Health Awareness Month and an excellent opportunity to open a dialogue about stereotypes, biases, stigmas, and misinformation about ADHD.”

According to a BMC Psychiatry study, females with ADHD present with differences in their profile of symptoms, comorbidity, and associated functioning compared

This is an article about portfolio company, ADHD Online.

ADHD can be challenging for any adult, but failing to recognize the symptoms specific to young girls and women can lead to years of unnecessary hardships. Michigan-based telehealth company ADHD Online seeks to confront the notion that ADHD is a diagnosis limited to hyperactive boys and inattentive men. ADHD is characterized as a neurological disorder that affects the brain structurally and chemically. It is also a disorder marked by an ongoing pattern of inattention and hyperactivity that interferes with functioning or development. When comparing boys to girls, how each of the diagnostic criteria for ADHD is met can be stark. These differences can be attributed to gender biases, symptomatic differences, comorbidities, and other strategies that may mask or overshadow symptoms of ADHD in girls.

View source version on digitaljournal.com: https://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/adhd-online-taking-lead-role-in-combating-misdiagnosis-of-girls-and-women-with-adhd

ANN ARBOR, Mich., May 17, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — SkySpecs, a global leader in wind energy technology, has acquired two of Europe’s premier wind energy companies: Fincovi, a leader in financial asset management, and Vertikal AI, a pioneer in predictive maintenance for wind energy. The combined entity brings together world-class data insight and automation to help wind farm owners and operators to optimally invest in, maintain, and manage their assets for sustainable returns.

This is an article about portfolio company, Bloomscape.

Scouting Report: Instead of buying outdoor plants, this easy to put together gardening kit helps you grow your own.

You might say I have a black thumb. Everything I touch dies, at least when it comes to plants. I’ve attempted indoor plants, but really, my partner is in charge (I cannot be trusted). I’m excited for spring, though. My backyard needs some serious work and we’re hoping to grow some plants but instead of starting with seeds (and praying they root) or just buying fully grown plants and planting them, I’ve decided to grow something myself. Bloomscape, one of our favorite plant delivery services, launched

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. and DETROIT, May 11, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Bottomline (NASDAQ:EPAY), a leading provider of financial technology that makes business payments simple, smart and secure, and Autobooks, an embedded invoicing, payments and accounting platform for small businesses, today announced a partnership to deliver innovative and essential digital solutions designed to help small businesses thrive.   Autobooks’ invoicing, receivables and accounting tools will be combined with Bottomline’s Digital Banking IQ platform, enabling financial institutions to deliver a unified digital experience and a comprehensive suite of integrated payments and cash lifecycle solutions, purpose-built for small businesses.

The partnership will leverage Bottomline’s market-leading digital banking platform and Autobooks’ innovative approach to helping financial institutions attract and retain small businesses, by providing essential backoffice services and becoming their system of record.   The collaborative effort will offer banks and credit unions a highly differentiated solution to deepen engagement and grow small business relationships.   It reflects Bottomline’s commitment to working with fintech collaborators, like Autobooks, that are partnering with financial institutions to accelerate innovation and deepen customer relationships.

The more than 30 million US small businesses represent a $370 billion1 opportunity for financ

This is an article about portfolio company,  Fusion Coolant Systems.

Tavares, Florida-based GWS Tool Group acquired CJT Koolcarb Inc. and its polycrystalline diamond (PCD) operating subsidiary, GenHam Diamond Tools, furthering GWS’ product capabilities in holemaking, brazed construction carbide tools, and PCD round tools.

Carol Stream, Illinois-based, CJT makes carbide and carbide-tipped drills and reamers for aerospace and automotive companies. CJT’s subsidiary, GenHam Diamond Tools in Montrose, Colorado, adds custom PCD-tipped round tools for non-ferrous and composite machining to GWS’ offerings.

This is the second acquisition in 2021 for GWS Tool Group, which acquired Taurus Tool & Engineering in January, following three previous acquisitions in 2020.

View source version on aerospacemanufacturinganddesign.com: https://www.aerospacemanufacturinganddesign.com/article/gws-tool-group-acquires-cjt-koolcarb-genham-diamond-tooling/

This is an article about portfolio company, Ripple Science.

ANN ARBOR, Mich., May 10, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — A white paper recently published by Ripple Science revealed that its flagship product, Ripple, empowered its customers to achieve >96% retention across all trials and 99% retention in 78.2% of completed trials, far outpacing industry averages.

Ripple Science is the leading provider of clinical trial software used by sites, CROs, and study sponsors to assist and automate the patient engagement workflow end-to-end, from first contact to study completion. Ripple has supported over 700 clinical trials involving over 240,000 patients globally, including a large number of Alzheimer’s, dementia, and CNS trials where patient engagement is particularly challenging.

View source version on iosconews.com: http://www.iosconews.com/news/state/article_487c5c48-9ff1-5bfc-b738-b8e526ce7730.html

This is an article about portfolio company, Bloomscape.

What you’ve heard is true: People are going back to the office. After over a year of remote work for many of us with desk jobs, some offices are opening up to in-person work again. You know what that means? You can no longer control your work environment as much as you did when, say, you built your home office. Maybe you carved out a sense of real and dedicated workspace at home, complete with a lumbar-supporting office chair. Maybe you live in a 600-square-foot apartment and MacGyver’d a “home office” out of a side table and a folding chair. Either way, the past year transformed our sense of offices, and now that we might be going back to IRL, straight-up office offices, it can help to bring a bit of home into the workplace. One way to do that? Plants, my friend.

View source version on esquire.com:

HOLLAND, Mich., May 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Shoulder Innovations (SI), an emerging leader in the development of shoulder replacement systems, announced today that it has signed an exclusive license agreement for Genesis Software Innovation’s “GSI” PreView Shoulder™ Arthroplasty Planning Software, which recently achieved FDA 510(k) clearance. This clearance is the first musculoskeletal solution under the FDA’s new QIH classification for software solutions based on Artificial Intelligence (AI).

GSI’s PreView Shoulder™ software was developed by an international team of experts, including shoulder reconstruction surgeons, artificial intelligence experts, and visual gaming programmers. This team developed a best-in-class product that performs automated segmentation and reconstruction of imaging data, allowing surgeons to have functional visualization of their surgical cases prior to entering the operating room and without needing external data processing. Surgeons can optimize implant size, location and orientation by digitally placing the implant into the patient’s anatomy with a 3D view. This serves to improv

ANN ARBOR, Mich., May 5, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — The Milford Bank, based in Milford, Conn., announced today that it is expanding its relationship with HT Mobile Apps (HTMA), to offer the company’s entire portfolio of engaging apps: Hip Pocket™, Plinqit, and Banker Jr.

When the Bank launched Plinqit in 2019, the goal was to provide its customers a product that would help them meet their savings goals in an easy and convenient way. Customers of the Bank have embraced the app, and The Milford Bank has consistently grown total Plinqit users month-over-month since its roll-out. The Bank is pleased to report its customers have saved over $250,000 using the Plinqit app. Currently, nearly 80 percent of the Bank’s customers have reached their goal, with the majority (nearly 80 percent) creating new goals to continue saving.

Since the app’s launch, The Milford Bank has successfully attracted new deposits used to fund new loans, providing growth to their balance sheet and support for the communities they serve. The app enables customers to securely link their Plinqit account to their checking account, set a savings goal, and automatically set aside a small amount of money at a rate and schedule the customer chooses. The Plinqit account opening process is seamless, taking less than five minutes.

After experiencing success with Plinqit, The

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AdAdapted survey shows that CPG marketers need better tools for targeting consumers in the middle of the marketing funnel, with 95% believing that Shopping List Marketing is a top strategy for this

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—(BUSINESS WIRE)— AdAdapted, the leading add-to-list mobile marketing and insights platform built for CPG brands, agencies, and retailers, today announced findings of its research report “Shopping List Marketing: The Smarter Way to Find and Influence Consumers.” Commissioned by AdAdapted, the research and corresponding whitepaper was conducted by the marketing experts, Callan Consulting, an independent third-party marketing and research firm. The study is based on

SAN JOSE, Calif., May 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Movellus, Inc. today announced that Esperanto Technologies has adopted Movellus’ Maestro AI intelligent clocking solution for its ET-SoC-1 chips. Esperanto develops high-performance, energy-efficient computing solutions based on RISC-V for Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and Deep Learning (DL) applications. The first of the AI processor family for Esperanto, the ET-SoC-1 chip aims to reduce the energy costs in data centers for AI inference applications. It has more than 1,000 domain accelerated ET-Minion RISC-V cores and boasts up to 100X better energy efficiency in terms of inferences per watt than the incumbent solutions.

“The Maestro AI intelligent clocking solution was essential in enabling us to achieve breakthrough power efficiency.” Art Swift, President and CEO of Esperanto

“The performance and efficiency of the ET-SoC-1 chip is derived from a combination of factors, including the simplicity of the RISC-V instruction set, wide vector/tensor units on every ET-Minion core, a uniquely optimized memory hierarchy, custom pipeline architecture and low-voltage circuits which enables more energy-efficient operation,” said Art Swift, President and CEO of Esperanto. “The Maestro AI intelligent clocking solution was essential in enabling us to achieve breakthrough power efficiency.”

“Esperanto has dev