Press

This is an article about portfolio company, Mi Padrino.

This story is part of a series about Washtenaw County businesses’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Support for this series is provided by Ann Arbor SPARK.

What’s a girl to do when she has the dress, but no party to wear it to? This was the question facing Kim Gamez, CEO and founder of Mi Padrino, an online party planning platform for quinceañeras and other traditional Hispanic celebrations. Days into the COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020, one of the wholesalers who sells products on Mi Padrino let Gamez know it had ceased making dresses and switched to masks instead. 

View source version on secondwavemedia.com: https://www.secondwavemedia.com/concentrate/innovationnews/mipadrino0586.aspx

SAN JOSE, Calif., March 23, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Movellus, Inc. today announced that Achronix, a leader in high-performance FPGAs and embedded FPGA (eFPGA) IP, has adopted Movellus’ Maestro intelligent clocking solution for its Speedster®7t FPGAs. Speedster®7t FPGAs are used in high-performance communications, artificial intelligence, machine learning, automotive driver assistance, compute acceleration, industrial and military applications.

“We were impressed by the increased performance and power-efficiency our system design team was able to achieve using the TrueDigital™ Module within the Movellus Maestro intelligent clock network platform.”

Achronix offerings include discrete high-performance and high-density FPGAs with hardwired system-level blocks, embedded FPGA IP, PCI Express form factor datacenter and HPC hardware accelerator cards, and best-in-class EDA software supporting all Achronix products. The latest Speedster®7t high-density and high-performance FPGA family is optimized to meet the growing demands of AI/ML and high-bandwidth data acceleration applications. Speedster7t devices offer a unique 2D NoC that allows for ASIC-level performance data transfers between the FPGA fabric and the high speed interfaces including GDDR6 and DDR4/5 memory interfaces, 400G Ethernet and PCI Express Gen5 ports.

“We were impressed by the increased performance and power-efficiency our

This is an article about portfolio company, Bloomscape.

2020 was the year of the great indoors. And, since we couldn’t recreate misty ocean breezes or the Santa Ana winds inside our apartments, many of us relied on houseplants to refresh the air inside our spaces. Now, we’re back in the swing of spring and it’s time to give that air-purifying indoor pandemic garden a refresh.

View source version on refinery29.com: https://www.refinery29.com/en-ca/air-purifying-plants

I met Cheryl and Wayne Baker in 2005 when I was President of the Ann Arbor IT Zone. We set up a Reciprocity Ring to spur collaboration among our tech ventures. I was amazed at how well it worked.
 
The Reciprocity Ring is a great exercise that teaches everyone why it’s important to ask for help and how to do it effectively. The exercise then gives everyone the chance to practice. After everyone makes a request, people in the same group meet those requests for help. I saw first-hand how powerful it was for founders and leaders to connect in this way.

Then the Bakers met Adam Grant, author of the bestseller Give and Take when Adam was getting his PhD at Michigan. Adam was one of the first facilitators of the Reciprocity Ring and talks about it in his book.
 
In Give and Take, Adam shares powerful research: those who give help at work, are stronger for it and, ultimately, more satisfied and successful.

In his book, All You Have to Do is Ask, Wayne shares his research on asking for help. It turns out that many of the same benefits exist. Askers are happier, healthier and more successful.
 
Asking and giving are two sides of the same coin, after all.
 
Based on their work, Givitas is a purpose built, knowledge-sharing platform that offers a simple path to give and get help.
 
 Here’s why it works:

This is an article about portfolio company, Fifth Eye Inc.

A medical device that works to detect if a patient will become unstable earlier than traditional vital signs received the green light to be marketed to U.S. hospitals.

Fifth Eye Inc., a Michigan Medicine spinoff medical device software company founded in 2017, was recently granted FDA De Novo classification for its Analytic for Hemodynamic Instability (AHI). The noninvasive device continuously monitors electrocardiogram (ECG) signals to identify signs of hemodynamic decline.

View source version on uofmhealth.org: https://www.uofmhealth.org/news/archive/202103/innovative-patient-stability-technology-developed-m

ANN ARBOR, Mich., March 18, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Commodore Perry Federal Credit Union is excited to announce a partnership with HT Mobile Apps (HTMA) to offer a new digital solution, Plinqit. Plinqit is the only savings tool that pays users for learning about personal finances.

The addition of Plinqit supports the credit union’s strategy of providing safe, secure, and useful technology to meet the needs of their members. With Plinqit’s patented Build Skills™, the only platform that pays users for engaging with content, users can grow their knowledge of finances. By simply watching a video or reading an article from the Plinqit library and taking a short quiz, users are rewarded for learning more about financial wellness.

“With Plinqit, we found a solution to offer our members that makes saving money more possible, through defined savings goals, establishing a savings plan, financial rewards, financial education, and mobile functionality,” said Michael Barr, chief executive officer of Commodore Perry Federal Credit Union. “When members take advantage of financial education, we can see the topics being chosen by our members. Using their

ANN ARBOR, Mich., March 18, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/

Shoptelligence announces rapid growth across the last two quarters – with five top 100 home furnishings companies, as well as leading regional independent furniture retailers, selecting the Shoptelligence solutions to improve shopper experience with digital cross-category merchandising that can lift order size by up to 49 percent.

“We want to provide all of our customers with an excellent furniture shopping experience whether they connect with us online or in-store,” explained Scott Perry, EVP of Digital Marketing at Jerome’s Furniture. “Shoptelligence’s platform adds value to that experience above and beyond our first-class furniture assortment and provides our consumers and sales associates a rich merchandising experience to help customers more easily furnish their whole room from us.”

While consumers have long turned to furnishing websites to explore options and compare prices, the pandemic dramatically increased the role of eCommerce and placed a spotlight on the need to provide shoppers with a seamless online and in-store experience. American Furniture Warehouse, Bob’s Furniture, Jerome’s Furniture, Missouri Furniture, and Slumberland Furniture, are among the leading retailers who recently partnered with Shoptelligence to improve consumer experience across the shopping continuum.

“When a shopper visits our site to research sofas, we want them to see and dream about more than that, and show them that we have the rugs and tables and accessories to make a

This is an article about portfolio company, Tetra Therapeutics.

After years of raising millions in capital and federal grant funding for Tetra Therapeutics Inc. — which was developing a new drug that could potentially treat Alzheimer’s disease and a form of autism — Mark Gurney in 2020 finally found the big money he needed to get to the end.

The Grand Rapids-based Tetra Therapeutics last spring sold to Japanese pharmaceutical company Shionogi & Co. Ltd. in a deal that could reach $500 million. Under the agreement, Shionogi & Co. acquired Tetra and its portfolio of drug compounds for treating Alzheimer’s disease, Fragile X syndrome, and other brain disorders associated with cognitive or memory conditions

View source version on mibiz.com: https://mibiz.com/sections/health-care/tetra-therapeutics-shionogi-deal-builds-resources-of-large-pharmaceutical-company

This is an article about portfolio company, Genomenon

NEW YORK – Genomenon said on Tuesday that it has raised $5.3 million in a financing round.

The Ann Arbor, Michigan-based firm will use the funding to expand its global commercial operations, which serves genetic testing labs, hospitals, pharmaceutical, and biopharma companies. 

New investors include BroadOak Capital Partners, Green Park & Golf Ventures, Red Cedar Ventures, and Michigan Rise. Current investors, including Invest Detroit Ventures, IrishAngels, Michigan Angel Fund, Invest Michigan, and Atain Specialty Insurance, also participated in the round. 

View source version on genomeweb.com: https://www.genomeweb.com/informatics/genomenon-raises-53m-financing-round#.YHTpLBNKhTZ

Autobooks, the small business payment and accounting services platform, today announced that they have raised $25 million in Series B financing, led by MissionOG.  The round also includes participation from other investors including Renaissance Venture Capital, Detroit Venture Partners and Draper Triangle, along with TD Bank Group [NYSE: TD]. 

The Detroit-based fintech enables small businesses to send digital invoices and accept online payments directly from their financial institution’s existing online and mobile banking channels. The Detroit-based fintech works directly with banks and credit unions to unlock potential within small and micro-businesses, which has been historically difficult to do profitably, at scale. The company has developed partnerships with the industry’s leading core & internet banking providers to ensure turn-key deployments, often in less than 90 days - with a clear and measurable ROI.  

This announcement follows the recent news of a record 2020 for Autobooks, highlighted by 232% revenue growth and the addition of 46 financial institutions to Autobook’s rapidly growing customer base of banks and credit unions with assets ranging from $50 million to $350 billion. The proceeds from this round of funding will allow Autobooks to continue to expand operations domestically, as well as enter international markets;

ANN ARBOR, Mich., March 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Fifth EyeTM, a provider of intuitive real-time clinical analytics, today announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted De Novo classification for its Analytic for Hemodynamic Instability (AHI). AHI can continuously monitor any patient with an electrocardiogram (ECG) for hemodynamic instability — a leading cause of death for critically ill or injured patients. This clinically validated technology enables hemodynamic assessments every two minutes as opposed to every two hours or more, increasing the likelihood of timely patient rescue.

Fifth Eye’s machine learning-based software device, developed in collaboration with clinicians at Michigan Medicine, gives nurses and doctors a real-time view into patients’ hemodynamic status. AHI automatically provides intuitive, time-trended updates without requiring vital sign assessment, manual data input in electronic health records, or score calculation.

AHI gives a reliable heads-up about emerging signs of hemodynamic instability, enabling proactive patient rescue.