Invest Detroit Ventures
VC Fund
Detroit, United States
Invest Detroit Ventures is a VC fund in Detroit focused on Artificial Intelligence and Software. Invest Detroit Ventures is committed to supporting the entrepreneurial ecosystem with capital, on-going mentorship, and community engagement. We implement targeted venture development programs to help build and promote scalable businesses in the region. Their team is committed to growing a robust tech community in Detroit and throughout Michigan.They are collectively focused on implementing an investment strategy that is inclusive and supportive of minority, immigrant, and women entrepreneurs.
- Total investments:
- 30
- Last investment:
- Lead investor:
- 17%
- Fund size:
- $20M
- Last fund:
Last updated:
For AI agents: llms.txt
Industries Invest Detroit Ventures invests in
Stages Invest Detroit Ventures invests in
Countries Invest Detroit Ventures invests in
Contacts
| Name | Phone | Socials | |
|---|---|---|---|
Jeff Ponders
|
|||
Seun Oyewole
|
|||
2 more contacts available
Investment Focus
Industry
- Artificial Intelligence 7 (23%)
- Software 6 (20%)
- Health Care 4 (13%)
- Medical 3 (10%)
- Analytics 3 (10%)
Stage
- Seed 14 (47%)
- Pre-Seed 9 (30%)
- Series A 2 (7%)
- Series B 2 (7%)
- Funding Round 2 (7%)
Team
| Name | Title | Investments | Links | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Ashwin Puri
Associate
|
Associate | Total investments: 1 | Find email | |
|
Jeff Ponders
Principal
|
Principal | Total investments: 0 | Find email | |
|
Seun Oyewole
Analyst
|
Analyst | Total investments: 0 | Find email |
Investments
| Company | Description | Round | Links |
|---|---|---|---|
Maka Kids
|
Maka Kids is a female-founded company on a mission to raise the next generation of good humans.Most kids' streaming platforms were built for adults, then retrofit for children. At Maka Kids, every design decision starts with how children actually grow, not how long they'll watch. The result is the first streaming app rooted in childdevelopment science from the ground up, designed for families with children ages 0–6.At the core of the product is Maka Imprint, a developmental framework mapping 650+ milestones across 7 domains of early childhood, built in collaboration with researchers at Yale Child Study Center. Every show on Maka Kids is evaluated against Imprint through a proprietary AI pipeline, then reviewed by a human child development expert, ensuring what children watch actively supports healthy development.For parents, Maka Kids solves the daily stress of screen time without adding more decisions. Families choose curated channels built around the topics and stages that matter to them. Time limits hold. Wind-down cues signal the end of a session so transition off the screen is easier. No addictive algorithm. No ads. No endless feeds.Maka Kids has been featured in Crain's, Harvard Ed. Magazine, Kids Innovation Weekly, and Telescope, and was named a finalist in both the 2025 and 2026 Harvard President's Innovation Challenge. The company is currently in private beta, with a public App Store launch planned for fall 2026. | $3M / Pre-Seed / May 21, 2026 | |
Bloom
|
Bloom is an operations-as-a-service platform designed for hardware innovators. By connecting product companies with trusted manufacturers, logistics partners, and service providers, Bloom streamlines production, assembly, and after-sales support. Whether in mobility, robotics, clean energy, or emerging tech, Bloom helps brands bring their ideas tomarket faster and more efficiently. | $2.1M / Pre-Seed / Apr 01, 2025 | |
Carvis.AI
|
Get instant, accurate diagnostics, easy-to-follow repair guides, essential tool lists, recommended parts, and helpful YouTube tutorials, all in one place. | $1.2M / Pre-Seed / Nov 04, 2024 | |
Voxel51
|
Voxel51 is the leading data platform for physical AI. The company's flagship product, FiftyOne, combines open-source flexibility with enterprise-grade capabilities to help teams understand and analyze their multimodal data, annotate the right samples, close quality and coverage gaps, and build models that perform reliably in the real world.Trusted by millions of developers and thousands of enterprises—including Porsche, Vivint, Berkshire Grey, and Microsoft—FiftyOne is how the world's leading AI teams build the data foundation physical AI demands. Learn more at voxel51.com. | $30M / Series B / May 16, 2024 | |
Swish Brand Experiences
|
SwishBx powers a revolutionary data-driven, product sampling marketplace to connect retailers and brands. With SwishBx, retailers enhance loyalty, strengthen supplier relationships and naturally expand their retail media offerings while seamlessly rewarding shoppers. For brands, SwishBx makes sponsored product sampling viable for all categorieswith self-serve, transparent, highly targeted and measurable technology that leverages first-party data to determine relevancy. SwishBx’s sponsored product sampling platform is available to online retailers and innovative brands of all sizes to deploy automated sampling campaigns which inspire incremental sales and expand lifetime customer value. | $400K / Seed / Sep 01, 2023 | |
Opnr
|
Opnr is an all-in-one data-powered entertainment marketplace removing the time and friction associated with talent discovery & booking with the added benefit of fanbase-influenced ticket sales. | $25K / Aug 09, 2023 | |
InvestNext
|
At InvestNext, we set out on a mission to transform the way investment firms raise and manage capital. The company is based in Detroit, Michigan, and was founded in 2016. At the time, we realized the industry as a whole operates within a black box, with countless hours spent on activities that made fundraising, investment management, and investorrelations tedious and inefficient.Since day one, we’ve known that tomorrow’s investor is one who will not only have access to detailed performance metrics across their portfolio, but also have the full picture of the positive impact they have made on the communities they have invested in. With that in mind, we’ve built a software platform that enables investment firms to operate more effectively and provide greater transparency to their investors. Instrumental to this effort, has been our close partnerships with commercial real estate syndicators and other investment firms around the globe. As of today, we are trusted by tens of thousands of investors, with billions of dollars managed on the platform. | $8.3M / Series A / Mar 31, 2023 | |
Thread Medical
|
Autopilot for clinical notes | Pre-Seed / Aug 12, 2022 | |
CubeWorks
|
CubeWorks’ mission is to accelerate the future of IoT and build a world connected by ubiquitous sensor technology through millimeter-scale smart sensing solutions. In 2013, following a decade of research on ultra-low-power circuitry at the University of Michigan, CubeWorks was founded to advance the next generation of IoT sensors. Today, with thedevelopment of the CubiSens™ Platform, CubeWorks brings to market a portfolio of ultra-small wireless smart sensors. These sensors offer limitless potential across a broad range of applications and provide access to mission-critical information exactly when and where it is needed. | $2.4M / Seed / Jun 01, 2022 | |
Claira
|
Claira is an AI powered competency analytics engine that helps organizations understand their talent and hire better. Founded in 2020, Claira is headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States. | $3.5M / Seed / May 03, 2022 | |
| See all 30 investments → | |||
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FAQ
What does Invest Detroit Ventures invest in?
Invest Detroit Ventures invests primarily in Artificial Intelligence, Software and Health Care startups, most often at Seed and Pre-Seed stage. Most of the 30 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.
How do I contact Invest Detroit Ventures?
Public channels for Invest Detroit Ventures include LinkedIn, X (Twitter) and the website linked on this profile. For a verified work email and phone number, create a free Shizune account — contact data is searched across 20+ sources and validated before delivery, so your outreach lands in the right inbox.
Who are the partners at Invest Detroit Ventures?
The team at Invest Detroit Ventures includes Ashwin Puri (Associate), Jeff Ponders (Principal) and Seun Oyewole (Analyst). The Team section lists each member with their title, investment count and links.
Is Shizune's investor data accurate?
Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.
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