LANSING - Three multi-million dollar venture capital firms have opened in Greater Lansing in the past six months.

Investors from Ann Arbor and New York have come to invest in businesses started at Michigan State University and even local fashion designers.

The number of early stage investment firms in Greater Lansing now stands at six, on par with the Grand Rapids region.

The question is: Why?

"We're really excited for what MSU has been doing in spinning off companies from the university," said Chris Rizik, CEO of Ann Arbor-based Renaissance Venture Capital Fund, which opened an office in East Lansing last week. "It's a real promising place to be."

The MSU Innovation Center focuses on commercializing research and launching student, graduate and faculty-run businesses. MSU has spun off 19 faculty businesses and incorporated 143 student businesses since 2010.

Renaissance Venture Capital Fund will help connect companies with some of the 19 firms it invests in, which collectively have $3 billion at their disposal, Rizik said. His firm can also connect businesses to its own clients, among them Ford, DTE Energy and Whirlpool, he added. The office is located inside the East Lansing Technology Innovation Center at 325 E. Grand River Ave.

Project I, a New York-based $5-million fund, opened an office at The Runway, a fashion incubator in downtown Lansing, in January to invest in fashion designers.

"We see a lot of passion here," said Jon Lewis, Project I's chairman. "The Runway is a drawing point in the region. You don't have to move to New York to make it. We can connect people to the fashion industry in New York and Los Angeles."

The MSU Foundation started a $5-million fund, called Red Cedar Ventures in November to accelerate businesses started at the university.

The influx of large investors "sends a message that there is opportunity out here," said Jeff Smith, director for the foundation's University Corporate Research Park. "There is a clear indication that there is a need here for ideas and new companies."

But these larger firms are drawn to the area because MSU, Lansing Economic Area Partnership, community groups and other entrepreneurs took the time to develop the entrepreneurial pipeline over the past few years, Smith said.

Ten years ago, their was only one investment group in Greater Lansing: Capital Community Angel Investors. The group invests a minimum of $100,000 in companies that project revenues of $5 million or more within five years.

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But there was nothing in the area to help startup businesses ramp up to that point. It wasn't until 2008 that the City of East Lansing started the Technology Innovation Center to foster tech companies by providing cheap office space, financial programming and networking opportunities. It's now managed and operated by the MSU Foundation.

By 2012, there were three other incubators. Today, there are eight along with two business accelerators, which provide small amounts of money, typically in the tens of thousands.

Venture capital firms invest hundreds of thousands to millions.

"Having more investors is a great positive for all firms needing capital," said Mark Hooper, a founding member of Capital Community Angel Investors, which has invested $2.5 million in Michigan companies. "It takes time to set up an entrepreneurial ecosystem. We're beginning to see the fruits of those efforts."

To Tony Willis, the attention from larger investors is a "validation of what we're trying to get off the ground."

Willis is LEAP's new economy division director and runs Lansing PROTO, the area's first accelerator, launched in the spring of 2016.

"Investing in a business takes time, money and energy," said Willis. "Investors have to feel it's worthwhile to to spend in our region. People see the potential in our region."

Tom Stewart is one of them.

He is a partner at Lansing-based Altruis Capital, which launched in January and has so far invested $50,000 in one business. He also is the program manager at MSU's Conquer Accelerator as well as the portfolio and community relations director at Quantum Medical Concepts, a Lansing-based, $1.5-million venture firm investing in healthcare businesses.

"We're finally seeing momentum building," Stewart said. "I'm super happy about it because we spent the last decade trying to make it happen."

Lansing still lags behind areas like Ann Arbor and Detroit, which both have more than 10 venture capital firms, because "we weren't paying attention to the funnel," he said.

"Being a General Motors and insurance town, we were fortunate we didn't have to diversify our economy before 2008," he said.

Stewart said the region is still a little ways off from attracting true venture capital firms looking to invest millions in businesses, but it's a positive step.

Willis would like to see more co-working spaces, like Co:Space in REO Town, and food incubators, like the Allen Market Place.

"What we have is strong, but nowhere near critical mass," he said.

Contact Alexander Alusheff at (517) 388-5973 or aalusheff@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexalusheff.