We’re always proud to trumpet our action-based learning approach and commitment to helping students develop their own businesses while earning their degrees, and last week, we put our money where our mouth is: the Institute awarded $40,000 in funding for students to advance their innovative, high potential business concepts towards launch.
These Dare to Dream Grant Program recipients were awarded funding based on business concepts and feasibility studies submitted to panels of judges made up of Dare to Dream alumni and other members of the entrepreneurial and venture capital communities. In addition to the financial awards, 12 companies received tenancy at TechArb, the student accelerator co-managed by the Zell Lurie Institute and the College of Engineering’s Center for Entrepreneurship.
The Dare to Dream program distributes up to $100,000 per academic year to students at the Ross School of Business and their teammates from around the University and has awarded over $700,000 to over 1,000 student entrepreneurs since the program’s inception in 2002. This year’s recipients include:
- AME Outdoors ($5,000 Integration Grant) – Collective reservation services for sport fishing industry
- Bebaroo ($10,000 Integration Grant) – Subscription-based rental service for infant and toddler clothes
- OWN ($10,000 Integration Grant) – Point of sale system for coffee houses and related targeted businesses
- @Fingertips ($1,500 Assessment Grant) – Smart phone accessories to allow visually impaired users access to modern technologies
- Briese Capital Management ($1,500 Assessment Grant) – Proprietary approach to managing financial portfolios, focusing on futures trading
- Chinese American Institute ($1,500 Assessment Grant) – Provides underserved Chinese youth with opportunities to study at U.S. colleges and universities
- Finasic ($1,500 Assessment Grant) – Hardware-based solution for simulating risk profiles for financial institutions
- Impact Secret ($1,500 Assessment Grant)- Comprehensive resource center for social and public sector career opportunities
- Morph Innovations ($1,500 Assessment Grant) – Novel sole for shoes that can transform between flat and high heel profiles
- PPX Solutions ($1,500 Assessment Grant) – Piezoelectric treatment for deep vein thrombosis
- Specialized Designs ($1,500 Assessment Grant) – Designs toys that engage and appeal to visually-impaired and sighted children
- Stigma Free ($1,500 Assessment Grant) – Designs device for private, in-home testing for sexually transmitted diseases
- Syncronizer ($1,500 Assessment Grant) – Provides social media platform that congregates users around topics of interest
Among the 12 teams that received tenancy at TechArb, which offers businesses associated with the University a place to launch and grow their businesses, are:
- Get Fresh Detroit – Provides fresh produce to underserved markets in Detroit
- Heart Graffiti – Silver commemorative jewelry for female college students
- June Energy – Portable solar energy products for electricity and lighting in rural Africa and Asia
- Node Out – Smart-phone applications that utilize crowd-sourced decision engine
- Sentient Wings – Adds intelligence and functionality to unmanned aerial vehicles
- SurveyBroker – Online brokerage to match professional marketing surveyors with small- to medium-sized business clients
- terraOS – Mobile geo-location services to integrate with smart vehicles and infrastructure
- WebWise – Service that enables customers to maintain contact relevancy across any number of communication channels
Want to be part of all this excitement? The next application cycle for Dare to Dream Grants and TechArb tenancy will be January 2011. For application materials, please see http://www.zli.bus.umich.edu/events_programs/