1950s Ice Stoves Blues & Jazz Cereal & Food Processing Furniture Cars Beer Unions Middle class 1960 – 1970s Motown & Soul Funk & Rock Pizza Anti-war movement Labor & Black Power Oil crisis & Unemployment 1980s Japanese auto industry disruption Punk Techno More pizza 1990s NAFTA Internet startups Hip-hop 2000s Life sciences Advanced manufacturing Mortgages Tanks & aerospace Chemicals Military computing Time-shared computing Remote sensing Complex systems Automotive R&D Computer vision Artificial intelligence Birth of the Internet Industrial automation & robotics Internet protocols & governance Cybersecurity Gaming AI for Defense Dilla Time More networking & cybersecurity Fintech Enterprise SaaS Supply chain & Logistics Semiconductor Robotics Energy & Climate Tech
Medium Main St Businesses Early Tech Startups Growth & Scale Startups Large Enterprises Typical Employees < 10 10 – 50 3 – 50 50 – 1000 1000 Typical Wages Annual: $10k – 30k $8 – $15 per hour, often only part-time Annual: $10k – $75k Annual: $40k – $250k+ + equity ownership Annual: $40k – $500k+ + equity ownership Annual: $25k – $1m+ Widely varied, based on sector Wage Mobility Extremely limited Limited Strong Generally yes Depends on type of company Often yes Depends on type of company Employee Benefits Rarely Sometimes Generally yes Generally yes Generally yes Source: Upsurge Baltimore 2022
Global VC Ecosystem Rankings report, 2023 DETROIT IS AMERICA’S NEXT GREAT STARTUP HUB Ranked as the 2nd emerging startup ecosystem globally in 2022, metro Detroit (incl. Ann Arbor) is home to over 1500 startups 1 $4 billion in venture capital was invested in Detroit startups from 2017 to 2023 2 FOUNDERS ARE THE FLYWHEEL — when they stay, grow, and give back, the ecosystem compounds
2021 $6B Apr 2021 $3.8B Jan 2022 $3.5B May 2022 $23B Feb 2023 $1.2B Jul 2024 $30B Oct 2024 $1.2B Dec 2024 $10.6B Aug 2025 $2.3B Grand Rapids Novi Ann Arbor Plymouth Rochester Ann Arbor Detroit Livonia Troy Novi Ann Arbor Houghton
2021 $6B Apr 2021 $3.8B Jan 2022 $3.5B May 2022 $23B Feb 2023 $1.2B Jul 2024 $30B Oct 2024 $1.2B Dec 2024 $10.6B Aug 2025 $2.3B Grand Rapids Novi Ann Arbor Plymouth Rochester Ann Arbor Detroit Livonia Troy Novi Ann Arbor Houghton California California
Lines D2A2 Bus QLine Streetcar Rosa Parks Transit Center DAX Bus People Mover NEED BRIDGES Henry Ford + MSU Future of Health & TechTown Bedrock Gratiot Innovation District WSU Health Sciences Research Building Chroma