Applications for the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Venture Competition are now open. The statewide competition will award $100,000 in cash prizes, including a first place award of $40,000. Iowa businesses that have been in operation for four years or less, or are not yet cash flow positive are eligible to apply. Participants will be judged on […]
Tikly, a Des Moines-based platform for event ticket sales, is closing one year after the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the company announced on social media Friday morning. The company aimed to lower ticket fees for live events by giving artists and venues direct control over tickets sold, and served clients in five countries over ten years; […]
Des Moines-based payments platform Dwolla announced this week that Dave Glaser has been appointed president and chief operating officer, bringing more than 20 years of experience in the enterprise payments space. Glaser’s first day with Dwolla was Monday, and he plans to complete his family’s move to Des Moines in April. Glaser is the company’s […]
One year after the COVID-19 pandemic shut down live events, the team behind Des Moines software firm VolunteerLocal is raising their hands to help in the vaccine distribution effort. The staff started reaching out to connections in the medical field after a current customer called operations coordinator Isabel Reed in February to ask if VolunteerLocal’s […]
Jade Nettrour is a senior in high school and has already designed an early prototype of new Christmas tree lights to make the annual decorating process easier — and more cat-friendly — for her family and their five felines. Nettrour’s demonstration earned her second place in a student “Shark Tank” pitch competition in 2020, and […]
The Hawkeye Startup Accelerator at the University of Iowa is accepting applications from student individual and team founders for its 11-week summer program, which takes place from May 17 to July 31. Founders will receive a $5,000 living stipend. The application is available online.
The Iowa Go-to-Market (G2M) Accelerator announced the inaugural 2021 G2M cohort of five participating Iowa biotechnology startups. Cohort members are CartilaGen of Iowa City, Classroom Clinic of Carroll, FBB Biomed of Coralville, Mazen Animal Health of Ames and Sushi3D, also of Ames. The accelerator is supported by BioConnect Iowa, VentureNet Iowa and the Iowa State […]
After Mike Colwell retires at the end of this month as executive director of entrepreneurial initiatives at the Greater Des Moines Partnership, he’ll help lead one more session of the Partnership’s Raising Capital Seminar Series, a twice-yearly power course for entrepreneurs learning how to fund their business. Colwell, himself a private investor, is preparing to enjoy a […]
Gravitate Coworking is expanding to two new communities. The timing, nearly a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, is unexpected, Gravitate owner Geoff Wood said. But opportunity knocked to set the coworking space up for the post-COVID world in Jefferson and Cedar Falls. “On the one hand, we’re in survivability mode to get to the end […]
Trokt, a Des Moines startup developing negotiations-management software and “Thumbprinter” technology, joined the LexLab Accelerator in San Francisco, based out of the University of California Hastings College of Law. Trokt is one of six participants in the legaltech accelerator’s first virtual cohort, and aims to develop its marketing for its new Thumbprinter documentation product before […]