innovationIOWA is sharing profiles of the current members of Maple Studios, a startup studio for early-stage industrial technology companies based on the campus of Ramco Innovations in West Des Moines. Brad Hoyt, founder of FullConfidence, shares about the company’s journey below. Read recent coverage of Maple Studios on innovationia.com. Know a startup from around the state with […]
SoilSerdem, an Ames-based startup, won a $1 million National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Research Phase II award through BioConnect Iowa’s America’s Seed Fund Outreach Program. According to a news release, America’s Seed Fund (powered by NSF) awards $200 million annually to startups and small businesses transforming scientific discovery into products and services with commercial and […]
Grace CEO Drew Allen shares plans for Quad Cities location A passion for entrepreneurship in Iowa shared by two industrial technology leaders — Drew Allen in Eastern Iowa and Hank Norem in Central Iowa — formed a bond that kindled the idea of a new Maple Studios location. The new branch of the startup studio, a […]
Denim Social, a software provider helping elevate how financial and insurance professionals connect and sell on social media, has been acquired by Capacity, a platform that automates customer support tasks. Based in St. Louis, Denim Social was formed in April 2020 with the merger of St. Louis startup Gremlin Social and Des Moines-based Denim. With Denim Social integrated […]
Tech takeaway Each quarter, the innovationIOWA newsletter will share a funding recap of the startup companies that received funding from the Iowa Economic Development Authority and a recap of the companies raising money according to Form D filings through the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. If there is other startup funding data you’re interested in […]
The Iowa State University Pappajohn Center has announced the members selected for the 14th ISU Startup Factory cohort. The cohort includes 19 members running 10 business ventures, either individually or in teams. The Startup Factory is an 18-week program open to technology-based, scalable ventures led by ISU scientific faculty and community members across Iowa. Participants leave prepared […]
BrokerTech Ventures announced it has hired Emily Schultz as its new managing director. Schultz will be responsible for setting and executing on the strategic direction of BTV to help advance innovation within the broker technology industry. Schultz will also be responsible for leading BTV’s five towers of operation — early-stage investments, innovation, capital, media and communications, and […]
An ecosystem triggers thoughts of nature, a complex network of organisms of all shapes and sizes, all with different but important roles in keeping the system healthy. Two thought leaders, Victor Hwang and Greg Horowitt, first applied the term ecosystem to describe entrepreneurship. The two words seem to be unrelated but the stakeholders that support […]
By Joe Fisher Supporting veterans and the families of veterans is about more than lip service. That is what Bernie Stone emphasizes when he passionately discusses efforts to truly help those who have served. Stone is a U.S. Army veteran and a volunteer ambassador for Bunker Labs, a nonprofit organization that helps veterans and their […]
Submitted by by Britton Langdon and Scott Hoekman In 2022, Cedar Rapids-based construction technology and software startup Msuite announced its sale to the world’s largest tool company, Stanley Black & Decker. The following is a great case study of how Msuite’s relationships and strategic development led to an excellent outcome. Preparing an exit strategy For […]