Calling all Disney Pixar fans – this one’s for you. “Purl,” created by Pixar’s SparkShorts Artists Projects division, explores what happens when a young, enthusiastic ball of yarn finds she doesn’t fit into her new high-powered, male-centric workplace. “You’re being too soft. We gotta be aggressive!” a B.R.O. team member…
West Des Moines-based Midwest Growth Partners, a private equity fund funded in 2013, has raised $113.5 million for a second fund, the organization announced on Monday. Twenty-six investors have invested in Midwest Growth Partners II LP, which will bring total private capital managed by the organization to more than $154…
Ag Startup Engine at the Iowa State University Research Park has announced an initial seed investment of $50,000 in Chicago-based ClearFlame Engines – a company integrating low-carbon alternative fuels into diesel engines uses a high-temperature combustion process. ClearFlame Engines is the first company outside of Iowa to join the Ag…
Des Moines businessman Chris Draper will be one of 25 individuals in Venture University’s third VC investor cohort, the trade school announced on Wednesday. Draper will serve as a VC Investor apprentice focused on emerging technology startups in Chicago and the broader midwest. He will remain as managing director of…
Established in 2003, the state’s venture capital initiative “Iowa Fund of Funds” is slowly winding down after the Iowa Executive Council voted 4-0 to dissociate the fund with its governing entities, reports the Cedar Rapids Gazette. The program, which was managed under the private, not-for-profit Iowa Capital Investment Corp. and a…
In early 2017, Des Moines investment professionals David Miles and Matthew Kinley partnered to launch ManchesterStory Group. The new venture capital firm has established a foothold with initial investments in the insurance technology sector, along with an eye on promising financial technology and health care technology startups. In less than…
By Steve Dinnen | dsmWealth Des Moines may not yet be in the league of Silicon Valley as a national innovation hub, but there’s a lot of local investment money pouring into ways to make business and industry here thrive. Take, for instance, Plains Angels, a Des Moines-based investment startup…
TRACTOR ZOOM: Completed $1 million seed investment round. Participated: Innova Memphis, Ag Startup Engine, angel investors. Based in West Des Moines.