Ann Arbor Spark

Business incubator/accelerator services Spark creates long-term regional prosperity by accelerating the growth of start-ups and early-stage companies through support by offering direct and consultant services. Spark creates a place where early-stage companies can conduct business at affordable rates and can co-locate with other entrepreneurs and in the eco-system. Spark offers those companies educational and networking events in the incubator space. We create an ecosystem whereby start-ups can connect easily with resources they need at early stages to launch and establish, thus attracting start-ups to this region. This supports growth in the companies themselves, the direct support services, and the region's economy, creating a virtuous cycle of economic growth. Spark is part of the award-winning global epicenter of mobility (gem) program, administering the entrepreneur-in-residence (eir) component of the program. Spark's east office led a federal grant for the county to support covid impact, historically underserved companies. In 2023 Spark assisted 400 innovation start-ups which currently employ 1,046 fte. Spark nurtured 102 incubator tenants. Spark east provided 112.9k in grants to covid impacted, historically underserved small businesses.

Communication and community engagement Spark uses its established platform of social media followers, website traffic, and brand awareness to expand local, regional, statewide, national, and global awareness of the Ann Arbor region's attractiveness for business location and career and life opportunities. Spark also promotes community events that market the region as a great place to start a business and/or work for a start-up. Our weeklong series of events, a2tech360, had 25 total events and over 3.9.5k registered attendees, 819k social media views and 100k web page views.

Business development (expansion, attraction, retention) Spark maximizes potential jobs and capital investment in the region and helps grow the region's gdp through the retention and expansion of established driving industry companies and the targeted attraction domestically and internationally of similar companies that fit the region's identified clusters. This is done by regular communication with local businesses to determine their needs, making key business introductions, assisting with site selection, collaborating with local municipalities, and assisting companies in working with local academic partners to communicate talent needs. This year the major companies Spark supported are: - mi-hq: (downtown redevelopment) - acquired and renovated the eastern Michigan college of business building with the university of Michigan medicine as an anchor tenant - toyota: (international r&d facility) to establish a 48m battery lab, which will aid the development of batteries for electric vehicles in the us. - mi fame Michigan chapter: (federation for advanced manufacturing education) - provides an opportunity for students to graduate debt free and filling in a skills gap in the manufacturing sector. In 2023, with 23 successful company growth projects, the team facilitated new investment commitments totaling more than 208 million. These projects led to the creation of 516 new jobs and the retention of over 363 existing ones, thereby strengthening the local workforce.

Capital funding: Michigan angel fund & Spark capital (formerly Michigan pre-seed fund). The mission of our funding programs is to support high-tech companies throughout the state at their earliest stages of development and position these high-growth companies to be able to raise additional capital and investments. Capital programs are an intentional economic development tool that pays itself back, allowing the funds to be redeployed for future reinvestment into more companies. With 155 members, the Michigan angel fund (maf) is the largest angel organization in Michigan. The group has 40 companies, filling an important funding gap by investing in very early-stage companies across the state that are not yet primed for venture and other sources of capital. Maf is managed by Ann Arbor Spark and invested 739k into 4 companies. Spark capital fund is designed to retain entrepreneurial companies. These are high-risk investments with a forecast of about 65% projected to reach the next level of funding. In 2023, Spark capital invested 1m in 13 companies.