The Iowa State University Startup Factory announced nine new cohort companies for the 2021 program. Cohort X entrepreneurs are Ruben Aria (company unnamed), Jared Dopp (Frugi Biotechnology), Allison Hockey (Lineage Mapper), Nacu Hernandez, Baker Kuehl and Austin Homann (MacroLei Technologies), Nathaniel Kallmyer (Zymosense), Katherine Richardson Bruna (Mosquitoes & Me), Aaron…
It’s been a while since people have met for coffee. Entrepreneurship is already often described as a lonely journey for individuals and co-founders. Throw in an ongoing pandemic, and it’s not hard to imagine how isolated community members can feel in a year without in-person events. In the mix of…
Registration is available now for the first Black and Brown Business Summit hosted by the West Des Moines Chamber of Commerce, scheduled for April 22-23. Hosted at Athene, the summit is organized by the West Des Moines Chamber of Commerce’s 27-member Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, led by Chamber Vice Chairperson Angela…
A mockup of the mobile Farmmee platform, expected to launch this spring. Contributed image A new mobile app launching for agricultural producers this spring is designed to connect farmers with equipment to farmers with jobs, the founders say. The Farmmee app is expected to launch after April 1 following a…
Tikly, a Des Moines-based platform for event ticket sales, is closing one year after the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the company announced on social media Friday morning. The company aimed to lower ticket fees for live events by giving artists and venues direct control over tickets sold, and served clients in…
The Hawkeye Startup Accelerator at the University of Iowa is accepting applications from student individual and team founders for its 11-week summer program, which takes place from May 17 to July 31. Founders will receive a $5,000 living stipend. The application is available online.
The Iowa Go-to-Market (G2M) Accelerator announced the inaugural 2021 G2M cohort of five participating Iowa biotechnology startups. Cohort members are CartilaGen of Iowa City, Classroom Clinic of Carroll, FBB Biomed of Coralville, Mazen Animal Health of Ames and Sushi3D, also of Ames. The accelerator is supported by BioConnect Iowa, VentureNet…
Trokt, a Des Moines startup developing negotiations-management software and “Thumbprinter” technology, joined the LexLab Accelerator in San Francisco, based out of the University of California Hastings College of Law. Trokt is one of six participants in the legaltech accelerator’s first virtual cohort, and aims to develop its marketing for its…
For the Iowa AgriTech Accelerator, 2020 was a program success, executive director Nadilia Gomez said this week. In January, the accelerator received “unprecedented numbers” of applications for the 2020 cohort. At the onset of a global pandemic in the spring, IATA transferred the entire program virtually for the four participating…
The Iowa State University John Pappajohn Entrepreneurship Center was named one of five finalists in the Outstanding Contributions to Venture Creation award category by the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers (GCEC), a worldwide academic association of entrepreneurship educators. The award is given to honor a center that creatively supports the…
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