38th Midwest Growth Capital Symposium to Host Top Industry Speakers and Startups Seeking Funding

ANN ARBOR, Mich., May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, organizers of the Midwest Growth Capital Symposium (MGCS) issued a final call for conference registrations and released additional details of the event's programming. Dixon Doll, co-founder and partner emeritus of DCM Ventures, will open this year's symposium with a keynote address. Panel discussions will host top industry experts to address managing startups when times are tough, corporate venture investment and the rapidly growing robotics industry in healthcare. Pitch presentations feature 33 high-growth Midwest startups spanning the life sciences and tech industries as well as more than 50 university spin-outs in the tech transfer pitch session. More than 400 entrepreneurs, investors and related vendors will convene for the two-day conference on May 14-15 at the Marriott Resort in Ypsilanti, Mich.

As the region's premier venture fair and first university-backed investment forum of its kind, MGCS will host investors from across the United States for two days of networking, company presentations and panel discussions. On May 15, Scott Kupor, managing partner of Andreessen Horowitz, and Jan Garfinkle, founder and managing partner of Arboretum Ventures, will deliver a fireside chat which kicks off the inaugural VC University LIVE Midwest, hosted by the National Venture Capital Association, University of California ­­­– Berkeley and the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, and serves as the closing keynote of MGCS. A new addition to the MGCS agenda, the three-day seminar will feature panels and workshops for entrepreneurs, angel investors, VCs, fund managers and attorneys looking to learn more about the financial, legal and operational aspects of venture capital.

The tech transfer pitch track highlights more than 50 innovative companies coming out of the Midwest's top-tier universities. Confirmed participants include:

• Russ Straate, University of Minnesota
• Scott Henderson, Purdue Research Foundation
• Frank Urban, Michigan State University
• Teri Willey, Indiana University Ventures
• Cheryl Turnbull, Ohio State University
• Ken Massey, Wayne State University
• Michael Psarouthakis, University of Michigan

Investment firms in attendance will include:
30Ventures, AbbVie Ventures, Allos Ventures, Amherst Fund, Andreessen Horowitz, Arboretum Ventures, Arsenal Growth, Baird Capital, Beringea, BioStar Ventures, Capital Community Angels, Catalyst Investors, Charter Capital Partners, CoreNetwork Fund, Cultivation Capital, DCM Ventures, Detroit Venture Partners, Draper Triangle Ventures, EMA Partners, Forest Harbor Ventures, GM Ventures, Grand Angels, Hatteras Venture Partners, HealthQuest Capital, Hopen Life Sciences, LLR Partners, Mercury Fund, Monroe Brown Biomedical Seed Fund, Mutual Capital Partners, OCA Ventures, Plymouth Growth Partners, Red Cedar Ventures, Renaissance Venture Capital Fund, RPM Ventures, Sandalphon Capital, Spectrum Health Ventures, Venture Investors, Vistara Capital Partners, and more to come.

MGCS online registration is available until 11:59 p.m. EDT Friday, May 10 for $425, and on-site registration opens at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, May 14 for $450 at the door at the Marriot Resort. To attend VC University LIVE Midwest, apply here. All VC University LIVE Midwest attendees receive free passes to MGCS.

The Midwest Growth Capital Symposium, hosted by the University of Michigan Ross School of Business' Center for Venture Capital & Private Equity Finance, is the longest running university-based venture fair of its kind. For more information on the event, visit www.Michigan-GCS.com.

About the Midwest Growth Capital Symposium
The Midwest Growth Capital Symposium (MGCS) is the original university-based venture investment fair. First held in 1981 as the Michigan Growth Capital Symposium, this decades-old nationally attended event is the largest Midwest venture fair of its kind that brings together venture capital investors, angel investors, high-growth companies, university tech transfer officers and research faculty. MGCS is presented by the Center for Venture Capital & Private Equity Finance and the Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, with support from the Michigan Venture Capital Association.

About Michigan Ross
The Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan is a vibrant and distinctive learning community grounded in the principle that business can be an extraordinary vehicle for positive change in today's dynamic global economy. The Ross mission is to develop leaders who make a positive difference in the world. Through thought and action, members of the Ross community drive change and innovation that improves business and society. Ross is consistently ranked among the world's leading business schools. Academic degree programs include the BBA, MBA, Part-time MBA (Evening and Weekend formats), Executive MBA, Global MBA, Master of Accounting, Master of Supply Chain Management, Master of Management, and PhD. In addition, the school delivers open-enrollment and custom executive education programs targeting general management, leadership development, and strategic human resource management.

SOURCE Midwest Growth Capital Symposium

Related Links

http://www.Michigan-GCS.com