Table of Contents
Fund Activity & Investment Update
Stats and Facts: Fund and Portfolio Performance
Industry Sectors of AB Fund Portfolio Companies
Dear colleagues,
We are proud to present the 2024 Annual Report for the University of Michigan’s Accelerate Blue Fund. Since launching in October 2019, the Accelerate Blue Fund has significantly boosted the commercial success of startups emerging from U-M’s robust research endeavors.
As the nexus of research commercialization at U-M, Innovation Partnerships has the great honor of supporting the groundbreaking research efforts of U-M faculty. With the support of Innovation Partnerships, the Accelerate Blue Fund and the state’s wider commercialization ecosystem, our faculty’s innovative work has the power to positively impact society at scale. The Accelerate Blue Fund (AB Fund) plays a crucial role in transforming research discoveries into real-world impact by providing critical seed capital to early-stage U-M startups, empowering them to bring cutting-edge innovations to market.
Since its inception, Accelerate Blue Fund portfolio companies have attracted more than $347 million in external investments. With generous support from donors and the University of Michigan, the AB Fund now manages assets totaling $15.6 million. In addition to funding high-potential startups, the AB Fund has strengthened U-M’s connections with the national and local investment community, reinforcing the university’s leadership in research commercialization.
Based on this success, Innovation Partnerships with support from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, launched the Michigan University Innovation Capital Fund (MUICF) in August. The MUICF is a pre-seed venture fund focused on Michigan startup companies that have licensed university technologies from one of the state's 15 public universities.
None of this would be possible without the unwavering support of our donors and partners. Your contributions and engagement with our team have helped fuel the growth of U-M startups, creating opportunities for breakthrough innovations to thrive. We are excited to build on this momentum as we support the continued growth of Michigan’s innovation ecosystem.
Sincerely,
The Accelerate Blue Fund amplifies the groundbreaking research conducted at the University of Michigan for both local and global benefit. Providing essential investment resources to expand and elevate the work of our research community, the Fund enables our innovators’ transformative ideas to develop into thriving startups. In doing so, the Accelerate Blue Fund magnifies the impact of our research, fostering innovation and delivering scalable solutions to some of society’s most pressing challenges."
Stats and Facts: Fund and Portfolio Performance
$6,895,704
Total Invested by the AB Fund
$7,146,658
Valuation as of 12/31/2024
$347M
Outside Investments Leveraged by Portfolio Companies
For every $1 of AB Fund investment, portfolio companies raised $50 of additional investment capital
Portfolio companies have created 367 jobs in total, of which 293 are in Michigan
AB Fund Strategic Advisory Board
Rob Bronstein* - SAB Chair ; Co-Founder, President, The Scion Group
Amazon Web Services, Inc.*
The Bayer Family Foundation* - Matt Bayer and Joyce Yaung
Toby Brzoznowski* - Co-Founder, Chief Strategy Officer, LLamasoft, Inc.
Ron and Kathy Colby*
Richard Douglas and Dr. Anita Kupriss*
Ehrenberg Family Charitable Fund* - Roger and Carin Ehrenberg
Don and Anais Hicks*
Lan Hu and Feng Gao
The Martin Family Foundation* - Bill, Sally, Seth and Mike Martin
MCRA LLC - Anthony Viscogliosi
Jonathan C. Oberheide and Ashley N. Oberheide*
Brad Sacks - President, BS Global Investments LLC
Don and Erica Sweeney*
Melvyn Yeo - Founder, TRIREC
Founders Circle Members
SAB members listed above with an asterisk denote an individual who made an early, leading contribution during the first and second fundraising rounds to the Accelerate Blue Fund. Additional Founders Circle Members are:
George and Danielle Skestos
Investment Advisory Board
Chris Rizik - IAB Chair ; Founder & CEO, Renaissance Venture Capital
Rafael Castilla - Director of Investments, U-M Investment Office
Felicia David-Visser - Senior Manager, U-M Investment Office
Jay Ellis - Director of Innovations, EV Charging, Walmart
Mike Klein - CEO, Genomenon, Inc.
Meagan Malm - Principal, Michigan Capital Network
Adrian Ohmer - Investment Director, The Kresge Foundation
Lara Pender - Partner, Gunderson Dettmer
Michigan University Innovation Capital Fund
We are excited to announce the launch of the Michigan University Innovation Capital Fund (MUICF), a $5 million initiative in collaboration with Michigan's public universities. MUICF provides crucial resources to fuel pre-seed and early-stage startups emerging from research conducted at public universities across Michigan, helping to transform groundbreaking ideas into reality. This initiative has the potential to drive economic growth in Michigan while addressing some of the world's most pressing challenges and improving lives.
The establishment of the MUICF was made possible by an award from the Michigan Strategic Fund and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation through the Michigan Innovation Capital Fund in 2024.
Strategic guidance and support for the MUICF is provided by the Michigan University Innovation Capital Consortium (the Consortium). The Consortium consists of a statewide network of leaders from university tech transfer offices, university-managed pre-seed funds, university-associated economic development organizations and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.
MUICF Consortium Members
MUICF Performance Overview
$642,500
In New Investments
$3.8M
Total Pipeline Investments
21
Total Companies in the Pipeline
Companies in MUICF Portfolio
IASO Therapeutics is dedicated to developing next generation vaccines to enhance human health and treat diseases.
M3D offers a variety of radiation gamma cameras for use in healthcare facilities by surgeons, physicians, physicists and environmental safety personnel.
Maximizing endoscopic video interpretation for inflammatory bowel disease.
Portfolio companies created 14 jobs - all in Michigan
Portfolio companies raised $3.6 of investment capital for every $1 invested by MUICF
Accelerate Blue Foundry
Announced at Celebrate Invention 2024, the Accelerate Blue Foundry is an innovative new program designed to bridge the gap between startup founders and some of the most promising innovations originating from University of Michigan research. By connecting top entrepreneurial talent with U-M technologies, the program aims to accelerate the path to startup launch, fostering new ventures that have the potential to change the world for the better.
The Foundry will handpick entrepreneurs to build startups based on a curated portfolio of U-M innovations. From February through April 2025, selected entrepreneurs will engage with inventors to gather in-depth technology background materials and receive ongoing mentorship and support from the Innovation Partnerships Ventures and Licensing teams. This guidance will aid them in crafting their funding pitches. The program will culminate in a selection day, during which projects will be presented to the Innovation Partnerships team and potential investors, offering an opportunity to license the technology and receive seed investments ranging from $50,000 to $250,000 from the Accelerate Blue Fund.
Industry Sectors of AB Fund and MUICF Portfolio Companies
Advanced Manufacturing • Advanced Materials • Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing) • AR/VR • Artificial Intelligence (AI) • Bioenergy • Brain Computer Interface • Cleantech • Contamination Mitigation • Diagnostics • Fiber Optics • Health IT • Internet of Things (IoT) • Medical Devices • Microfluidic Technologies • Mobility • Semiconductors • Sensors • Solar • Solid State Batteries • Therapeutics
AB Fund Portfolio Companies
AngioInsight provides a fully automated computer-based platform to medical practitioners to assist with coronary angiogram video interpretation.
2024 Update: The AB Fund participated in a seed round to fund the company's prototype development. The team has made significant strides with their product and recently brought on an experienced CEO to accelerate commercialization milestones.
Arcascope is a medtech company providing apps that utilize algorithms to track circadian rhythms and generate personalized recommendations.
2024 Update: Arcascope closed a $2M contract with the Navy for deployment of their technology across the entire fleet (and potentially for all of the Department of Defense) over the next five years. Additionally, the company was awarded $640k in grants from research customers and formalized a customer agreement focused on chronomedicine with the Moffitt Cancer Center.
Auricle, Inc. is a medical device company developing treatments for tinnitus, a chronic ringing in the ears that impacts up to 15% of the population.
2024 Update: The AB Fund led a pre-seed round that enabled Auricle, Inc. to move forward with product development and human factors testing in preparation for obtaining FDA clearance.
BlueConduit is a water analytics company that has developed cutting-edge, predictive machine learning software to locate lead service lines, empowering local officials and their engineering partners with the information needed to efficiently remove lead service water pipes.
2024 Update: BlueConduit launched their second product to help municipalities identify failures in water meters. The new product will be rolled into their existing platform technology that was used to help municipalities identify and inventory lead service water lines for drinking water.
Brightwater Tools develops wastewater nutrient recovery systems to facilitate circular economies.
2024 Update: The AB Fund participated in Seed round to accelerate product development and market entry for their modular wastewater treatment system.
CubeWorks' CubiSens™ Platform empowers ubiquitous wireless sensing, smart processing and energy harvesting – all in unprecedented, millimeter-scale form factors.
2024 Update: The AB Fund made a follow-on investment into CubeWorks to support the growth of their commercial team and product development as the company seeks to ramp up sales in 2025.
Decimal Code captures underbilled revenue for healthcare providers using automated CPT coding.
2024 Update: The AB Fund led a pre-seed round that allowed Decimal Code to pursue the commercialization of their platform with early adopters. The company won $100,000 in the Healthcare and People’s Choice categories at Ann Arbor SPARK’s Invest360 pitch competition.
Ecovia Renewables is creating high-performing water soluble and water swellable biopolymers for personal care, agricultural and industrial applications.
2024 Update: Ecovia has made significant progress with the fabrication and validation of a 500 L bioreactor, optimized raw material usage through a new washing process and is scaling up production processes to support the planned start of regular production by the end of 2024.
Fifth Eye, Inc. develops clinical decision support software designed to provide clinicians with an early warning of patient decompensation by continuously monitoring the risk of hemodynamic instability.
2024 Update: The AB Fund participated in a bridge round for Fifth Eye. The company commenced a large clinical evaluation of its AHI system at a prominent healthcare facility and is working to build a reseller ecosystem.
Genevi Technologies is developing a platform focused on the treatment of all forms of urinary incontinence starting with urethral health.
2024 Update: The AB Fund led a pre-seed round to fund first-in-human studies for the company's neuro-muscular stimulation device to treat urinary incontinence.
INHERET supports those affected by hereditary cancer through easy-to-use tools that capture important family health history, assess risks and inform patients and families on the next best steps toward protecting their health.
2024 Update: INHERET was acquired by InformedDNA in an all stock transaction in March 2024. This is the first acquisition of an AB Fund portfolio company.
Lumetec develops software for increasing the stability and robustness of vulnerable fiber optic infrastructure.
2024 Update: The company's multimodal fiber-optic sensing solution is being built in close collaboration with industry partners and will serve as the cornerstone for the upcoming product launch. The AB Fund participated in their recent pre-seed round.
M3D develops real-time high-resolution radiation visualization, which improves patient outcomes and safety for healthcare facilities.
2024 Update: The AB Fund co-led a pre-seed round to further R&D and software development.
MemryX is a fabless semiconductor company that designs edge AI processing solutions powered by a proprietary compute-at-memory technology and data-flow architecture.
2024 Update: The AB Fund made a follow-on investment in MemryX's successful closing of their Series B to ramp up production and expand the team.
Mountain Pass is developing a faculty position management software that brings proven workflow efficiency and accuracy to medical schools, universities and health systems.
2024 Update: Mountain Pass has continued their strong sales trend into 2024 and expects to have strong scalability opportunities in 2025.
Movellus Circuits provides end to end solutions for high performance and ultra low power SoCs (systems on chips).
2024 Update: Movellus Circuits and Tenstorrent announced a strategic partnership, with Tenstorrent licensing Movellus’ digital IP portfolio for its AI and HPC chiplet solutions.
Neurable is building full-stack neurotechnology tools that interpret human intent, measure emotion and provide telekinetic control of the digital world.
2024 Update: Neurable closed a bridge financing lead by Ultratech Capital Partners, TRAC, Pace Ventures and Metaplanet. The AB Fund participated with a follow-on investment. The company’s flagship product, the MW75 Neuro Headphones, was released commercially this year and received international acclaim from both tech and music reviews.
NewHaptics is a microfluidic technology company that specializes in full-page digital braille and tactile graphics displays.
2024 Update: NewHaptics has manufactured five full scale prototypes that are being used for customer discovery and testing. The team has moved to a larger facility and has been hiring additional technical support.
NX Fuels is providing cost effective, sustainable solutions for production of green fuels (such as H2, CH4, etc.) from CO2 and water using only renewable solar energy.
2024 Update: NX Fuels received a H2 Shot Incubator Phase I award from the Department of Energy. NX Fuels will work with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to perform Life-Cycle Analysis (LCA) and Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA) for NX Fuels' solar H2 system.
ONL Therapeutics develops treatments to protect and improve the vision of patients with a range of retinal diseases and conditions.
2024 Update: The AB Fund participated in a $65M Series D led by Johnson & Johnson Innovation. The company is initiating a Phase 2 global study targeting the treatment of geographic atrophy (GA) associated with dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
PathwaysGI develops image processing of endoscopy videos for quantifying GI disease severity.
2024 Update: The company has gained significant traction in the clinical trials space, the AB Fund recently participated in a bridge round to further product development and capitalize on early customer interest.
Poas Bioenergy is providing gasification technology that takes in biomass and agricultural waste to produce high energy density syngas and biochar.
2024 Update: The AB Fund led Poas Bioenergy’s pre-seed round. The company completed the initial phase of their bioenergy system and achieved higher-than-expected results. They've secured key partnerships and are currently scaling production as they progress towards full-scale commercialization.
Ripple Sciences, Inc. is providing technology to solve patient recruitment and retention challenges, the #1 reason cited when clinical trials fail.
2024 Update: The AB Fund participated in a bridge round to accelerate product development and drive adoption with larger customers (sponsors and contract research organizations).
Ulendo has developed a cloud-based 3D printing software that enables faster and more accurate printing leading to higher quality parts with less waste.
2024 Update: Ulendo has made headway in the software for manufacturing automation and robotics market after launching a new subscription-based product.
Zakuro is an energy storage company developing energy-dense solid-state batteries for Lithium-ion replacement.
2024 Update: Zakuro has received grants totaling more than $3M in non-dilutive funding, including $1.75M from the US Defense Logistics Agency. The AB Fund provided a matching investment to the state's Emerging Technologies Fund grant awarded to the company.