In the News

Xconomy looks at Quicken's move to WEBward Ave

Xconomy Thursday, August 12, 2010

Downtown Detroit is becoming more and more of a tech-based place. It doesn't hurt that Quicken Loans is moving there and rebranding the city center's main drag WEBward Avenue.

Excerpt:

Dan Gilbert, the chairman and founder of Quicken Loans, is hoping that if he declares Woodward Avenue, Detroit's main drag, to be a new, tech-centered "WEBward Avenue" often enough, it just might come true. It also doesn't hurt that he has the money and clout to perhaps make it a self-fulfilling prophecy.

That's why the businessman, who also owns the Cleveland Cavaliers, is screaming to the rafters today about something completely unrelated to LeBron James's move to Miami. Gilbert announced yesterday that Quicken's sister company, Quizzle, will join Quicken when it moves into the Compuware building in Detroit later this month. Quizzle is a financial website with more than 500,000 registered users, according to the company, that helps consumers manage their personal finances.

Read the rest of the story here.

Cross-border angel investors looking to raise $20M fund

Crain's Detroit Business Thursday, July 09, 2009

It's about time Michigan took advantage of Canada being close at hand (pun intended). In a first-of-its-kind setup, Canadian and Michiganian angel investors are forming a publicly traded company to fund promising local start-ups.

Excerpt:

Detroit-based Great Lakes Angels has joined forces with angel groups in Toronto and London, Ontario, and with the University of Windsor to form Nouveau Angel Capital Corp., which hopes to raise $20 million to invest in early-stage companies in Southeast Michigan and southwestern Ontario�

Nouveau's founders think it is the first public company in the U.S. or Canada to facilitate angel investing, and so does Jim Jaffe, president and CEO of the National Association of Seed and Venture Funds.

�There are some angel groups that have formed private funds that operate like mutual funds, but I'm not aware of any public companies doing this,� he said. �The concept is exciting and unusual. My guess is that even in these difficult economic times, it may well find a group of interested investors.��

Rick Galdi, president of Great Lakes Angels, said Nouveau will target companies affiliated with TechTown, the University of Windsor and University of Western Ontario in London. The investment range will be $250,000 to $750,000 per company, well above what a company would generally expect to get in a typical angel deal.

Read the full story here.

State looking into small business lending practices

MEDC Thursday, September 13, 2007

The Michigan Economic Development Corporation has issued a request for proposals to conduct a study of small business lending practices in Michigan.

The study would help assess whether small businesses in Michigan find it more difficult to obtain financing compared to other states. The RFP is available online at www.michigan.org/sblrfp along with specifics of the application process.

Freakonomics author to speak at WSU on Apr. 26

Wayne State University Friday, April 20, 2007

Steven Levitt, author of the best-selling economics book Freakonomics, will speak at Wayne State University on April 26 at 9 a.m.

The event will kick-off WSU's strategic action plan and is intended to demonstrate the university's commitment to being a hub for bold ideas and intellectual discourse.

Register on-line here.

Oakland County's 8th community bank in 2 years scheduled to open in September

Oakland Business Review Friday, April 13, 2007

Level One community bank is scheduled to open in Farmington Hills in September. The bank is one of a growing number of community banks in Oakland County filling niche markets.

Excerpt:

The investment group, which has retained the Grosse Pointe investment banking firm of Donnelly Penman & Partners Inc., plans to open Level One at Northwestern Highway and 14 Mile Road in Farmington Hills.

The site has some 7,700 businesses within a three-mile radius and 14,000 within five miles.

"We're certainly not focused on a niche," [investor Patrick] Fehring said. "We're going to be a full-service bank for growth throughout the region."

Level One could lend up to $2 million-$3 million to small- and medium-sized businesses, Fehring said, though a lending limit has not been established.

Read the entire article here.

Find out if your company is venture capital-worthy at upcoming Crain's event

Crain's Detroit Business Friday, March 09, 2007

Crain's will host "Following the Money: Where Angel Investors and Venture Capitalists See Opportunity" on Mar. 19 with panelists Ian Bund of Plymouth Venture Partners and
David Weaver of Great Lakes Angels.

Excerpt:

Is your Company venture-worthy? Find out what panelists Ian Bund, chairman of Plymouth Venture Partners and David Weaver, president of Great Lakes Angels, look for in a company- and which sectors they think show the greatest opportunity in metro Detroit.

Find out more and register here.

Finance : In the News