SwineTech, a Cedar Rapids-based agtech startup designing products to protect piglets from accidental crushing by their mothers, received October’s Business of the Month award by America’s SBDC Iowa. SwineTech has won multiple awards from MIT, the American Farm Bureau and the Investors Hall of Fame; co-founders Matthew Rooda and Abraham Espinoza have also been recognized […]

Sundeep Vani joined Iowa State University in the newly-created role of chief technology officer for biobased products, the university has announced. As CTO, Vani will work with Biobased Product platform lead Brent Shanks and the Iowa Innovation Corp. to identify promising emerging technologies and develop them into commercial products. Vani has spent the last two […]

Kerty Levy (standing), newly named managing director of Techstars Iowa, at Tuesday’s launch announcement with Jainen Thayer, chief investment officer for Grinnell College, and Claudia Reuter, managing director of the Stanley + Techstars Additive Manufacturing Accelerator. Photo provided Tuesday was a good day for Mike Colwell in Des Moines. It capped off quite the season […]

Coralville-based IDx Technologies has appointed former LabCorp executive Seth Rainford as its new president of global markets, the Corridor Business Journal reports. Rainford will be charged with expanding market opportunities and driving operational excellence at IDx, which last April received clearance from the FDA for the first autonomous AI diagnostic system in any field of medicine. […]

The Global Insurance Accelerator announced changes to the funding structure affecting startups that are accepted to the 2020 cohort, which is now accepting applications. The GIA will increase the seed investment to $75,000 in the form of a post-money Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE), which converts to 5% of the company. By doubling the investment, housing […]

The University of Iowa is launching a new Iowa Innovation Challenge to provide more than $225,000 in funding during the 2019-2020 academic year across UI’s campus. The challenge is a university wide competition to identify, advance and support the most innovative and entrepreneurial projects on campus, the university said in a statement. The competition is […]

Des Moines nonprofit Pursuit of Innovation (Pi515) is launching the second year of its Peer Mentoring Program directed at middle school students with funding support by Coca-Cola, AT&T and Bank of the West, Pi515 announced this week. With support from adult volunteers in STEM-related careers, advanced students in Des Moines high schools’ STEM programs are […]

Techstars, a national network of accelerators and a venture capital firm, is partnering with Grinnell College to launch Techstars Iowa, to be located in Des Moines. Des Moines entrepreneur and former interim director for the Iowa AgriTech Accelerator Kerty Levy has joined as managing director of Techstars Iowa, which has yet to settle on a physical […]

A new class-action lawsuit filed against Hy-Vee claims the midwestern chain’s recent data breach was the “inevitable result” of inadequate data security despite growing threats against payment card systems. Chimicles Schwartz Kriner & Donaldson-Smith LLP (CSK&D) alleges that Hy-Vee “failed to take adequate measures to assist affected customers, choosing instead to spread out information about […]