The Founder

MV Research & Development was founded in the summer of 2025 by designer and engineer Manoah van der Velde. Prior to establishing the company, he spent six years working at Saint John’s Resort in Plymouth, Michigan while earning his mechanical engineering degree.

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For the first three years, he served in the maintenance department, but the director soon recognized his engineering capabilities and began assigning him increasingly complex technical tasks. Manoah went on to develop a range of on-site solutions, starting with custom fire-alarm covers and eventually creating a hotel key-card–activated starter system for a utility vehicle. His most significant undertaking during this period was the complete design and build of a kick-plate refinishing machine.

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Over time, Manoah saw the potential to turn this type of problem-solving and product development into a business of his own. He began taking on design and prototyping work for several karting, Formula 4, and Formula 3 racing teams, producing components such as a camera mount, a side-pod cooling adapter, and various other bespoke solutions.

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In February 2025, he entered a pitch competition and placed second out of 26 participants. The funding he secured through that event enabled him to take the next step and formally launch MV R&D.