Ten companies in the US state of Michigan have committed $50m to a fund investing in local companies.
Non-government organization Business Leaders for Michigan set up the Renaissance Venture Capital Fund as an affiliate with local companies DTE Energy, CMS Energy, Huntington Bank, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and AAA Michigan among the limited partners. The Kellogg Foundation also joined as an investor.
Renaissance invests in other venture capital (VC) funds that seek to invest in Michigan businesses, and can co-invest alongside them, but has no state money supporting it.
Local news provider Detroit Free Press said the fund had invested $5.8m in six VC funds managed by: Arboretum Ventures, RPM Ventures, TGap Ventures, 5AM Ventures, DFJ Mercury and MK Capital and plans to commit to one by Arsenal Venture Partners. These funds in turn had invested more than $23m in 12 Michigan companies, including Accuri Cytometers, Histosonics and Swift Biosciences and made an exit from one, HandyLab.