Cribspot announced raising a $660,000 seed round a little more than a month ago. Add another six figures to that number after its win at the
Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition.
The Ann Arbor-based startup, it also has an office in downtown Detroit, took second place at Michigan's pre-eminent business plan competition. That showing comes with $100,000 in seed capital the startup can use in the best way it sees fit.
"We want to add more features that cater more toward landlords," says Jason Okrasinski, co-founder & CEO of
Cribspot. "We also want to have a larger footprint across the country."
The 1-year-old startup and recent
Bizdom graduate is creating an online portal that creates one central website for off-campus housing in higher education. The co-founders, mostly University of Michigan students, recognized that finding off-campus houses is an exercise of searching craigslist ads and signs on the sides of buildings. Cribspot offers a central location where students and landlords can come together to find/offer/manage student housing.
Cribspot landed $660,000 in seed capital early this fall with the round led by Huron River Ventures. It plans to put most of the $100,000 it won at the Accelerate Michigan competition to hiring another software engineer, expanding its staff to six full-time employees and four interns. It is also looking to expand into an other few university markets (it’s currently in 15) including
Wayne State University and the
University of Detroit Mercy.
Source: Jason Okrasinski, co-founder & CEO of Cribspot
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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