Farmington - Partner City

Scientifically Proven Entertainment wins $412,000 tax credit for video game

By Newsroom

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September 1, 2011

Scientifically Proven Entertainment recently received a digital media tax credit from the state to develop the "Ghost Game" video game, a venture that promises to add another 25 people to the Farmington Hills-based firm's payroll. The one-year-old firm received a $411,650 tax credit from the Michigan Film Office for the $1 million project. The game developer currently employs 50 people in Metro Detroit. It expects to add 25 jobs, 15 of them full-time, over the next year to make the video game ready for Cbox 360 and Playstation 3. "We'll be ramping up pretty aggressively in the next few months," says Nathanial McClure, CEO of Scientifically Proven Entertainment. "Ghost Game" builds off the popular “Ghost Hunting” genre and is set at The Garrick Arms, a fictional apartment building in Detroit. In the game, the building, originally opened in 1939 as a hotel for visitors to the North American International Auto Show, has seen a number of tragic events within its walls over the years. Players must investigate paranormal activity in the building and try to solve the disappearance of Margaret Reynolds – a tenant who vanished under mysterious circumstances in 1954. Scientifically Proven Entertainment has produced other video games, including "Man vs. Wild", "Rock of the Dead" and "Real Heroes: Firefighter." McClure recently moved his family to Metro Detroit from Los Angeles to pursue the state's generous film tax incentives, which were recently downsized. "I moved here from LA because of the incentives," McClure says. "It was a combination of good school systems, cheap housing prices and low cost of living that brought me and my family." Source: Nathanial McClure, CEO of Scientifically Proven Entertainment Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Is Farmington Hills’ Mango Languages the next Rosetta Stone?

By Newsroom

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Arts & Culture

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August 25, 2011

Watch your back Rosetta Stone, Mango Languages is poised to become a market heavy-weight in the language education market. After all, do you offer lessons in how to talk like a pirate? Excerpt: "Mango’s digital products were first introduced in hundreds of libraries across North America and now are expanding to a wide range of consumer and educational products that include dozens of courses in 49 languages, including 15 English as a second language courses, each with about 10 lessons. The products are being sold to libraries, educational outlets, military branches and departments and, more recently, consumers. Mango has gone from developing practical, smart products to now developing a religious scholarly course. At the same time, Mango tries not to take itself too seriously. It offers a course, for example, in “pirate” language, mocking the sea bandits’ way of speaking." Read the rest here.

5 Metro Detroit cities share in $1.06M grant for new lighting tech

By Newsroom

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Arts & Culture

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August 11, 2011

Light bulbs that are part of a million-dollar-plus investment from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation could flip the switch on job creation, energy savings and environmental protection. Through the MEDC's Advanced Lighting Technology Demonstration grants, 14 Michigan communities are sharing the $1,066,429 pool. They're committing to updating their bulbs to higher tech, energy saving designs and, when possible, to buying them from Michigan manufacturers. The object is to save money (taxpayer dollars) on energy costs, prevent greenhouse gases by replacing old-style inefficient bulbs and create jobs that involve the nuts and bolts of updating, replacing and maintaining the new bulbs. Melanie McCoy, general manager of Wyandotte's municipal services department, says the LED project will be completed in tandem with a solar panel installation on city buildings. "What we're going to do is actually a fabulous project," she says. The $100,000 grant will pay for part of a project to replace existing street lamps and pedestrian walkway lights along a path that leads from the public library, down Biddle Avenue through downtown and up Eureka Road for several blocks to the high school. The project, which will go out to bid as soon as the city searches for Michigan companies that can benefit, will be completed by next July. At the same time the city will use its own funds to add solar power generators to the library and a water department building. "This is a combination of a renewable energy project together with an energy efficiency project," McCoy says. MEDC President and CEO Michael A. Finney says in a statement announcing the award of the grants that "the energy and cost savings benefits plus the maintenance savings due to the longer life of the lamps are impressive with the newer technology lighting that's now available. These benefits are more important than ever to local governments in reducing operating expenses." "In addition, manufacturing of advanced lighting technologies is a growing industry in Michigan and has the potential to create a new source of jobs and investment for local and state economies." The types of lighting to be used in the government facilities and on public transportation vehicles include LEDs, or light emitting diodes, AKA solid state lighting; induction lighting, and plasma lighting. The recipients of the grants must collect data and report their energy savings, cost savings, jobs created. The Michigan Energy Office will require that funded grantees regularly collect, track, and report metrics data related to energy savings, cost savings, jobs created and emissions reductions. Besides Wyandotte, other metro Detroit recipients are Roseville, $81,074; Hazel Park, $50,150; Farmington Hills, $81,405; and Detroit, $100,000. Source: Michigan Economic Development Corporation and Melanie McCoy, city of WyandotteWriter: Kim North Shine

LinTech Global triples headcount, to open new office

By Newsroom

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Technology and Innovation

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August 4, 2011

LinTech Global is on a growth tear in Farmington Hills, hiring about a dozen people over the last year and getting ready to open a new office in Rochester."We grew a lot," says Michael Lin, president & CEO of LinTech Global. "We've grown about 400 percent in sales since last year. We have tripled our headcount."The four-year-old firm now employs 17 people who specialize in everything from cyber security to software engineering to application support. It does work for a number of federal agencies in the defense and civilian sectors, such as the Naval Sea Systems Command and Federal Aviation Administration.LinTech Global does about half of its work with public entities and the rest with private firms. Lin expects the recent government cutbacks to have an impact on his business so he is preparing for growth to ratchet down to the 50-percent range. "I don't want to be too aggressive," Lin says.Source: Michael Lin, president & CEO of LinTech GlobalWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

New InvestMichigan! Fund adds $130M local investment capital

By Newsroom

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Community Development

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July 28, 2011

When Charlie Rothstein, founder of Michigan's largest venture capital fund, Beringea, helped launch the Venture Michigan Fund in 2006, barely a dozen people showed up. That's from both the venture capital and media camps. When the Venture Michigan Fund II launched earlier this year, more than 100 people came, ranging from venture capitalists to attorneys to reporters.It shows how far Michigan's investing community came in a relatively short time. It's a journey that's taking another step forward this week with the launch of the InvestMichigan! Mezzanine Fund, a $130-million fund focused on investing in second stage companies."Sometimes these program take years to bear fruit," Rothstein says. "What's you're seeing now is some of those vines beginning to bear fruit, such as the InvestMichigan! Fund."The InvestMichigan! Mezzanine Fund was formed from a partnership between the State of Michigan Retirement Systems, Dow Chemical and the U.S. Small Business Administration's Start-Up America Impact Investment SBIC Initiative, which is worth $1 billion. The fund will invest in lower-middle-market companies located in Michigan over the next five years. Farmington Hills-based Beringea and Credit Suisse will manage this newest arm of the circa-2008 InvestMichigan! Program. The fund is joining a flood of new investment money targeting early to middle-stage start-ups. Among those are the $100 million Stage 2 Innovations Fund in Oakland County, the aggressive Detroit Venture Partners fund in downtown Detroit and a smattering of VC start-ups in Ann Arbor."There is certainly more private capital available now than at any other time (in recent memory)," Rothstein says.Source: Charlie Rothstein, founder and senior managing director of BeringeaWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Density Vs. Transit

By Jon Zemke

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Economic Development

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July 28, 2011

The argument against mass transit in Southeast Michigan has always hinged on the region's lack of density. But that hasn't stopped sprawling metros like Phoenix and Salt Lake City from building highly successful light rail systems. What do they know that we don't?

Level One Bank opens up $100M for local small biz loans

By Newsroom

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Arts & Culture

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July 21, 2011

Level One Bank is making a pool of $100 million worth of loans available to local small businesses.The Farmington Hills-based bank will consider working capital loans and owner-occupied real estate mortgages of up to $10 million. Real-estate investment loans are not included. It considers businesses with less than $50 million in revenues to be small businesses and eligible for this new pool of money."The lending will be focused on the businesses in our area," says Patrick Fehring, president & CEO of Level One Bank. The three-year-old bank has been growing at an exponential rate in its first few years. It now has branches in Ferndale, Birmingham, Northville, Clinton Township, and two in Farmington Hills. It employs 86 people after adding 32 positions year-to-date."We're hiring fast and furious," Fehring says.For information on the loans, please contact Jeff Taliscka at (248) 737-3154 or jtalicska@levelonebank.com.Source: Patrick Fehring, president & CEO of Level One BankWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Logicalis Group acquires Netarx, plans more hiring

By Newsroom

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General

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July 14, 2011

The U.S. arm of Logicalis Group, based in Farmington Hills, has acquired Auburn Hills-based Netarx in a deal that merges two of the region's rapidly growing IT firms.Logicalis specializes in IT and communications, employing 550 people across the U.S., including about 100 employees and a few interns in Farmington Hills. Netarx has a staff of 220 people, 200 of which are in Michigan. All of those jobs will be safe. In fact, Logicalis expects to continue hiring for both its own staff and Netarx this year as it aims to expand both its own IT specialities and those of Netarx."Netarx is the leading IT networking company in Michigan," says Greg Baker, CFO of Logicalis. "We've known about its leadership for a number of years and wanted to take advantage of it."Netarx also has a rich expertise in collaborative IT work and a service desk that Logicalis plans to take advantage of by doubling the staffing from 50 to 100 people over the next couple of years. But most of all, the merger made sense because the cultures of the two companies mesh so well."These people are a great fit for our culture with their Midwest work ethic and attitude," Baker says.Source: Greg Baker, CFO of LogicalisWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

iRule app turns iPhones into universal remotes

By Newsroom

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Arts & Culture

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June 23, 2011

Wish your remote control was as easy to find as your cell phone? Farmington Hills-based iRule solved that problem by turning smartphones into part-time remote controls for TVs and entertainment systems.Three-year-old iRule has created a smartphone app and support system that allows people to control their entertainment systems with a click of a mobile device. The idea is the creation of a couple of techies having fun with technology on the side."The whole business started as a hobby in our spare time," says Itai Bengal, CEO of iRule. "In a few months, without any marketing, we were doing more business than we ever imagined."Today the company employs four people and five independent contractors. All of its personnel growth (two employees and the independent contractors) came over the last year. The company now sells thousands of its remote control apps and support systems in 17 countries with dozens of installers who know how to bring life to the system."We're seeing a tremendous level of growth right now," Bengal says. "We're planning to expand into the Android platform, too."Source: Itai Bengal, CEO of iRuleWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

EPIC Translations moves to bigger office, grows staff

By Newsroom

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Entrepreneurship

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June 23, 2011

EPIC Translations' growth curve is best summed up by looking where the translation company has called home.The Farmington Hills-based business started in Mostansar Virk's home as a part-time project focused on transcription while he worked on his full-time IT job five years ago. A few years later, Virk took the company full-time and moved to a one-room office in Novi. Today the firm has 1,200 square feet of office space for its six employees and an intern."For its first few years it was managed on a part-time basis," Virk says. "In June of 2008, I resigned from my IT job to run EPIC Translations."EPIC Translations specializes in document translations, handling paperwork in the technical, legal and medical sectors, among others. The company's revenues are up 35 percent so far this last year, allowing it to hire one person. Virk plans to add one or two more jobs later this year.Source: Mostansar Virk, EPIC TranslationsWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.