Home-entertainment-start-up iRule is the newest
Detroit Venture Partners' portfolio company.
The downtown Detroit-based venture capital firm led a Series B round of investment in iRule worth $1 million. Compuware Ventures, the namesake company's VC arm, made the initial investment in iRule last year in its $500,000 Series A round. The rest of the investors in the Series B round are all local.
"We have some pretty good partners in the area," says
Itai Ben-Gal, CEO of
iRule.
The 4-year-old company creates an app and accompanying technology that allows users to turn their smartphone into a universal remote for their home theater system. Ben-Gal and Victor Nemirovsky launched the company as a side project from their living rooms in Oakland County. The business quickly created a foothold in the home entertainment center enthusiast community, which garnered the attention of
Compuware, a subsequent investment and a move to the tech firm's downtown headquarters.
Thirteen people now work for
iRule, which is interviewing for summer interns. The company has hired seven people over the last year, including two software developers this month. The newly expanded team is working to make iRule's core home entertainment center technology even smarter so it can control all electronic facets of a home, such as lights and the thermostat.
"We're creating an interactive solution for everything in your home," Ben-Gal says.
Source: Itai Ben-Gal, CEO of iRule
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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