Ian Richard Nathan Bund was born in Sydney, Australia, on September 8, 1943 to Sybil Bund (born Goldberg) and Herbert Bund. After graduating from North Sydney Boys High School in 1959, he matriculated to the University of Sydney and received a Bachelor of Economics degree in 1964. From 1963 to 1966, Bund worked at Price Waterhouse & Co. in Sydney as an accountant. He became an Australian Chartered Accountant in 1966.
Bund moved to the United States in 1966 to attend Harvard Business School, from which he received a Master of Business Administration degree in 1968. His thesis, entitled Strategic Planning in the Investment Banking Industry, was published privately in 1969. After working at Morgan Stanley & Co. as an Associate during the summer of 1967 and from 1968-1969, Bund became more deeply involved in venture capital. He served as Vice President for the New York-based Research and Science Investors, Inc., an early stage venture capital fund (1969-1971), and as Director of another New York-based fund, Aberdeen Funds (1970-1972). He later relocated to Hawaii, where he became involved with Sea Life, Inc.—which operated Sea Life Park, an oceanarium—first as its President (circa 1971-1973) and then as a consultant (circa 1974-1975). He was also involved in other Hawaii businesses, including jewelry manufacturer Maui Divers of Hawaii, Limited and led his own investment banking practice advising local entrepreneurs, banks and a conglomerate.
By 1976, Bund had moved to Michigan and joined the Michigan-based Doan Associates. Doan Associates was a limited partnership formed in 1972 in Midland, Michigan, by Herbert D. Doan (also known as Ted Doan), the former President and CEO of the Dow Chemical Company. Doan Associates also included a Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) incorporated in 1972, Doan Associates, Inc. This subsidiary company—known as Doan Resources Corporation (DRC) by 1974—served as the primary mechanism by which Doan Associates made its venture capital investments. Doan Associates primarily invested in small businesses that focused on biological, industrial automation, industrial communication, and medical technologies. Its portfolio companies were primarily in Michigan, but were also found in Arizona, California, Minnesota, the Northeastern United States, and Washington.
By 1978, Bund was Doan Associates' Managing General Partner. In 1979, he formed a new company, Venture Capital Management Company of Michigan, Inc (VCMCM). By 1982, Bund and VCMCM served as co-General Partners of Doan Associates. He also established several other companies during his time at Doan Associates, including Venture Capital Management II Ltd. (VCM II) and VCM II Services Company, both in 1982. Doan Associates funded more than 60 companies during Bund's tenure including LifeScan, Inc., a blood glucose monitoring company that was sold to Johnson & Johnson in 1987; Neogen Corporation, a food safety company that achieved significant returns once it went public in 1987; and the merger of real estate technology company Board of Realty Information Systems (BORIS) with Norwest Corporation in early 1993.
During the waning years of Doan Associates, Bund also served as Senior Vice President of Corporate Finance for First of Michigan Corporation from 1993-1994. DRC was dissolved in 1985 and Doan Associates was fully liquidated in late 1997.
Due to several factors—including the success of Doan Associates—Bund and several Doan Associates colleagues formed additional Michigan limited partnerships. The first, known as the Michigan Investment Fund L.P. (MIF), was established in late 1982 after Bund and Ted Doan were approached by several organizations, including the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, to establish an initiative that would facilitate Michigan's economic recovery and diversification after the early 1980s recession. It was managed first by Doan Associates and, after that organization's dissolution in 1984, MBW Management Inc. Doan Associates and MIF often coinvested in the same companies. MIF maintained offices in Midland, MI, and Los Altos, CA, and—while it primarily invested in Michigan corporations—the companies in this limited partnership's portfolio were found throughout the United States. MIF's General Partners included Bund, VCM II, and Phillip McCarthy, while its Limited Partners included the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the Regents of the University of Michigan, and numerous Michigan foundations, retirement pensions and funds. MIF was dissolved in early 2001 and VCM II was dissolved in mid-2002.
In 1984, Bund incorporated MBW Management, Inc. In 1984, the McCarthy, Bund, Weersing & Co. Limited Partnership was formed. This partnership's General Partners included McCarthy, Bund, and James R. Weersing—who managed the firm's West Coast office—and it served as a General Partner for another limited partnership formed in 1984, MBW Venture Partners Limited Partnership (MBW). Named after McCarthy, Bund, and Weersing, MBW also co-invested with MIF and was managed by MBW Management Inc. MBW's Limited Partners included trusts, retirement organizations and plans, and universities from across the United States. MBW Management Inc. and McCarthy, Bund, Weersing & Co. Limited Partnership were dissolved in 2007.
By 1989, Ian Bund retired from MBW to concentrate on final actions for Doan Associates and MIF. In 1991, Bund and a business partner, Ronald Kalish, acquired UCB Services, Inc., a provider of residential credit reports to mortgage companies, that was subsequently acquired by Equifax, Inc. in 1995.
In 1990, Bund also co-established White Pines Limited Partnership I, an SBIC, and was the firm's General Partner through his wholly-owned management company, White Pines Management (WPM). By 1998, WPM was managing WPLP I as well as another SBIC called Pacific Capital L.P. Their respective General Partners were White Pines G.P., L.L.C., which was incorporated in 1996, and WP Pacific G.P., L.L.C., which was incorporated in 1998. WPLP I and Pacific Capital L.P. invested in healthcare, information technology, retail, and telecommunications companies across the American Midwest and Southeast.
In 2000, WPM was renamed White Pines Ventures, L.L.C (WPV). In 2002, in preparation for the formation of a new family of venture funds beginning with Plymouth Venture Partners I LLC (PVP I), to focus on investing in Michigan and Great Lakes corporations, Bund began to add professional staff and share ownership with them. PVPI's management company was initially WPV. In 2005, WPLP I and PVP I were reassigned from WPV to WPC. At this time, WPV was also overseeing a sale of shares of Promega Corporation, a biological products company.
In 2006-2007, Bund founded the Ann Arbor-based Plymouth Management Company (PMC) to succeed WPV. A notable PVPI investee was Accuri Cytometers, Inc., a University of Michigan spinoff and medical device company that was acquired by Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD) in 2011. As of 2022, Bund serves as the company's Senior Advisor.
Bund has also been involved in the Australian venture capital industry. In 1970, Bund co-founded—along with Peter Mitchell and Ian Boyd—the Melbourne-based Carrick Investments P/L. Carrick Investments, which did expansion financing for small leveraged buyouts (LBO) and technology application companies, was liquidated in 1978.
In 1999, Bund, Michael Quinn, Paul Naughton, and Dr. Tom Rice co-founded Innovation Capital. Innovation Capital invests in nascent Australian service and manufacturing companies that focus on electronics and engineering, environmental, information technology and telecommunications, and life sciences technologies. At the time of its founding, Innovation Capital included two venture capital funds: Innovation Capital, L.L.C. (ICLLC) and Innovation Capital Limited. ICLLC was based in Ann Arbor and Innovation Capital Limited was based in Sydney, Australia. Both funds effectively operated as a single company because neither could invest or divest from companies without the other's approval. Innovation Capital Associates Limited, a fund manager, served as consultant for both regarding investment and divestment strategies. Bund co-managed Innovation Capital, was heavily involved in both ICLLC and Innovation Capital Limited, and was an advisor to Innovation Capital Associates Limited. Innovation Capital has raised multiple funds since its founding and continues to exist as of 2022, even though ICLLC was dissolved in 2013.
In addition to his professional work in American and Australian venture capital organizations, Bund has supported the venture capital industry in several other ways. He routinely lectured to audiences, including those in the University of Michigan's MBA and Executive Education programs, on topics such as entrepreneurial business, regional economic development, and venture capital. He also participated or taught in the University of Michigan courses that focused on topics such as angel investing, corporate strategy, and entrepreneurial finance. Notably, Bund and University of Michigan Professor of Finance Dr. David Brophy have maintained a close relationship over the years. Not only did the two professionally collaborate—with Bund participating in Brophy's classes, and Brophy being involved in several of Bund's funds in an advisory capacity—but it was Bund in 1978 who recommended that Brophy establish a venue to connect companies seeking capital venture capital professionals. This recommendation helped establish the Michigan Growth Capital Symposium (MGCS), a forum that Bund frequently attended and occasionally spoke at. As of May 2022, MGCS held its 42nd annual symposium led by Dr. Brophy.
Bund has also participated in other business and investment organizations. He was involved in in the National Association of Small Business Investment Companies (NASBIC), including the NASBIC Venture Capital Institute, during the 1980s. He helped organize the Michigan Economic Development Authority, as well as chaired its Advisory Committee from approximately 1983-1984. From approximately 1984-1985, he served as the presidents of both the Midwest Regional Association of Small Business Investment Companies (RASBIC) as well as the Midland, MI Rotary Club. In 2002, WPM co-founded the Michigan Venture Capital Association. Bund has received several awards during his career, including being recognized as the "Leaders & Best" at the 2006 MGCS, receiving Crain Detroit Businesses's M&A Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013, and receiving the MVCA's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017.
