Although several years removed from the West Michigan tech scene, Jason Sosa has many supporters in the area, a few of which recently made the decision to invest in his New York City-based tech venture.
Immersive Labs, the company founded by the Holland native, recently raised $810,000 in seed funding from several West Michigan investors including the Windquest Group and Christina and Andy Keller.
The investment was one of several recent highlights for Sosa, who started working on his venture while in West Michigan, refined it in Boulder, CO and is now taking it to another level in New York, having recently graduated from tech incubator New York TechStars 2011.
For Andy Keller, the decision for he and his wife to invest in Immersive Labs is a testament not only to Sosa's business model and character, but to the power of community.
Keller, a software engineer, had recently moved to Grand Rapids after living in New York in 2009. He was looking to meet like-minded tech enthusiasts in the area.
While attending the inaugural ArtPrize, Keller visited ActiveSite, a venue where Sosa was showcasing his touchscreen technology. Striking up a friendship at that event, Keller and Sosa remained in contact. This summer, they met for lunch in Holland.
Although neither one was expecting it to be a business lunch, it ended up with Sosa giving his investor pitch and Keller deciding to make the investment.
"It feels good to be investing in people you know and want to support," says Keller. "Jason showed ability to create something from scratch and we know him to be someone to follow through. The money is in good hands."
To learn more about Immersive Labs, you can visit the website
here. You can also read about the recent investment in a TechCrunch article
here. Sosa will also be part of the reality show
TechStars on Bloomberg TV.
Source: Andy Keller and PomStudio
Writer: John Rumery, Innovation and Jobs Editor
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