Gravitate Coworking is expanding to two new communities. The timing, nearly a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, is unexpected, Gravitate owner Geoff Wood said. But opportunity knocked to set the coworking space up for the post-COVID world in Jefferson and Cedar Falls. “On the one hand, we’re in survivability mode…
A Des Moines-based app dedicated to connecting nonprofits to donors is rebranding as the team begins work to expand connections outside of Iowa. Beginning this month, the Given platform is rebranding to Grateful — a new name that reflects the emotions donors report when they choose to give to local…
Des Moines computer vision startup Roboflow raised $2.1 million in a new seed round led by Craft Ventures and Lachy Groom, months after graduating from the Y Combinator’s Summer 2020 batch, Roboflow announced today. The funding round is in addition to $500,000 raised by Roboflow from angel investors following the Y…
Bioconnect Iowa is debuting a new brand two years after shifting its mission toward the state’s biosciences, the organization formerly known as the Iowa Innovation Corp. announced this year. The change in name is just the start: Bioconnect Iowa partnered this year with Iowa State University’s Startup Factory and VentureNET…
Dwolla is releasing Drop-In Components, a new low-code offering designed to shorten the development time on customers’ payment integration services, the company announced on Tuesday. When a business uses a payment API for online transactions, sensitive user information must be provided to the business to create an end user account…
BrokerTech Ventures is launching the first step in international expansion with a partnership between the BrokerTech Ventures U.S. Accelerator and the newly formed Israeli InsurTech Accelerator, based in Tel Aviv. The accelerator will use BrokerTech Venture’s accelerator program to help local Israeli insurtech supporters build its own regional accelerator, while developing…
Iowa founder Nancy Mwirotsi and philanthropist John Pappajohn. Pappajohn committed $100,000 and support from staff at the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center network to help Mwirotsi expand the 6-year-old tech education nonprofit Pi515 in Iowa. Contributed photo Early this fall, Des Moines founder Nancy Mwirotsi was surprised to take a call…
Des Moines-based BrokerTech Ventures and founding company Holmes Murphy closed a co-leading funding effort to raise $4 million in capital for Highwing, a Denver-based insurtech company focused on changing data processing and management for brokers and carriers. Commercial insurance is expected to reach $900 billion by 2021. Highwing intends to…
Applications are open to broker-focused startups for the Des Moines-based BrokerTech Ventures Accelerator’s 2021 program, the accelerator announced Oct. 29. The accelerator offers more than $500,000 in seed funding, up to $50,000 each to accepted startups. Submission deadlines for BrokerTech Ventures Accelerator is Nov. 30; selected startups will be notified…
Smart-building technology firms Igor and Somfy announced a new partnership to allow business owners the means to connect and control natural and manufactured lighting. Igor’s Nexos IoT platform enables automation of smart devices such as Somfy smart shading; both companies will host a webinar on Nov. 5 to cover technology…
As part of a refresh of the Business Record’s Innovation Iowa brand, we have created a new landing page on the Business Record website to house all Innovation Iowa coverage and more stories from the Business Record covering innovation and technology.
Visit www.businessrecord.com/innovation-iowa to view all Innovation Iowa stories, including the 2026 Innovation Iowa Magazine, out now.
-Sarah Diehn, Business Record Editor