InnoVenture Iowa, Iowa’s first publicly backed venture capital fund, announced it has invested just over $6 million in 22 companies since launching in 2022. It has made six new investments since December 2023, bringing its total portfolio companies to 21.
The new portfolio companies are:
- Apprenticeship America, Ankeny: Apprenticeship America provides companies with the tools and training to recruit and upskill the millions of Americans looking for high-paying careers.
- Harvest Increase Agriculture, Riverside: Harvest Increase Agriculture’s new fertilizer SUPRGrow has been shown in four years of field trials to increase the harvest yield of corn by 5.9%. Only low levels of 1 gallon per acre of SUPRGrow are needed to increase harvest yields of corn.
- MākuSafe, West Des Moines: MākuSafe has developed proprietary wearable technology that gathers real-time environmental and motion data from workers. Their cloud platform, MākuSmart, then uses machine learning to identify high-risk trends in a facility.
- Pitchly, Des Moines: Pitchly helps companies leverage data to create content. Pitchly brings business data to life, eliminates repetitive processes and saves time.
- Salin247, Ames: Salin 247 specializes in fully autonomous field equipment with the aim of increasing profitability and sustainability of crop production.
- Spanton Dynamics, Fairfield: The Spanton Board operates like a conveyor belt and contours underneath a patient, providing less movement than a traditional spinal board.
To read Investment Director Kaylee Williams’ summer update on InnoVenture’s recent Heartland Hustle workshops, click here.