The 2020 Global Insurance Symposium scheduled for April 21-23 is canceled, organizers announced this morning. The GIA will host a virtual pitch event for accepted insuretech startups April 22 from 3:30-5 p.m. CST. More information and attendee registration for the pitch event is available online. Participants in this year’s Global Insurance Accelerator cohort are now […]

The broker-led investor and acceleration program BrokerTech Ventures named former interim director Susan Hatten as chief operating officer, the group announced this week. Hatten joins Executive Director John Jackovin as the accelerator’s inaugural cohort began the five-week program last week. BrokerTech Ventures also announced the addition of five new investor partners: Heffernan Insurance Brokers, the Horton Group, […]

Two startup accelerators announced inaugural teams for their 2020 cohorts this week.  BrokerTech Ventures of Des Moines and Iowa EdTech Accelerator of Iowa City will both welcome startup founders on March 2 as founders begin the five-week program for BrokerTech and 14-week program for Iowa EdTech.  Twelve BrokerTech Ventures startups will operate in Gravitate Coworking […]

Dwolla CEO/founder Ben Milne cuts the ribbon as the company unveils new headquarters in February 2019 at 909 Locust. Photo provided Dwolla is searching for a new CEO after founder Ben Milne announced he was going to step away from the role in a blog post published this afternoon. Milne and other company leaders came […]

Kansas City-based Commerce Bank announced it has launched a real-time payments system aimed at enabling property-casualty insurers to provide faster, more convenient claims payments. The new product, CommercePayments PreferPay, provides customers, claimants and service providers with multiple claims payment options including ACH, check or direct-to-debit card via Visa Direct.  Commerce Bank partnered with Progressive Casualty […]

The city of Johnston’s operating budget, available for public viewing through Johnston Open Finance. Screencap/City of Johnston Johnston residents keeping an eye on the city’s finances have a new tool to simplify the process.  The city’s public Open Finance dashboard publishes the city’s entire budget and spending line items — down to the vendor and […]

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 […]

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 […]