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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Fourteen Central Iowa schools and nonprofits were awarded 2020 Facebook Community Action grants ranging from $3,900 to $62,386, the Facebook Altoona Data Center announced this week. The full list of local organizations is available online. The Altoona Data Center also announced applications are open for the Facebook Small Business Grants…
The Urbandale Chamber of Commerce has partnered with Shop Where I Live to launch an online platform for small businesses to sell products and services virtually. The marketplace, www.centraliowa.shopwhereilive.com, is free of charge to Urbandale Chamber members, and businesses have begun to add products and services to the site. The…