Michigan Microloan Fund Awards Lifelines Worth $122,000 Combined to Four More Companies

Four Michigan companies have received a combined $122,000 through the Michigan Microloan Fund Program, managed by the Ann Arbor SPARK business incubator. The latest funding round brings the total amount invested through the program to more than $1.2 million among 35 companies since July 2009, according to a news release today.

Microloans available through the fund range from $10,000 to $50,000 and are reserved for Michigan-based, privately held companies.

Awarded grants this time around are:

Akervall Technologies: The Ann Arbor-based company is developing a mouth guard made of a rigid polymer with perforations that disperse impact before it can reach the teeth. Perhaps taking a lesson from automotive bumpers, the product also includes a “crumple zone” to further reduce impact. COO Sassa Akervall says in the announcement  the loan will be used to enhance product packaging.

Blaze Medical Devices: The Ann Arbor-based company monitors effectiveness of blood storage units to make sure there’s no loss in quality of blood for transfusions. Co-founder Michael Tarasev says the loan will enable the company’s first clinical studies at Henry Ford and University of Michigan Hospitals.

Ellison Corp.: The Detroit-based company makes traffic signals with side-mounted lights that flash when emergency vehicles are entering intersections, helping to lessen the danger of accidents. The loan will be used to purchase materials for prototypes, says owner Aaron K. Ellison.

Waste Water Heat Transfers Systems: The company has a product that extracts heat from the waste stream and uses the energy to preheat potable water before it enters a facility’s boiler, saving hot-water energy costs. Co-founder Doug Guldan says the loan will help the company enter the prototype and evaluation phase.

Author: Howard Lovy

Howard Lovy is a veteran journalist who has focused primarily on technology, science and innovation during the past decade. In 2001, he helped launch Small Times Magazine, a nanotech publication based in Ann Arbor, MI, where he built the freelance team and worked closely with writers to set the tone and style for an emerging sector that had never before been covered from a business perspective. Lovy's work at Small Times, and on one of the first nanotechnology-themed blogs, helped him earn a reputation for making complex subjects understandable, interesting, and even entertaining for a broad audience. It also earned him the 2004 Prize in Communication from the Foresight Institute, a nanotech think tank. In his freelance work, Lovy covers nanotechnology in addition to technological innovation in Michigan with an emphasis on efforts to survive and retool in the state's post-automotive age. Lovy's work has appeared in many publications, including Wired News, Salon.com, the Wall Street Journal, The Detroit News, The Scientist, the Forbes/Wolfe Nanotech Report, Michigan Messenger, and the Ann Arbor Chronicle.