Ann Arbor cements its status as a tech hub to watch with first unicorn
0Ann Arbor cements its status as a tech hub to watch with first unicorn.
Last month, Ann Arbor-based startup Duo Security announced that it had raised a new $70 million round, valuing the company at $1.17 billion. That made Duo Security — which creates a two-factor authentication app for enterprise companies –the first unicorn company in Ann Arbor, and its $70 million Series D the largest round of venture capital raised by any company in Michigan history.
Duo Security’s fresh round of funding is just one in a number of positive signs of growth for Ann Arbor. According to the Michigan Venture Capital Association, the Ann Arbor area is home to the densest concentration of startups in the state of Michigan — 49 out of 141 of the state’s venture-backed startups. And in the last three years, the number of companies in Ann Arbor receiving venture capital funding has grown by 32 percent, while, there has been a 40 percent increase in the amount of venture capital invested in the Ann Arbor area.
“We’re really seeing that a lot of this growth is not happening in a lot of other places, and i think entrepreneurs and investors are really taking notice of the opportunity to grow a company in Michigan, and Ann Arbor specifically,” Emily Heintz, an associate director at the MVCA told VentureBeat in a phone interview.