Current Motor Co's business plan has focused on expanding its sales of electric scooters into South America, where the vehicles are popular. That plan is starting to gain traction this summer with the beginning of the company's first fleet sales. The Ann Arbor-based start-up manufactures an electric scooter that provides the same sort of mobility and capability as regular gas-powered scooters, but with a much smaller carbon footprint. Many of the two-stroke gas engines of the millions of scooters in South American countries like Brazil produce a lot of air pollution. That isn't an issue with Current Motor Co's electric scooters and solar-power charging stations. "It's actually a very practical fleet addition," says Lauren Flanagan, executive chair & interim CEO of Current Motor Co. "It's very popular, particularly with mobile, solar-powered charging stations." Flanagan says the company is in the midst of completing its first fleet sales in Brazil this spring and expects to complete more by the end of the year. It is also looking at making similar fleet sales in the U.S. as it attempts to hit the break-even point of selling 500 scooters within the next year. "We have a very lean model so we think that is possible," Flanagan says. Current Motor Co and its team of a dozen people closed on a Series A round of financing worth $2.4 million last year. Flanagan expects to begin fundraising for a Series B round worth somewhere between $5 million and $10 million early next year. The company is currently looking to hire a director of fleet sales and a couple of software engineers to develop mobile apps for its scooters. Source: Lauren Flanagan, executive chair & interim CEO of Current Motor Co Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Kentaro, formerly Kentaro Web Design + SEO, has traditionally made its way through its first few years providing web services to local real-estate agents. Now the Ann Arbor-based business is coming out with its own web platform to serve the same purpose. Real Estate Espresso launched last month with a handful of local real-estate agents. The web platform serves as a lead-generation service for real-estate professionals by focusing on connecting home buyers and sellers with local agents. "This product is a means to automate a majority of the real-estate process," says Kentaro Roy, founder & president of Kentaro. The four-person firm hired a web developer about six months ago. It is currently working on perfecting Real Estate Espresso and developing a marketing plan for it. "We have gotten really good results and feedback from the first agents," Roy says. Source: Kentaro Roy, founder & president of Kentaro Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

In a quest to put 1,000 solar roofs over Ypsilanti heads, solar extraordinaire Dave Strenski spoke out at the recent TedX EMU event.  Catch the video here.

We think cheese maven Madame Fromage, whose blog is followed by the likes of Zagat and the New York Times, finds Zingerman's cheeses to her taste. You'll want to try the Charloe, Sant Mateu, and Bitto after reading. Excerpt: "Last weekend, a pair of hobbits couriered some cheese from Ann Arbor, Michigan to Philadelphia in their luggage. The hobbits are a petit couple who, like mice, can eat their weight in cheese without gaining girth, and before coming to Philadelphia they scouted out the best shnibbles at  Zingerman’s  — thanks to some help from a cheesemonger named Chad.... I have never been to Zingerman’s, but I am intrigued by their catalogue and their  books on cheese and service. I think fondly of the company as the “granola” Dean & Deluca; they are ruled by a Jerry Garcia-esque genius named  Ari Weinzweig  who has managed to turn the cheese retail industry into a kind of cult jam band, based on his anarchist approach to business. Cheese retailers flock to Michigan to study at his feet." More here.

Source: Nathan Voght, Washtenaw County Writer: Natalie Burg

Commerce Guys is adding to its staff in America, hiring three people in the last year, adding another now, and is looking bring another three on soon. The Ann Arbor-based tech firm employs 48 people, including 18 in the U.S. The 5-year-old e-commerce company merged with a French firm three years ago. Commerce Guys also has two interns in Ann Arbor, who are French students working in the U.S. It is also in the process of hiring for a new position with a candidate from MichiganWorks! and has three more job openings for software developers. Commerce Guys is an e-commerce company that integrates Drupal, a popular open source content management system, with its customer's Internet sales platform. It is transitioning from a service-oriented firm to one that creates its own software platform thanks to a 30-percent jump in revenues. It is in the process of launching Commerce Mobile, a mobile app that brings the online shopping experience to consumers on any Apple mobile device. "The real value we can add is based around a repeatable product we can sell," says Scott Dahlgren, managing director, North America, for Commerce Guys. Commerce Guys is also working to make its Commerce Mobile platform customizable for its clients to help accelerate its adoption. "It really has the opportunity to grow adoption very rapidly," Dahlgren says. "It allows somebody to use it easily." Source: Scott Dahlgren, managing director, North America for Commerce Guys Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.