ANN ARBOR — Today, organizers of the Michigan Growth Capital Symposium announced the 36 companies that will be presenting at the 32nd annual conference. Presented by the University of Michigan Zell Lurie Institute at the Ross School of Business, this year’s Symposium will be held May 21-22 at the Marriott Resort in Ypsilanti.
More than 400 entrepreneurs, researchers, investment professionals and business executives are expected to attend and nearly 100 regional and top national venture capital firms will be represented. The two-day event will host dozens of industry speakers, including a keynote address from Kelly Williams of Credit Suisse’s Customized Fund Invest Group. The MGCS will also showcase early to later stage Midwest, high-growth companies seeking institutional investment of one million to tens of millions within the next 12 months. Since the Symposium’s inception in 1980, the event has helped more than 800 companies raise funding and has forged countless valuable relationships that continue to foster growth in the region’s startup community.
Kalamazoo.-based Vestaron, which is developing the next generation of environmentally safe yet powerful insecticides using peptides isolated from spiders, has presented at the Symposium multiple times and found it to be extremely valuable to the company’s growth. “It was useful and important to be visible at what is arguably the Midwest’s most significant venture capital symposium,” said Robert Kennedy, Chief Science Officer at Vestaron. “Subsequent to the Symposium, we were able to close a $10 million Series B round of financing. The overall effort was successful and the MGCS was a part of it.”
The 36 companies selected to present represent a broad range of industries. About one third of the companies are from out of state. The full list of presenting companies is available at www.MichiganGCS.com. Following is a partial list of companies:
- Algal Scientific – pioneer of algae-based biological water treatment process to convert concentrated food and beverage industry process streams into valuable bio-products
- BuyerCurious.com – free, online real estate marketplace that enables people who want to buy a home or sell a home cost effectively to do so
- Complexa – biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing innovative therapies for the treatment of inflammatory and metabolic diseases
- Cool-X LLC – nanotechnology oil treatment that burnishes and cools improving fuel economy and saving money
- ENT Biotech Solutions – provides a surgical tool tailored to adenoid removal
- Madison Vaccines – developing a pipeline of proprietary plasmid DNA vaccines designed to prevent bone metastases and associated morbidities for patients with prostate cancer
- Mitostem – a research accelerator that offers both stem cell lines for sale as well as patient cell line generation and expert tissue culture consultation
- SpearFysh – sales technology solution that helps salespeople sell more, managers lead more effectively, and marketers identify opportunities faster and more accurately
- TM3 Systems – enables intelligent management of electricity in remote and off-grid environments
In addition to the formal program, the University of Michigan’s 2012 solar car “Quantum” will be on display at the event. Quantum is the 11th car built by the University of Michigan Solar Car Team, comprised of more than 100 University of Michigan students from many different backgrounds, disciplines and colleges within the university, ranging from undergraduate to doctoral studies.
To see the full list of presenting companies, learn more or register, visit www.MichiganGCS.com and follow conversations about the Symposium by tracking #MGCS on Twitter.
