In partnership with the East Central Iowa Council of Governments, the Rural Ideas Network has been awarded a $412,105 grant from the Economic Development Administration to expand its efforts to support rural entrepreneurs across Iowa. The Rural Ideas Network has piloted two services to support entrepreneurs in rural communities since 2020: a coworking accelerator program and a virtual […]
Des Moines-based specialty beverage company BLK & Bold announced it is holding its first community-centered event on Oct. 1 to celebrate National Coffee Day and International Coffee Day. In partnership with Minneapolis-based Mill City Roasters, the “BLK & Bold Coffee Celebration” will be open to the public and include a roastery tour, food trucks and music. Five percent of […]
CareSource, a nonprofit managed care organization, announced Wednesday the launch of the CareSource Iowa Opportunity Investment Fund through a partnership with ISA Ventures, which will manage the fund. According to a news release, this new fund will provide capital for Iowa-based startups that seek to improve health care outcomes, promote health equity and generate positive social impact, especially […]
Business owners name access to resources, connections as challenges The Business Record partnered with Hola Iowa on Tuesday to host a virtual panel discussion focused on Latino entrepreneurship as part of Hispanic Heritage Month, which began on Sept. 15. There are more than 1,500 Latino-owned businesses in the Des Moines metro area generating $160 million […]
Ramco Innovations set to triple space available to startups Entrepreneur support center Maple Ventures is moving into its next phase with the announcement of its first full-time director and plans to triple the amount of space available to industrial technology companies at Ramco Innovations. Renovations are underway to convert one of three buildings at Ramco’s […]
Jess Louis joined the Global Insurance Accelerator as its program manager this week, the accelerator announced on its blog. She will oversee the GIA’s programming with managing director Dan Israel, who started transitioning into his new role in May. Louis’ most recent role was with the Boys and Girls Club of Central Iowa, running its volunteer program […]
A look into the effort to create a vision, plan for entrepreneurship’s future in the region Entrepreneurial ecosystem, innovation ecosystem — terms like these are embedded in everyday conversations happening within the business and technology communities. They help in referring to the broader environment and everything that comes together to fuel entrepreneurship and innovation, but a […]
Nine Iowa startups received a total of $100,000 as winners of the 2022 Pappajohn Iowa Entrepreneurial Venture Competition, which were named on Aug. 12. Continuum Ag received the $40,000 first place award, Farm Story Meats received $25,000 for second place and DenScore received $15,000 for third place. Honorable mention awards of $5,000 or $2,000 went to six more startups: ReEnvision Ag, Juggernaut, Janas Materials, Hummingbirds, Farmers Risk and Easy2Show. […]
BankTech Ventures, a strategic investment fund and ecosystem launched in November to serve community banks and bank technology entrepreneurs, announced the closing of its first fund. More than 100 limited partners, made up almost entirely of community banks, invested more than $115 million in committed capital. Two Iowa-based banks, Bank Iowa and First Citizens Bank, are […]
Midwest Startups, which supports the Midwest startup and innovation ecosystem, has released its 2022 Startup City rankings. This year’s data shows that the five Iowa regions included in the analysis of 59 Midwest cities all received lower rankings compared with last year. Des Moines moved from the rank of 20 last year to 28 this […]