About Doug Neal

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So far Doug Neal has created 208 blog entries.

Akadeum Life Sciences, Inc. Recognized for Best New Technology at CYTO Innovation

ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN (PRWEB) AUGUST 08, 2017 Each year, the top minds in cytometry—which refers to the methodology used to extract quantitative information from individual cells—join together at ISAC’s CYTO Innovation to present the industry’s new technologies in the technology showcase. This year, Ann Arbor-based Akadeum Life Science, Inc.’s microbubble technology rose to the top [...]

By |2017-08-25T09:21:25-05:00August 10th, 2017|

Cobalt – Crowdsourcing application security closes the automated assessment gap

You could say Kris Lahiri, VP operations and chief security officer at enterprise file sharing platform provider Egnyte, was a bit of a skeptic when he first considered adding crowd-sourced penetration testing to the firm’s application security regimen. Indeed, the idea of giving permission for a bunch of unknown eyes to scour over their systems [...]

By |2021-02-06T14:48:55-05:00July 28th, 2017|

How Clinc Developed The Most Advanced A.I. For The Banking Industry

Imagine opening your bank app and asking questions about your checking account or making requests in a totally natural, conversational way. “When was the last time I was paid and can you transfer five-hundred bucks into savings?” That is an idea that Ann Arbor-based A.I. startup Clinc has implemented with its first product launch, Finie, a [...]

By |2021-02-06T14:48:55-05:00July 28th, 2017|

Jacqueline Esch of Blue Medora Recognized as One of CRN’s 2017 Women of the Channel

GRAND RAPIDS, MI–(Marketwired – May 17, 2017) – Blue Medora, an IT enterprise cloud and datacenter management company, announced today that CRN®, a brand of The Channel Company, has named Jacqueline Esch, Blue Medora regional sales director, to its prestigious 2017 Women of the Channel list. The executives who comprise this annual list span the [...]

By |2021-02-06T14:48:55-05:00July 10th, 2017|

Automatic – SiriusXM acquires connected car company Automatic for over $100M

SiriusXM has acquired Automatic, the maker of the Automatic Pro and Automatic Lite connected car OBD-II port accessories. The deal is acknowledged by SiriusXM CFO David Frear to be worth a little north of $100 million, and SiriusXM and Automatic both note in releases announcing the news that the brand will remain separate, and Automatic’s [...]

By |2021-02-06T14:48:55-05:00July 10th, 2017|

Aperia Partners with Brown Integrated Logistics to maximize tire life, improve fuel economy

Burlingame, CA - Aperia Technologies Inc. maker of the only tire inflation device for tractors and trailers, today announced that Brown Integrated Logistics has made its Halo Tire Inflator a standard specification on all new and existing power units. “Proper tire inflation is extremely important when running wide-base single tires,” said Brian Kinsey, president and [...]

By |2017-07-03T08:24:36-05:00July 3rd, 2017|

Akadeum CEO on Sirius XM with Steve Blank

Featured in The Huffington Post on 03/01/2016: Read full article Akadeum Life Sciences’ CEO (Brandon McNaughton) recently sat down for a discussion on Sirius XM with Steve Blank. Steve interviewed Brandon as part of Entrepreneurs are Everywhere. They discussed topics ranging from cell separation with microbubbles to figuring out how to move an idea from an idea to sales. See below [...]

By |2017-07-03T08:13:41-05:00July 3rd, 2017|

Navya driverless shuttles to begin ferrying University of Michigan students this fall

Navya will deploy two of its driverless multi-passenger shuttles this fall at the University of Michigan, moving students autonomously between Michigan’s North Campus Research Complex and its Lurie Engineering Center across a two-mile route. The 15-passenger vehicles are being deployed in conjunction with Mcity, the University of Michigan-led partnership with autonomous private industry players that’s [...]

By |2021-02-06T14:48:55-05:00July 3rd, 2017|

StrataOncology – In landmark move, FDA approves cancer drug for a biomarker not a tissue

Colon, pancreatic, stomach, or ovarian cancer; it increasingly shouldn’t matter. In an era of precision medicine, the treatment approach should reflect the genetic makeup of the person’s tumor and the presence or absence of key biomarkers. That ethos was set in stone on Tuesday, with the landmark FDA approval of Merck’s checkpoint inhibitor, Keytruda (pembrolizumab), [...]

By |2021-02-06T14:48:55-05:00June 26th, 2017|

SightMachine – Transforming the plant floor with digital data

"Old digital Neanderthals like me talk about digital transformation on the manufacturing floor, but young digital natives talk about digital transformation of the plant floor," said Dennis Hodges, CIO of Inteva Products, a large, global automotive supplier, mostly serving vehicle manufacturers. "To us, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is connected stuff—machines talking to machines, [...]

By |2017-07-03T08:14:41-05:00June 26th, 2017|

Rachio – The Best Smart Sprinkler Controller

After spending two months with six smart irrigation controllers in a sunny South Carolina yard, we’re confident the Rachio Smart Sprinkler Controller (Generation 2) is the best choice for most people with an in-ground sprinkler system. Any smart controller will save you water and money compared with a simple timer, but the Rachio is the [...]

By |2017-07-03T08:15:46-05:00June 22nd, 2017|

New Vital Signs Co-Founder’s Fast Forwarding Medical Innovation Blog

Fracking for Innovation While a politically sensitive topic, few can argue that hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” has moved the United States significantly toward energy independence. Many of us can remember sitting in long lines at the gas pump in the 1970s during the energy crisis and claims that the world’s oil and gas supply would [...]

By |2017-07-03T08:15:29-05:00June 22nd, 2017|

MobileForce – Introducing A Single Pane of Glass for Service Productivity

MobileForce Software is headed to ServiceNow's Knowledge 2017on May 8-11 in Orlando, Florida! At K17, we are excited to introduce our new ServiceVelocity Field Service Mobility Solution for ServiceNow’s vast customer base of IT and field service delivery organizations. ServiceVelocity delivers a “Single Pane of Glass” productivity dashboard for field service users that automatically integrates [...]

By |2021-02-06T14:48:56-05:00June 19th, 2017|

Clinc – An AI Startup That Lets You Converse With Your Bank Account

Clinc, a fledgling fintech startup that enables banks to bring artificial intelligence (AI) to their products, has raised a $6.3 million funding round led by Drive Capital, with participation from Hyde Park Venture Partners, Cahoots Holding, and Stuart Porter. Founded out of Ann Arbor, Michigan in 2015, Clinc is the brainchild of Jason Mars (CEO) [...]

By |2021-02-06T14:48:56-05:00June 19th, 2017|

Aperia and Michelin to offer revolutionary truck tire inflation system

Road gators could soon be on the endangered list. And that’s a good thing. They’re not animals, of course. They’re those bits of truck tires strewn across America’s highways. They're often the tragic result of tires that weren’t operating at optimal air pressure, which is hard to maintain on a tractor trailer carrying various loads [...]

By |2017-07-03T08:14:53-05:00June 16th, 2017|

Akadeum CTO Featured in Science Magazine

“Clinician-scientist John Younger went one step further than a leave of absence. After partially sidelining his 21-year career in emergency medicine at the University of Michigan (UM), Ann Arbor, in 2014 to develop a micro-bubble cell-capturing technology, he ended up leaving academia completely. ” … “The initial idea was to use tiny spheres tagged with [...]

By |2017-07-03T08:15:09-05:00June 16th, 2017|

Crowdsourced Application Security: The Human Power

Caroline Wong, CISSP and VP of Security Strategy at Cobalt, which “makes bug bounty programs and pen tests painless,” headed this engaging and fast-paced session at OWASP AppSec on crowdsourced security. It was her interest in diversity that led her to crowdsourced security, and in this session she went through the risks and benefits of [...]

By |2021-02-06T14:48:56-05:00June 15th, 2017|

Rachio leads smart home industry as first to earn B Corp certification.

This Earth Day, Rachio is proud to strengthen our commitment to the environment by announcing our new B Corp certification. We are thrilled to break ground as the first smart home company to earn this distinction, leading the way for others in the smart watering and smart home technology industries. To celebrate, we’re offering $30 [...]

By |2021-02-06T14:48:56-05:00June 15th, 2017|

How can tech startups succeed in Michigan? Look to Blue Medora

How can tech startups grow in Michigan? Look to Grand Rapids-based Blue Medora LLC. Its founders and investors say it is a textbook example of how Michigan's high-tech startup ecosystem can work. Blue Medora makes software that monitors the performance of large IT companies' cloud-based applications. Customers include IBM, Oracle and VMware. Blue Medora made [...]

By |2017-07-03T08:18:42-05:00June 12th, 2017|

For the U.S. to stay on top, we can’t just keep funding innovation in Silicon Valley and New York

The digital boom has helped the United States maintain its status — for now — as the world’s political and economic leader. But it has also increasingly created a divide within the U.S. — one of the themes that led to Donald Trump’s election as president. “This issue of people feeling left behind — it’s [...]

By |2017-03-13T06:22:20-05:00March 13th, 2017|

Message to self-driving auto makers: You can’t do it alone, says VC

Some self-driving car makers are incorporating more and more extras like face-recognition and augmented reality displays. Bob Stefanski, managing director of eLab Ventures, said that this may be a winning approach for manufactures looking for an edge in the market. But, Stefanski told John Furrier (@furrier), host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile live streaming studio, that one lone company [...]

By |2021-02-06T14:48:56-05:00March 13th, 2017|

Another approach to autonomous vehicles – slow and steady

MOUNTAIN VIEW — The Audi SUV crept through city streets, obeying speed limits, stopping short at signals and keeping neatly between lane markers during morning rush hour. The driver’s hands hovered above the steering wheel. The real driver was a system of sensors, processors and software made by auto supplier Delphi and tech company Mobileye. [...]

By |2017-01-31T09:45:10-05:00January 31st, 2017|

Driverless shuttle introduced at Mcity

This is the first of NAVYA's ARMA vehicles to operate in North America. The shuttles are already on the road in countries all over the world. They're designed for use at a broad range of sites that need efficient, convenient and safe first and last mile transportation—places such as theme parks and large campus-like environments. [...]

By |2016-12-10T11:27:08-05:00December 10th, 2016|

Snyder signs laws aimed at self-driving car leadership

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder picked the Automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn as the backdrop to sign a group of bills today designed to position Michigan as a future leader in development and testing of self-driving cars. The location was picked to reinforce the state's historic role in the emergence of the global automotive industry as [...]

By |2021-02-06T14:48:56-05:00December 10th, 2016|

Blue Medora Secures $8.6 Million in Series B Funding to Accelerate Adoption of Cloud Performance Monitoring

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Blue Medora, a leading innovator in software for enterprise cloud and data center management, today announced the close of an $8.6 million Series B round led by St. Louis-based Lewis & Clark Ventures. Blue Medora’s existing investors VMware, Inc., eLab Ventures, Start Garden and Grand Angels also supported the round, bringing Blue [...]

By |2021-02-06T14:48:56-05:00November 21st, 2016|

Aperia Technologies Accelerates Growth with $16 Million Capital Raise

BURLINGAME, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aperia Technologies, a clean technology company focused on innovation to increase transportation efficiency, today announced the company has raised $16 million to fund expansion. This funding, along with the company’s dedicated U.S. production facility and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule requiring fuel use reduction, provides significant traction for Aperia Technologies. “The [...]

By |2017-07-03T08:16:44-05:00November 16th, 2016|

How U.S. Manufacturing Is About to Get Smarter

Here’s a paradox of America’s highly automated, increasingly labor-independent manufacturing: While sophisticated, for the most part, it isn’t all that high-tech. Picture metal-stamping machines in an auto-parts factory that can easily have a long useful life of up to 40 years. Now picture the assembly line just outside Austin, Texas, where Samsung Electronics Co. makes [...]

By |2016-11-16T14:47:15-05:00November 16th, 2016|

State-backed program aims to grow Michigan’s VC talent pool

Reda Jaber could have gone in a few directions after graduating in 2014 from the University of Michigan with a trio of graduate degrees. But rather than go into medicine or clinical research, Jaber opted instead to pursue a career in the venture capital industry. Jaber, who has an MBA, connected with Birmingham-based IncWell LLC, a [...]

By |2016-09-19T18:56:21-05:00September 19th, 2016|

State of Michigan Awards $17 Million to American Center for Mobility’s Driverless Car Project

LANSING — Developers of a planned test bed for driverless cars at Willow Run in Washtenaw County won up to $17 million in state funding to build and operate the project, the state said Tuesday. The Michigan Strategic Fund, an arm of the Michigan Economic Development Corp., approved the funding for Willow Run Arsenal of Democracy Landholdings LLP, [...]

By |2016-07-27T14:12:22-05:00July 27th, 2016|

Insightful Article Featuring GM Chairman Mary Barra On The Future Of Cybersecurity In Connected Cars

DETROIT – General Motors Chairman and CEO Mary Barra on Friday called on the world’s auto industry to collaborate to develop cybersecurity standards to not only protect the physical security of vehicle owners, but also the personal data they increasingly transmit through the connected vehicle. “Cybersecurity protects physical safety, privacy and data,” Barra said at [...]

By |2021-02-06T14:48:56-05:00July 22nd, 2016|

In The Driverless Car Race, California Companies Have Eyes On Michigan

Several years ago, Praveen Singh made a bet on Detroit. The Silicon Valley technology startup he founded decided to market the advanced wireless systems it developed to the automotive industry. As the market for the technology grew, Singh and his small team at Arada Systems Inc., found themselves spending more time on airplanes, flying from [...]

By |2016-07-18T16:21:45-05:00July 18th, 2016|

Blue Medora Named One Of The 10 Coolest Cloud Startups

This startup that builds features and functionality onto VMware's vRealize cloud management platform got a boost last year when the virtualization giant participated in its $4.6 million Series A round. Around that time, Blue Medora also established its True Visibility Channel Program. The Grand Rapids, Mich.-based startup was founded in 2007, but an extension of [...]

By |2021-02-06T14:48:57-05:00July 8th, 2016|

Strata Oncology Enters Strategic Partnership With Thermo Fisher

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Strata Oncology said today that it has raised $12 million in a Series A financing to fuel its tumor sequencing operations. The financing was co-led by Arboretum Ventures and Baird Capital, and included existing investor Michigan eLab. Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Strata said it will use the funds to implement the Strata [...]

By |2017-07-03T08:20:34-05:00June 22nd, 2016|

Strata Oncology Raises $12 Million Series A Round

Ann Arbor, MI-based precision medicine startup Strata Oncology announced last week that it has raised a $12 million Series A round. Arboretum Ventures and Baird Capital led the financing, with participation from Michigan eLab, a returning investor. Strata is on a mission to make tumor sequencing for cancer patients more accessible. As personalized genetic therapies to treat cancer advance and increasingly make [...]

By |2021-02-06T14:48:57-05:00June 22nd, 2016|

eLab Conference a Boost to Strata Oncology, Others

Dan Rhodes said he got good advice in August on launching his new company, Strata Oncology Inc., at a conference put on by eLab Ventures, an Ann Arbor-based venture capital firm and one of his eventual investors. Called Michigan eLab Insights and held over three days at the Hotel Walloon on Walloon Lake near Petoskey, eLab's partners gathered [...]

By |2017-07-03T08:20:54-05:00June 19th, 2016|

Should We Sequence the DNA of Every Cancer Patient?

A startup called Strata Oncology says it plans to give away advanced genetic tests to 100,000 patients struggling with cancer. But there's a profit motive: it hopes to identify patients with specific rare DNA errors and steer them to drug companies. Strata, which was founded last year and has raised $12 million from investors, says it [...]

By |2021-02-06T14:48:57-05:00June 18th, 2016|

Jump Capital, GE Ventures and Two Roads Join $13.5 Million Series B Investment in Sight Machine

SAN FRANCISCO, March 22, 2016– Sight Machine Inc., leading the digital transformation of manufacturing, today announced it has raised $13.5 million in Series B venture capital. The round is led by Chicago-based Jump Capital and includes GE Ventures, Two Roads Group and Pritzker Group Venture Capital. “Sight Machine is developing the technology that will bring [...]

By |2017-07-03T08:21:07-05:00March 22nd, 2016|

Best Tech Gifts 2015: Our Favorite Gadgets

After the holiday tinsel goes away, you're left with two piles of gifts: the ones that seemed cool, and the ones that are actually great. After reviewing hundreds of gadgets this year, we've made a list of stuff we'd actually buy for our loved ones- or even ourselves. Automatic... Read full article here...    

By |2021-02-06T14:48:57-05:00December 15th, 2015|

23 Impossibly Cool Gadgets For The Person Who Has Everything

12. The Automatic ($80) saves you money on gas by teaching you how to be a better driver. The Automatic adapter plugs into a vehicle’s standard diagnostics port (lol, did you even know that existed?) and pairs with a smartphone app that shows information like why the check engine light is on, feedback on how you can drive [...]

By |2015-12-15T20:41:22-05:00December 15th, 2015|

Partner Doug Neal Announced On Board Of MVCA

At the 2015 MVCA Annual Awards Dinner, the Michigan Venture Capital Association announced its 2016 executive committee and board of directors!  MVCA executive director, Maureen Miller Brosnan, commented, “MVCA is fortunate to have always had the right chairman at the helm of the organization at the right time.  MVCA Chairman Tony Grover, Managing Director with RPM Ventures, [...]

By |2017-07-10T09:55:48-05:00December 10th, 2015|

Rachio Collects $7.1 Million for Smart Sprinkler Controller

As the Western U.S. continues to face a drought, the startup Rachio Inc. has raised $7.1 million in Series A funding that aims to help people save water, Lora Kolodny reports for Dow Jones VentureWire. The company’s sprinkler controllers are Wi-Fi connected and can be controlled through iOS and Android smartphones or a Web app.   Read more here...

By |2021-02-06T14:48:57-05:00November 28th, 2015|

Akadeum Gets $1 Million Seed; Co-founder Joins Full Time

"Cell isolation technologies are becoming more and more important. Everyone is looking for easy, simple, low cost, and this promises to take care of all three. As far as early-stage technologies go, this is as promising as I've ever seen" -Bill Hyun (Director of the Laboratory for Advanced Cytometry at the University of California, San [...]

By |2017-07-03T08:21:30-05:00November 3rd, 2015|

Akadeum Aims to Disrupt Cell-Sorting Technology with Microbubbles

Akadeum Life Sciences is doing something that most biotechs don’t, says CEO Brandon McNaugton: practicing the lean startup method, which puts a heavy focus on customer discovery and feedback. It was this process of talking to customers that inspired Ann Arbor, MI-based Akadeum to develop the Application Discovery Program, a tool it uses to help customers with [...]

By |2021-02-06T14:48:57-05:00October 31st, 2015|

Why Passion and Preparedness Matter to Urban-Focused Investors

Detroit is considered by many to be the ultimate proving ground for social entrepreneurs, a place where they can test solutions to homelessness, lack of functioning public transit, and other major problems. Capitalizing on that reputation, the Urban Entrepreneurship Symposium—held Friday at Detroit’s College for Creative Studies and co-hosted by Michigan State University, Wayne State University, and the [...]

By |2021-02-06T14:48:58-05:00October 29th, 2015|

Lean Biotech Startup Akadeum Life Sciences Closes $1 Million in Financing

From blood to food to medicine, cells are all around us. However, the current methods of separating those cells from their surroundings for research, diagnostics, and cell therapy--also known as cell sorting--can be time-consuming, costly, and damaging to the cells. To address this, Ann Arbor-based startup Akadeum Life Sciences is developing a radically new product that uses [...]

By |2017-07-03T08:21:44-05:00October 9th, 2015|

Congratulations To Our Friend Alex Halderman Being Named One of Popular Science’s Brilliant Ten

Associate Professor J. Alex Halderman has been named one of Popular Science's 2015 Brilliant 10 for his work in computer security and privacy. From exposing the vulnerabilities in e-voting systems to making voting more secure, he is the epitome of a “bright young mind” that Popular Science selects for their annual list. Prof. Halderman has made many contributions in the area [...]

By |2015-09-26T22:43:17-05:00September 26th, 2015|

How Visionary Companies Are Solving Their Sales Challenges

As the mobile-enabled enterprise moves from being a tactical benefit to a strategic imperative, business leaders are able to quickly recognize the benefits. Seemingly on a daily basis, analysts are generating reports touting mobile-enablement’s effect on productivity and financial payback. Especially in areas such as revenue growth, sales effectiveness, and improved customer experience. Read more [...]

By |2015-09-23T21:36:16-05:00September 23rd, 2015|

Automating Industrial Intelligence

While the manufacturing industry focuses on connecting the Industrial Internet of Things, Sight Machine is extracting and analyzing existing data locked away on the factory floor. Read more here...    

By |2015-09-09T17:44:33-05:00September 9th, 2015|

Blue Medora Adds VMware As Investor In Series A Round

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., Aug. 17, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Medora, an innovator in the cloud systems management space, today announced VMware (NYSE:  VMW) as an investor in the recently announced Series A round of funding. The investment will help accelerate the development of Blue Medora's software solutions, which extend the functionality of VMware's cloud management Suite, VMware vRealize™. [...]

By |2021-02-06T14:48:58-05:00August 20th, 2015|
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