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    Michigan Rise

    East Lansing, Michigan, United StatesFounded 2020
    michiganrise.comLinkedIn
    ManufacturingFood & AgricultureClimate & EnergyConsumerHealthcareEducationFintechInsuranceGamingHardware & SemiconductorsHR & TalentBiotech & Life SciencesMobility & TransportationCybersecurityEnterprise Software

    Michigan Rise is a wholly owned venture capital subsidiary of the Michigan State University Research Foundation, operated in partnership with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. It provides pre-seed and early-stage funding to Michigan-based technology startups to help commercialize innovative technologies.

    Their most common stage is seed (57% of deals). Average disclosed round size is $4.8M (across 7 rounds with reported amounts).

    Find people at Michigan Rise on Goldilocks AI

    Portfolio

    7

    Fund Size

    —

    Top Stage

    Seed

    Last 12 Mo

    0

    Team

    Jeff Wesley

    Jeff Wesley

    Executive Director

    Matthew Okoneski

    Matthew Okoneski

    Director, Venture Investments

    Pete Martin

    Pete Martin

    Director, Portfolio Management

    Tommy Skinner

    Tommy Skinner

    Director, Venture Investments

    Calvin VanderWal, CPA, MBA

    Calvin VanderWal, CPA, MBA

    Venture Associate

    Karis D’Alessandro, PhD

    Karis D’Alessandro, PhD

    Venture Associate

    Moody Mattan

    Moody Mattan

    Venture Associate

    Vikram Mohan

    Vikram Mohan

    Venture Associate

    Abdel Diab, MA.Ec, CMA

    Abdel Diab, MA.Ec, CMA

    Data Analyst

    Nichole Maguire

    Nichole Maguire

    Venture Coordinator

    Portfolio Breakdown

    Stage Distribution

    Sector Distribution

    Investment Activity

    DealsAvg Round Size

    Portfolio

    7 investments
    CompanyRoundAmountDate
    Intero Biosystems logoIntero BiosystemsPre-Seed$2MJun 2025
    CircNova logoCircNovaSeed$3.3MJan 2025
    Atlas Space Operations logoAtlas Space OperationsGrowth$15MSep 2024
    SSnifferSeed$2MJan 2023
    Rivet Work logoRivet WorkPre-Seed$6MJan 2021
    BitLyft logoBitLyftSeed$1MJan 2021
    Nickels logoNickelsSeed$4M—

    Top Co-Investors

    Red Cedar Ventures4 shared
    Detroit Venture Partners2 shared
    Plug and Play Tech Center1 shared
    GOOSE Capital1 shared
    Beringea1 shared
    NewSpace Capital1 shared
    Michigan Capital Network1 shared
    Union Heritage Ventures1 shared
    South Loop Ventures1 shared
    Invest Detroit1 shared
    Service Provider Capital1 shared
    Spark Capital1 shared
    Augment Ventures1 shared
    Stonks1 shared
    Brick & Mortar Ventures1 shared
    Flyover Capital1 shared

    Last updated: 8 September 2026