Des Moines hosting one of five SCORE pitch competitions

Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE), a national network of volunteer counselors providing free mentoring and programming to small businesses, is holding a pitch competition in Des Moines on Sept. 12. The event is one of five pitch competitions SCORE is hosting to celebrate the nonprofit’s 60th anniversary. Competing small…

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Keune named new executive director of UI JPEC

Adam Keune, co-founder of Coralville-based Higher Learning Technologies, has been named the new executive director of the Iowa John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center (Iowa JPEC) at the University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business.  Keune was Iowa JPEC’s entrepreneur-in-residence in 2023-24 and has served on the center’s advisory board since 2018….

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Verbio launches ethanol production at its biorefinery plant in Nevada

Verbio’s biorefinery facility in Nevada, Iowa, has started commercial production of corn-based ethanol, Verbio North America announced recently. Verbio Nevada, which opened in 2021, can now operate as a full biorefinery with a total capacity to produce 60 million gallons of corn-based ethanol per year and 2.3 million mmBTU of renewable…

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Iowa Rural Development Council receives $200K Wells Fargo grant to create Rural Business Initiative

The Iowa Rural Development Council (IRDC) has received a $200,000 grant from Wells Fargo to establish a new program to support small-business development in rural Iowa communities. According to a news release, the IRDC Rural Business Initiative will provide grants of at least $30,000 to community organizations that work with…

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Iowa G2M Accelerator seeking next cohort

The Iowa Go-To-Market (G2M) Accelerator is seeking participants for its next cohort starting in October. The accelerator program aims to provide companies with individualized assistance to prepare them for investment fundraising and business launch after their experience in an initial incubator or accelerator like Iowa State University’s Startup Factory, University of Iowa’s…

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