University of Iowa startup Verdlilife has won $50,000 after demonstrating a new agricultural cleaning process, the Corridor Business Journal reports. Mahdi Eghbali, Ph.D. candidate in economics at UI, was awarded for his pitch at the MegaWatt Ventures competition this month. Verdilife uses a proprietary process known as the Nano-Intelligent Smokeless Bio-Char System to transform wood […]
Erin Rollenhagen, founder and CEO of the Urbandale-based software company Entrepreneurial Technologies, grew up in Ames and graduated from the University of Iowa with degrees in economics and management information systems. She has been involved in three tech startups. She is chairwoman of the Technology Association of Iowa’s board of directors. How do you personally […]
Highway Equipment company of Cedar Rapids has become the first Platinum Harvester Sponsor for the Ag Startup Engine at Iowa State University. The Ag Startup Engine effort was launched two years ago to help with seed-stage investment and organized mentorship. “Now more than ever, we need entrepreneurs and innovators in the agricultural industry,” said Rocki […]
EntreFEST 2018’s opening keynote is still fresh in attendees’ minds after keynote speaker Victor Hwang, vice president of entrepreneurship at the Kauffman Foundation, laid the foundation for attendees to explore building local economies by ecosystem instead of building individual-by-individual. It seemed fitting for Hwang to commence the conference on the topic of ecosystems in Cedar Rapids, […]
Ames-based Workiva announced it has signed an original equipment manufacturer agreement with SAP to provide cloud integration services in the Wdesk platform. Users who integrate their SAP business data directly into the Wdesk platform will be able to access synchronized data services, controlled collaboration and clear audit trails, Workiva representatives said.
Michael Lawrence once paid for an appetizer that could have been free, and the experience bothered him so greatly that he built a business. Now after a successful four months live in the Quad Cities, Lawrence is eager to take BluJaket to Des Moines, serving restaurants to shoe stores with a personalized platform to push […]
Things are looking up at LenderClose.On Wednesday evening, LenderClose relaunched and held an open house for the new office space out in West Des Moines — a sign of growing times for the fintech startup, which closed a round of funding in March with Next Level Ventures. “It’s about us taking that next big step to […]
An autism therapy software founded by three University of Iowa students recently won the grand prize at Texas Christian University’s Values and Ventures business startup competition, the Tippie College of Business reports. ABAL Therapeutics, which won $25,000 in the national startup competition, is owned by co-founders Logan Grote, ‘18; Shamus Roeder, ‘19’ and Max Salinger, […]
Des Moines game developer Brad Dwyer is keeping an eye on Facebook. Small business owners have been watching since news leaked in March that Cambridge Analytica, a third-party provider, was able to purchase Facebook user data from a rule-abiding personality profile application. The user data was then sold to President Donald Trump’s campaign team in […]
The Iowa AgriTech Accelerator announced five agtech startups selected for the program’s 2018 cohort. “We received a number of great applicants from around the country and the world,” said Megan Vollstedt, executive director for the accelerator. The five startups are: U.S. Design Consultants, Osceola, Iowa, which has developed an innovative method of broadcast dispensing granular […]