As companies compete to attract parents and kids with back-to-school specials, one Des Moines startup has placed an eye on a piece of the classroom unserved by many startups. Trokt, an online platform and mobile application designed to facilitate legal mediation record-keeping, is seeking headway to connect with the families of disabled or special-needs students […]
Des Moines-based Rocket Referrals is on the 2019 Inc. 5000 annual list of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S., the company announced this week. Rocket Referrals, an insuretech startup automating the referral process for insurance agencies, was named at the 481 spot. It ranked 62 among all software companies in the U.S. and was the fastest-growing software […]
Ames Seed Capital announced a $100,000 investment into the veterinary startup VetMeasure, Inc. VetMeasure, based in Ames, created the animal heart monitoring device MeasureON! Harness, allowing veterinarians to monitor a pet’s health remotely. The harness sends collected data to a mobile and web application available for the vets to view; when the dog’s metrics reach […]
More than 150 Iowa State University entrepreneurs will pitch their ideas to visitors at the ISU exhibit during the Iowa State Fair, ISU announced. The Great Iowa State Pitch Off: STANDING InnOVATION will be in the Varied Industries building from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Aug. 8-15. There will be two pitches every hour each […]
Predictive Health Partners, a Des Moines-based insurtech startup focused on reducing wasteful healthcare spending for companies and employees, will join the Minneapolis-based gener8tor 2019 accelerator class, the company announced this week. Predictive Health Partners uses a dual platform to analyze variations in a company’s overall anonymous medical and prescription claims, while offering location-specific price comparison […]
A powdered shampoo (Powdu). An after-school chess club and traveling team (Chess Utopia). An online platform designed to simplify the resume-building experience for rising college students (CourseLink). And a comic book-framing shop that pivoted to quality prop replication for international customers (Comic Sandwiches). Students and graduates of Iowa State University presented their 15 individual business […]
EngeniousAg LLC, a participant in Iowa State University’s Startup Factory, has been awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) for $100,000 to develop low-cost, high-specificity nitrate sensors. The NIFA-funded project will allow EngeniousAg to improve the performance of their sensors and […]
Gravitate Coworking’s new location downtown, at 500 Locust St. Photo contributed Since founding Gravitate Coworking in 2014, Geoff Wood has never held the giant novelty ribbon-cutting scissors. Tonight, at Gravitate Downtown’s grand reopening in a new office, he should have his chance. “I’m kind of excited about that,” he noted on Tuesday. Gravitate’s new downtown […]
The 2019 CYstarters Demo Day, which showcases Iowa State University student teams in the CYstarters Accelerator, will host members of the public on Aug. 1 from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Iowa State Economic Development Core Facility in the ISU Research Park. RSVPs are recommended. The 11-week CYstarters program is hosted by the ISU […]
The Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) Board approved innovation funding to support five Iowa startups located in Des Moines, Le Claire, West Des Moines and Iowa City. HomePainter, based in Des Moines, has developed an online estimating tool that provides homeowners with an accurate paint estimate in less than five minutes, then subcontracts booked jobs […]