A new analysis by Amazon finds that Iowa leads the nation in the per-capita number of small and medium-sized businesses selling through the tech giant’s online platform, reports the Corridor Business Journal. Iowa is home to nearly 10,000 small and medium-sized sellers on Amazon, earning it the top ranking for the most digital entrepreneurs per capita. […]

BrokerTech Ventures announced four new regional and national insurance firms as partners to support the broker-focused platform and accelerator program, and a new sponsored partnership with Leader’s Edge Magazine this week. The Cincinnati Insurance Cos., RT Specialty, Amerisure Mutual Insurance Co. and AmWINS Group Inc. will be featured during the InsureTech Connect, Agency Connect: Virtual […]

Veterans and their spouses launching a business in Central Iowa have a new resource dedicated to their needs.  A Des Moines chapter of Bunker Labs launched virtually on Tuesday with volunteer city leaders Adam Hass and Bernie Stone. The event will be the national organization’s first virtual launch party since Bunker Labs was founded in 2014, and […]

At the morning keynote on June 4, NewBoCo Executive Director Eric Engelmann sat down at his computer with a plastic toy hand-clapper and gave it a good shake. The session’s “pre-standing ovation,” an EntreFEST tradition, would go on as planned — even over Zoom, with a sea of audience microphones muted.  Keeping conference attendees engaged […]

Five Iowa entrepreneurs have established a supply line of medical-grade personal protective equipment (PPE) for health care workers from China to the U.S., and the team is seeking more medical facilities stateside to provide for.  At the start of this year, Anisul Huq, Camille Renee, Julien Duhautois, Tim Vastine and Yolanda Wei were coworking colleagues […]

Financial Plus Credit Union joined Ascentra Credit Union, Collins Community Credit Union and Serve Credit Union in a Series B funding round as Des Moines startup LenderClose is raising $10 million. The LenderClose platform, which recently added remote online notarization for customers, is now used by more than 200 credit unions and community banks nationally, […]

Iowa State University’s Startup Factory has moved all weekly cohort meetings online to continue delivering the 52-week program, the organization announced this week. The accelerator has extended its cohort nine application deadline to May 29 as well; applications are available online. Final decisions will be announced in June, and the cohort is scheduled to begin […]

The Iowa AgriTech Accelerator is extending the deadline for applications to its annual AgTech Startup Program from March 31 to May 1, the accelerator announced this week. The board also announced a new member, Grant Kimberly, who serves as the senior director of market development for the Iowa Soybean Association and the executive director of […]

EntreFEST on Wednesday announced five keynote speakers and plans to carry on as scheduled for the 12th annual conference June 4-5. Event planners say they are staying informed about developments on the novel coronavirus and will heed recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and the Iowa Department of Public Health, but are hopeful the […]