Our roundup of the latest news from metro Detroit and Michigan businesses as well as announcements from government agencies. To share a business or nonprofit story, please send us a message.
Bulleit Frontier Whiskey brings its Tree Equity Planting Initiative to Detroit
Kentucky-based Bulleit Frontier Whiskey has partnered with American Forests and Street Art for Mankind to bring its nationwide Tree Equity tree planting initiative to Detroit.
Tree Equity is a commitment to ensuring everyone has equal access to trees, regardless of where they live. In Detroit, the Russell Woods and Nardin Park neighborhoods were selected for the planting to add trees that would lower surface temperatures and improve air quality.
With the potential to cool surrounding air by up to 9 degrees Fahrenheit, each of the 48 trees planted will play a role in mitigating the dangerous impacts of the urban heat island effect.
life for a third time. Following plantings in NYC and Houston, Detroit marks the third iteration of the commitment for the partners.
To help bring attention to the need for larger, global ecosystem restoration, Bulleit and Street Art for Mankind unveiled a 6,600-square-foot poetic, mural installation— inspired by Lady Liberty — at 2115 Cass Ave. in Detroit.
Asahi Kasei in Fowlerville to Expand to the 3-D Printing Market in North America
Asahi Kasei has started sales for 3-D printing (3DP) filaments in North America through Asahi Kasei Plastics North America Inc. (APNA) in Fowlerville.
The soft launch will begin with filaments from the modified polyphenylene ether (mPPE) resin product line, XYRON, then expand to the Thermylene polypropylene (PP) group.
“Asahi Kasei has a proven history of being a resin and compounding technology leader,” says Todd Glogovsky, president and COO at APNA. “3-D printing is a rapidly growing field, and we have the people and skillset to develop, enhance, and exceed the needs of hobbyists and OEMs alike.”
APNA plans to advance two business initiatives targeted at the 3DP sector to show customers versatility and long-term commitment.
The first goal is to deliver success through filament sales in the North American market and then expand globally. This will be started through trialing XYRON, which features properties such as printability (lower warpage, high dimensional stability), heat resistance, electrical insulation, and impact strength.
After XYRON, the next filament launch will use Thermylene, providing high tensile strength, chemical resistance, creep resistance, and elevated temperature performance. The second goal will be focused on customer support with advanced resources through computer-aided engineering (CAE).
“This is a great opportunity to grow the usage of our award-winning product portfolio for new markets and application spaces,” says Nihir Bhuva, strategic business director for APNA. “Besides having industry expertise, we plan to provide our partners with design and simulation services through CAE. This will help show our commitment to growth from proof-of-concept to the execution stage.”
Home Health Leader Elara Caring Establishes New Regional Headquarters in Jackson
Elara Caring, the full-scale, multi-state home health provider of clinical and personalized services, has leased a new, state-of-the-art office space in Jackson, which will serve as its regional headquarters.
In selecting the Jackson location, Elara is deepening its Midwest presence where it is rapidly expanding the delivery of value-based services, and committing itself as a partner in the revitalization of downtown Jackson.
While home care providers are struggling to meet demand nationwide, the need is particularly acute in Michigan where steep reductions in reimbursement rates for state-funded at-home services have forced many provider organizations out of business, leaving vulnerable patients without care, according to the company.
The new Elara location consists of 18,509 square feet with 12,000 square feet of contiguous expansion space and offers onsite day care and catering. The five-year lease began Aug. 1 and includes a five-year extension option. The official ribbon-cutting took place Tuesday.
“At Elara, we live by the mission of expanding access to high-quality, compassionate, individualized home health wherever patients and clients call home,” says Ananth Mohan, COO at Elara. “While we’ve long provided care in Jackson and Michigan at large, we’re recommitting ourselves to the needs of individuals in these communities, which have too often gone underserved.”
Study: Michigan 11th Best State for Tech Startups Amid AI Explosion
A new study from Appy Pie finds the state of Michigan is 11th best state for tech startups as the AI market is projected to reach $1.3 trillion by 2032, up from $40 billion in 2022.
Generative AI platforms, such as ChatGPT and Bard, are democratizing technology and giving tech companies outside of Silicon Valley the chance to innovate like never before. Startups across the nation are leveraging AI to reduce labor costs, automate, and develop software for pennies on the dollar. Amid this paradigm shift, some states are emerging as new hot spots for tech startups.
The study used the most recent data from the Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Michigan’s Ranking in the six categories analyzed:
- VC Growth Last Five Years: No. 2 — 842 percent increase
- Patents: No. 8 — 74.3 per capita
- Startup Survival: No. 18 — 52.3 percent
- Tech Workers: No. 19 — 5.1 percent of workforce
- Tech Firms: No. 25 — 4.1 percent of all companies
- Public Funding: No. 27 — $147 per capita
The 10 best states for tech startups are Massachusetts, California, Maryland, Virginia, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Utah.
To learn more, visit here.
Mars Agency Launches Next Gen Commerce/Marketing Platform — Marilyn
Southfield-based marketing agency The Mars Agency has unveiled the newest generation of its Marilyn Commerce Marketing Technology platform, which has been re-designed to give clients full visibility into the total business impact of their commerce-marketing activities.
The measurement methodologies available to commerce marketers have long been inconsistent in breadth, depth, and even taxonomy, making them inadequate for optimizing investments across the retail landscape, the agency says.
The upgraded Marilyn platform is designed to solve those issues by giving clients a clear, consistent view of commerce marketing on brand growth, moving measurement beyond campaign-specific performance metrics like ROAS (return on advertising spend), or even ROI (return on investment) to evaluate the full financial contribution being made to the bottom line of their businesses.
Mars reports that companies using the Marilyn platform have leveraged the richer insights they gain to optimize investments and improve their commerce marketing performance by an average of 21 percent year-over-year.
“We’ve taken Marilyn’s industry-leading capabilities to an even higher level with new solutions that not only provide a complete understanding of performance, but also make it easier for clients to access the information they need,” says Jake Berry, executive vice president and general manager of The Mars Agency and team lead of the Marilyn platform. “The results aren’t just changing the go-to-market strategies of our clients — they’re changing the perception of commerce marketing in their organizations.”
The refreshed Marilyn platform is driving Total Business Impact through four key solutions:
- Data management
- Measurement and intelligence
- Planning optimization
- Insight and analytics hub
“Brands can’t afford to rely on inconsistent, vendor-reported data, and they can’t be satisfied measuring their performance by ROAS,” says Berry. “They need a single ecosystem that will help them standardize results, measure the Total Business Impact of their spend, and make smarter decisions. That’s exactly what we’ve designed the new Marilyn platform to do.”
Five Stellantis’ Women Honored for Financial, Technical Acumen
Five women from Stellantis in Auburn Hills received honors for their financial and technical acumen and achievements at the Women of Color STEM Digital Twin Experience (DTX) Conference in Detroit, Oct. 12-14.
The conference honors the significant achievements of women in STEM, ensuring that their accomplishments to create, innovate and inspire within technical fields remain highly visible.
The Stellantis award winners earned Women of Color STEM Outstanding Achievement Awards in the Top Women in Finance and Technology Rising Star categories.
The Stellantis Top Women in Finance award winners are:
- Chiny Ferrell, cash management manager, finance
- Zenia Yee, North America consolidation manager, engineering
The Technology Rising Star winners are women in the early-to-mid stages of their career:
- Priya Nataraj, technical operations manager – base software engineering, software
- Sulbin Park, senior staff engineer – AI fusion, software
- Natalie Ward, human factors and ergonomics engineer, engineering
Honorees were nominated for the awards by their employer.
Blackford Capital in Grand Rapids Selected 2023 Best of MichBusiness Winner
Blackford Capital, a lower middle-market private equity firm in Grand Rapids has been named a Best of MichBusiness honoree in the Finance category.
The Best of MichBusiness Awards program celebrates the companies and individuals that make Michigan a great place to live and work. This year, the awards categories rise above the traditional to spotlight companies who have disrupted the status quo, made a real difference in Michigan, and showed outstanding leadership in a time of social and economic uncertainty.
“As a company that was born and bred in West Michigan, receiving Best of MichBusiness recognition is an incredible honor, and a testament to our entire team,” says Martin Stein, founder and managing director of Blackford Capital. “It not only recognizes our deep Michigan roots and our growing reputation for innovation and excellence in the lower middle market private equity industry, it also is a celebration of one of our most successful years since the firm’s founding in Grand Rapids in 2010.”
Blackford Capital will be recognized alongside other 2023 Best of MichBusiness honorees at a winner’s reception in Livonia on Nov. 16, and will be featured in the 2024 January/February issue of Corp! magazine.
Michigan Science Center in Detroit Gets Grant from Bank of America
The Michigan Science Center (Mi-Sci) in Detroit has received a grant of an unspecified amount from Bank of America that has enabled Mi-Sci to open its Sponsors of Science program a month earlier than anticipated. The program is currently accepting applications.
Sponsors of Science offers varying grant scholarships and is specifically designed to support schools and community groups serving low-income, Title One students and children. Each allocation can cover up to 100 percent of a group’s field trip visit to Mi-Sci.
“We are deeply grateful to Bank of America for their valuable and timely gift,” says Christian Greer, president and CEO of the Michigan Science Center. “Their support not only recognizes the importance of informal hands-on STEM education for children but also ensures that we can continue to promote intergenerational learning with families.”
Matt Elliott, president of Bank of America Michigan, says: “Making these scholarships accessible and supporting students and STEM education through the Sponsors of Science will help develop top-tier Michigan talent. This exceptional program builds on Bank of America’s partnership with the Michigan Science Center that we hope will continue to be long and impactful.”
To be eligible for the program, groups must consist of 20 individuals or more, belong to an educational program such as a school field trip, community group, or social service, and predominantly serve children from high-need/low-income backgrounds.
All Mi-Sci’s exhibits, special traveling exhibit, science shows, and demonstrations are included in each field trip experience. Additionally, schools can incorporate films in the IMAX Dome Theatre, Toyota 4D Engineering Theater, or shows in the Planetarium into their schedule if time allows.
Interested groups are encouraged to apply via a website form, while funds are still available, with field trips commencing as soon as Nov. 1.
The Community House in Birmingham to Host Bourbon and the Beast Oct. 26
The Community House in Birmingham will host Bourbon and the Beast starting at 6 p.m. on Oct. 26.
The event will feature wild game like pheasant, rabbit, venison, and duck expertly paired with rare varieties of bourbon.
Whether a seasoned bourbon connoisseur or a curious foodie looking to expand horizons, this event is a “must-attend” for all enthusiasts of fine spirits and exceptional cuisine. Only 20 seats are available.
Visit here to register.
