Valentine Food Co., based in Indianola, is launching the Iowa Market, a marketing and distribution division supporting small food product vendors with a national platform to promote and sell through. The newly launched online market has about 12 brands for sale. The market is designed to support small vendors without the burden of delivering their own […]

Anders Sörman-Nilsson was a lawyer before he became an internationally-known futurist, author and public speaker on the TEDGlobal circuit. His mother, who still runs the family menswear business in Stockholm, Sweden, still thinks of him as a “glorified astrologer,” Sörman-Nilsson told the audience at this week’s Iowa Technology Summit during the keynote.  “There’s no one […]

The Iowa AgriTech Accelerator will host its third Demonstration Day at the Des Moines Embassy Club Oct. 15 in conjunction with the World Food Prize and 2019 Borlaug Dialogue and International Symposium. Doors open at 5 p.m. and presentations will begin at 5:30 p.m. More than 120 volunteer mentors worked with the accelerator’s four agtech […]

Techstars, the Colorado-based national network that manages multiple accelerators and a venture capital arm, is now seeking a managing director and program manager of a yet-unannounced Techstars Iowa program. According to the job listings, Techstars Iowa will be an accelerator based in Des Moines. The company has not released an official statement regarding an expansion […]

Cedar Rapids’ New Bohemian Innovation Collaborative, known as NewBoCo, last week unveiled several new initiatives including the expansion of its Iowa Startup Accelerator (ISA) program to Iowa City and a new $30 million venture fund to help propel those companies as they grow, reports the Corridor Business Journal.  NewBoCo leaders shared their big plans for […]

Since launching an annual venture capital contest in 2006, Des Moines entrepreneur and venture capitalist John Pappajohn has been “happy to be the giver of money” to support entrepreneurs in the state, Pappajohn told the small crowd on Drake University’s campus over lunch on Thursday. All 12 of the small businesses represented – finalists in […]

The Global Insurance Accelerator will host 17 startups participating in the fifth annual InsurTech Week, scheduled for Oct. 14-18. The featured startups are: Bell Analytics, MakuSafe, Aerialytic, HazardHub, Relay, Talage, Avolanta, BOUND, Breathe Life, DeepVisionAI, EasySend, InDoW Technology Co., KASKO, Optimity, Protosure, Relativity6 and UDoTest. This year’s event schedule includes a Women in Insurance Coffee and Conversations session, […]

Roosevelt High School senior Kiki Levy launched her startup BetterHireS in mid-August, just as school started. Kiki Levy greeted visitors inside Ingersoll Avenue’s Star Bar Aug. 21 as the founder of BetterHireS — a startup web portal designed to connect Des Moines businesses to driven high school students seeking part-time employment in a career field […]

Continuum Ag cofounder David Hora and Iowa State University President Wendy Wintersteen. Photo contributed Continuum Ag, a consulting and data management company with a focus on soil health, earned $5,000 and “Best in Show” at the “Great Iowa State Pitch Off: STANDING InnOVATION,” hosted by Iowa State University at the Iowa State Fair. Continuum Ag […]