Wolverine Venture Fund scores 4th profitable exit with Mobius

Wednesday, March 3, 2010 | Source: Concentrate

The Wolverine Venture Fund is starting to hit a nice streak of profitable exits in the local start-up game.

The student-led venture capital fund has announced its fourth profitable exit with the acquisition of University of Michigan spin-off Mobius Microsystems. This is on the heels of its most profitable exit ($2 million) with the sale of HandyLab.

"It allows us to participate but at a higher level now, and for more rounds," says Thomas Kinnear, who oversees the Wolverine Venture Fund. He adds that the fund's small size prevented it from investing in the later rounds of the HandyLab deal, but hopefully that will not happen again.

The fund is 11 years old and worth about $3.5 million. It is run by students at the U-M's Ross School of Business. It has invested in more than 18 companies that have some sort of connection to either Ann Arbor or the University of Michigan. Its current portfolio is comprised of 13 companies.

Kinnear says he would be very surprised if another profitable exit occurred for the Wolverine Venture Fund within the next 12-18 months. However, he says its possible since the Wolverine Venture Fund is invested in maturing start-ups like NanoBio.

"It's hard to say but there are several positive signs," Kinnear says. "But no one counts their money before it's in the bag."

Mobius Microsystems deals with precision all-silicon oscillator technology. More simply said it is a company that makes microchips operate more efficiently. It was acquired by
San Jose-based Integrated Device Technology.

Mobius Microsystems was incorporated in Detroit and eventually moved to California after raising venture capital. It still maintained an office in Ann Arbor as of 2008.

Source: University of Michigan and Integrated Device Technology
Writer: Jon Zemke