In 2005, as Michigan continued limping along in an economic slump that had begun early in the decade, the state government decided to try something different. It passed legislation that allocated $1 billion from Michigan’s share of the settlement from a national lawsuit against tobacco companies and established the 21st Century Jobs Fund, a 10-year initiative to diversify the state’s manufacturing-dominated economy. As a provision of the Jobs Fund, the $109 million 21st Century Investment Fund was also created to get capital flowing to early-stage Michigan startups and jumpstart the state’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The 21st Century Investment Fund is a fund-of-funds that invests in qualified private equity, mezzanine, and venture capital funds and makes co-investments alongside those funds. The state hired global investment bank Credit Suisse’s Customized Fund Investment Group (CFIG) to manage it.
Today, in addition to directing the 21st Century Investment Fund, CFIG manages the $95 million Venture Michigan Fund and the $120 million Venture Michigan Fund II (also fund-to-funds), the $185 million InvestMichigan Growth Capital Fund with Beringea, and the $130 million InvestMichigan Mezzanine Fund. All told, Credit Suisse manages more than $500 million of Michigan investment initiatives, making it one of the largest pools of private equity capital in Michigan and an economic growth engine that the Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s (MEDC) Paul Brown says has had a “hugely positive effect” on Michigan’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
According to Sean O’Donnell, vice president of CFIG’s Michigan operations, the Michigan 21st Century Investment Fund managers have invested $98.2 million into 24 Michigan-based portfolio companies. O’Donnell says that $568.8 million of equity—five times the amount put in by fund managers—has been invested into the 21st Century Investment Fund’s 24 companies by all syndicate partners, many of whom are out-of-state investors. Brown says the presence of CFIG in these deals lends confidence to coastal investors, and those numbers prove it.
That confidence also leads to announcements like the one made in February by Cambridge, MA-based Flagship Ventures, which has already found success in local companies like Accuri Cytometers. Flagship announced it would open a Michigan office, probably in Ann Arbor, after a $15 million investment from Venture Michigan Fund II.
“At Credit Suisse, our job is to funnel capital to the fund managers that are out there,” O’Donnell says, noting that its primary directive is to invest money in firms
