Capital for Michigan operators
from Motor City to the U.P.

Michigan runs one of the most globally connected manufacturing economies in the United States and a uniquely concentrated automotive complex. Detroit is the historic and operational headquarters of Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis — the Big Three — and the surrounding metro hosts one of the densest Tier-1, Tier-2, and Tier-3 supplier networks in the world. Layered on top: a West Michigan advanced-manufacturing and office-furniture economy anchored by Steelcase, Herman Miller, and Haworth around Grand Rapids; a healthcare network of national scale anchored by Henry Ford Health, Corewell Health (formerly Spectrum and Beaumont), and the U-M Health system; the University of Michigan research engine in Ann Arbor; a Lansing capital and insurance economy; an agriculture base that produces the country's largest cherry crop and a meaningful share of US blueberries and dairy; and a tourism economy that draws tens of millions to the Great Lakes shoreline and Mackinac Island each year. Banks, by structure, struggle to move at the pace Michigan operators need. Goliath was built to.

Our Michigan pipeline reaches every region of the state. Metro Detroit brings us the densest deal flow — downtown Detroit, Midtown, Corktown, and out through Dearborn, Warren, Sterling Heights, Troy, Royal Oak, Birmingham, Bloomfield, Novi, Livonia, Southfield, and the broader Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties. West Michigan covers Grand Rapids through the Heritage Hill and Eastown neighborhoods, Wyoming, Kentwood, Holland, Muskegon, and the broader Kent and Ottawa counties. The capital region anchors on Lansing and East Lansing; the research corridor anchors on Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. The Tri-Cities cover Saginaw, Bay City, and Midland (Dow's hometown). Up North brings us Traverse City, Petoskey, Charlevoix, Gaylord, and the Mackinac economy. The Upper Peninsula closes out the book from Marquette through Houghton, Escanaba, and Sault Ste. Marie.

The bank-lending coverage gap in Michigan

Despite hosting major regional banks and one of the deepest credit-union networks in the country, Michigan has a wider small-business credit gap than people expect. Community-bank consolidation has thinned the lender field across the Upper Peninsula and the rural Thumb, and the surviving regional and national institutions structurally favor commercial real estate, large corporate lending tied to the OEMs, and high-net-worth lending over the $50K to $500K working-capital tickets that Michigan small businesses actually need. The result: a Warren Tier-2 stamping shop, a Traverse City resort owner ramping for summer, a Corktown restaurant group, an Ann Arbor medical practice — strong, deposit-rich businesses — frequently cannot get a timely yes from a bank. We fill that gap.

We are deposit-based underwriters. We read your four most recent months of business bank statements, your ledger, and how you actually operate the company. We do not require two years of tax returns, audited financials, or a 720 FICO. That approach is well-matched to the Michigan mix because it accommodates the cash-heavy Up North bait shop, the receivable-heavy Tier-2 supplier waiting on OEM payment terms, the card-heavy Royal Oak boutique, and the seasonally-spiky cherry grower on the same underwriting bench. We routinely fund operators in their first year as long as deposit patterns support the offer.

The Michigan industry mix, the way we see it

Automotive and automotive-adjacent manufacturing anchor our Michigan book — Tier-1 through Tier-3 suppliers feeding Ford, GM, and Stellantis, plus the stamping plants, plastics molders, machine shops, and engineering-services firms across Metro Detroit and the I-75/I-94 supplier corridors. Advanced manufacturing through West Michigan is the second pillar, with office furniture, food processing, and medical-device manufacturing concentrated around Grand Rapids and Holland. Healthcare, agriculture (cherries, dairy, blueberries, sugar beets), tourism, education-adjacent businesses, restaurants, and construction round out the top of the pipeline.

Michigan is best understood as Metro Detroit plus a set of distinct regional economies running across the Lower and Upper Peninsulas. Below is how the major metros break down in our book.

Detroit

Detroit is the dominant single Michigan market in our book and the headquarters city of the global automotive industry. Industry mix runs from automotive R&D and engineering services to a renewed downtown and Midtown restaurant, hospitality, and retail base, to a deep healthcare economy anchored by the Detroit Medical Center, Henry Ford, and Karmanos. We fund operators across downtown, Midtown, Corktown, Eastern Market, the West Village, and out through Hamtramck, Dearborn, and the broader Wayne County.

Grand Rapids

Grand Rapids anchors West Michigan and brings us one of the most diversified mid-size economies in the country — office furniture (Steelcase, Herman Miller, Haworth), food processing, medical devices, and a Medical Mile anchored by Corewell Health, Van Andel Institute, and Michigan State's College of Human Medicine. We fund operators across downtown, Heritage Hill, Eastown, Wyoming, Kentwood, and out through Ottawa and Allegan counties including Holland, Zeeland, and Muskegon.

Warren and the Macomb supplier belt

Warren is the third-largest city in Michigan and the operational center of the GM Technical Center and a Tier-1 supplier ecosystem that runs through Sterling Heights, Roseville, and St. Clair Shores. We fund stamping shops, plastics molders, machine shops, engineering-services contractors, and the long tail of supplier-services businesses across Macomb County — one of the most concentrated industrial submarkets in North America.

Lansing

Lansing anchors the state capital region and combines a meaningful insurance and financial-services base (Jackson, AF Group, Auto-Owners) with a GM assembly operation, a Michigan State University-driven service economy in East Lansing, and the state-government-facing contractor and professional-services ecosystem. We fund operators across downtown, Old Town, East Lansing, and out through Ingham, Eaton, and Clinton counties.

Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor anchors a uniquely concentrated research and life-sciences economy built around the University of Michigan and Michigan Medicine. The metro brings us deal flow from biotech and medical-device operators, downtown restaurants and retail along Main Street and South University, contractor services across Washtenaw County, and a growing tech and engineering base spilling out toward Ypsilanti and Plymouth.

Flint

Flint anchors Genesee County and an automotive-manufacturing economy that remains one of the largest GM truck-assembly operations in the country. We fund Tier-1 and Tier-2 suppliers, machine shops, contractor services, and the long tail of restaurants, healthcare, and retail operators rebuilding the Flint commercial base across the city and out into the surrounding townships.