The Iowa Economic Development Authority board approved awards for four startups in Ames, Iowa City, West Des Moines and West Liberty, the board announced on Friday. IEDA awarded a $25,000 Proof of Commercial Relevance (POCR) loan to Ames-based Skroot Laboratory Inc., a $100,000 loan from the Demonstration Fund to Iowa City-based Malum Inc., a $100,000 […]
The dashboard of Roboflow Organize. Image provided by roboflow.ai WHO: Roboflow ESTABLISHED: August 2019 by second-time founders Brad Dwyer (previously Hatchlings) and Joseph Nelson (previously Represently) WHAT IT DOES: “Roboflow is a tool that developers use to build computer vision applications faster,” Nelson said. The problem that Brad Dwyer and Joseph Nelson started with didn’t […]
BrokerTech Ventures, a new broker-led insurance accelerator launched by Holmes Murphy in Des Moines, announced the hiring of John Jackovin as its new executive director this week. Jackovin most recently managed the Growth and Internal Services Product teams at fintech startup Dwolla in Des Moines. Jackovin previously led the Des Moines startup Bawte, which completed […]
Des Moines-based “smart building” startup Igor has been selected as a finalist for two global technology awards, the company announced this week. Igor is a 2020 Sapphire Award finalist for Best in Emergency SSL Luminaires, Modules and Drivers and a finalist in a second category, Smart and Connected SSL Enabling Technologies. Igor produces the Nexos […]
Welcome to 2020. What better way to kick off the new year than by looking ahead at key trends affecting the business community. We asked several leaders to identify a trend in their industry they felt other business leaders should know about. Here’s a peek at what they told us. The impact of voice searchRachel […]
The Global Insurance Accelerator’s sixth cohort will welcome eight insurtech companies to Des Moines for the 100-day term beginning Jan. 14, the accelerator announced this week. The cohort features Caregiven (Oregon), Denscore (Michigan), Gerald Tech (New York), InsureVite (Singapore), Kiwi (New York), Summary Medical (Wisconsin), TCARE (Missouri) and UDoTest (Massachusetts). More information about the startups […]
At the Technology Association of Iowa’s recent Catalysts event, retiring Executive Vice President Gary Scholten of Principal Financial Group said he has watched the fight for growth in Iowa’s tech scene. “About 10 years ago TAI commissioned a study, and at that time they determined that about 10% of the jobs in Iowa were linked […]
IDx Technologies founder and CEO Michael Abramoff is succeeding Gary Seamans as executive chairman as the Coralville-based medical company announced new leadership appointments across its executive leadership team. Other appointments include John Bertrand succeeding Abramoff as CEO; Seth Rainford being appointed president and COO; and Danika Simonson being hired in the newly created chief of staff position. […]
The West Des Moines-based agritech startup droneSAR is rebranding to Sigma0 (pronounced Sigma zero) as the company evolves beyond drone services, Sigma0 announced this week. “We are a company developing insights about crops using radar technology. Our sensors support aerial and ground based platforms, not just drones, so it was vital to choose a new […]
MākuSafe CEO Gabriel Glynn (center) accepts the 2019 ACORD InsurTech Innovation Challenge award in October. Photo contributed MākuSafe, a West Des Moines-based wearable technology company, was named the 2019 ACORD InsurTech Innovation Challenge winner in Boston, taking home a $15,000 cash prize, a membership to the Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development (ACORD) and distribution […]