Protean Payment landed a big fish in Michigan's mobile technology pond last week when the mobile payment start-up announced that Detroit Labs co-founder Henry Balanon is joining Protean Payment's executive ranks as its chief technology officer. Detroit Labs has emerged as one of the biggest mobile app companies in Michigan since it was launched in 2011, handling mobile work for Quicken Loans, Stryker and Domino's among other larger corporate clients. It is now one of the fastest-growing companies based in the M@dison Building in downtown Detroit. Enticing the likes of Balanon, one of Metro Detroit's early mobile app developers, is not a new thing for Protean Payment. The Ann Arbor-based start-up also has Dug Song serving as a key advisor. Song is a serial tech entrepreneur and current co-founder of Duo Security, a venture-backed Internet security start-up based in Ann Arbor. Protean Payment is developing technology called "Echo" that will serve as a "skeleton key for the wallet" by combining all of the user's credit, debit, loyalty and ID cards into the Echo card. Echo comes equipped with a tiny computer that syncs with the user's mobile phone. The accompanying mobile app allows the user to convert Echo into the card of his or her choice, allowing them to swipe it as they would their normal credit card. "It is in essence a virtual wallet," says Chris Bartenstein, co-founder of Protean Payment. "The card can become any of your cards for payment." Barnestein co-founded Protean Payment with Thiago Olson a year ago. The original technology was developed by the pair when they went to school in Vanderbilt University. Olson was working at TARDEC in Warren when he and Barnestein, who had a brother attending the University of Michigan School of Law, moved to Ann Arbor and launched Protean Payment out of the Tech Brewery. It is now looking at moving into space at the former home of Bay Design in Kerrytown, which is the home of Duo Security and a couple of other start-ups that launched out of the Tech Brewery. Protean Payment has begun raising angel investment money. Bartenstein declined to say how much specifically but said it has raised six-figures so far and plans to put together a formal seed-round of funding later this year. Source: Chris Bartenstein, co-founder of Protean Payment Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

An Ann Arbor-based start-up believes it has the developed the next generation of technology for grow lights. Grow lights are large lights that are used for a number of purposes, ranging from providing artificial light for growing organic vegetables year round to medical marijuana. Those lights have traditionally used incandescent lights. Michigrow's technology utilizes LED lights, which consume far less energy than incandescent bulbs and run much cooler. The use of LED lights and Michigrow's technology allows for not only more energy-efficient operations but helps accelerate the grow cycle of the plants it provides light for by altering its night-and-day biorhythm. "Think of it as a factory that needs to be shut off 12 hours a day," says Jim Beyer, president of Michigrow. "If you can make the factory run 24 hours a day it is much more efficient." Beyer works as a software engineer for his day job but has already begun selling some of the prototypes of his patent-pending technology. He acknowledges that selling his technology to medical marijuana growers would allow for most direct path for rapid start-up. However, he adds that Michigrow's has a number of different potential revenue stream, especially for people in traditional agriculture. "It would allow people to do more of their own food growing in a more economical way," Beyer says. Source: Jim Beyer, president of Michigrow Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Michigan's mix of public and private investments in venture capital is garnering not only a jump in the VC stats (in one year it moved from 25th to 15th in national VC investment rankings), but also attention around the country. Excerpt: "In many ways, Michigan looks a lot like Wisconsin. It shares hundreds of miles of the same Great Lakes shoreline, and usually votes "blue" in presidential elections and "red" when it chooses governors and its state legislature. It also boasts major research universities that rank among the nation's best. Unlike Wisconsin, however, Michigan began investing in its emerging economy years ago — even as the state’s automobile manufacturing base was teetering on the edge of collapse. The success story of how Michigan has surged onto the national radar when it comes to venture capital investment in tech-based, "knowledge economy" companies should be instructive to Wisconsin policymakers as they prepare to vote on creating a state-leveraged fund." More here.

In terms of retention of young college graduates, it looks like the tide may be turning in the Great Lakes State. Excerpt: "The Detroit Regional Chamber on Thursday released a study that analyzed the mobility of graduates of Michigan's 15 public universities, which conferred more than 66,000 degrees last school year... Among that group, 63 percent are still living in Michigan, 35 percent have moved to another state and less than 2 percent moved out of the country, according to the report, released Thursday afternoon at the chamber's Mackinac Policy Conference. About 83 percent of the graduates attended Michigan high schools. The percentage of those who stay has increased from 2007, when a similar study showed 51 percent of the target group reported living in Michigan about six months after graduation." More here.

Artists, crafters, builders and techies, activate! The Mini Maker Faire on June 8 is your chance. Excerpt: A "maker" can be a lot of different things. A tech geek builds robots. An enthusiast builds a ham radio. An artist creates something brand new out of recycled objects. People enjoy all sorts of DIY pursuits. The common thread is the impulse to flex creative muscles, invent, and produce. "I think the maker movement is broad enough to encompass all of it," says Emily Puckett Rodgers, a spokesperson for the A2 Geeks and their 5th annual Mini Maker Faire. This year dozens of exhibitors, a lineup of speakers, and thousands of event attendees will convene at Washtenaw Community College's Morris Lawrence Building on June 8. More here. 

Source: Laura Earle, boundedition Writer: Natalie Burg

Source: Elizabeth Wilson, VEO Art Studio Writer: Natalie Burg

MyBuys is continuing its hiring march in downtown Ann Arbor, adding 30 new employees over the last year and expanding the physical footprint of its office. The California-based software company expanded its office in the Comerica Building, taking over the 6th floor of the structure at Main and Huron. That new space can accommodate up to 150 people, a number the company expects to hit by late this year. The company currently has a staff of a little more than 100 employees and eight interns. It has hired 30 new employees over the last year and promoted 10 of its interns to full-time status over the last five years. "We have been hiring a lot of recent college grads and experienced folks," says Drew Stirton, vice president and general manager of the Ann Arbor office for MyBuys. "Our staff is up 25 percent year over year." MyBuys makes personalized product recommendations for online retailers. It has launched a number of unique advertising display services over the last year, which has helped drive the company's growth. It has also been expanding its digital media advertising work. MyBuys opened an office in downtown Ann Arbor five years ago. It currently has 10 job openings. Source: Drew Stirton, vice president and general manager of the Ann Arbor office for MyBuys Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.