Venture capital is almost always a good thing. In the case of Ann Arbor's Accuri Cytometers, it's good to the tune of $15 million in cash and 88 new jobs.

That $15 million was recently topped with $1.9 million from Michigan's 21st Century Jobs Fund. All of that money is expected to nearly quadruple the three year-old biotechnology firm's employee base of 32 people. And the company hopes to grow its manufacturing facility in Ann Arbor soon.

All of that money will be spent commercializing its first product. Accuri Cytometers specializes in making the cytomer systems that measure T-cell counts (among other things), which is an instrumental tool in tracking and treating diseases like AIDS and cancer.

It is a research field with lots of room to grow in both the near and long term. The University of Michigan spin-off is shipping instruments to its first customers in the U.S. Revenue is expected to quadruple next year and then grow to tens of millions of dollars in 2010.

"We have a very rapid growth curve after that," says Jen Baird, CEO of Accuri Cytometers.

Source: Jen Baird, CEO of Accuri Cytometers and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation
Writer: Jon Zemke