Applications for the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Venture Competition are now being accepted as the organization prepares to award $100,000 in cash prizes during its 15th year, the organization announced Wednesday. The seed funding consists of a $50,000 contribution from John and Mary Pappajohn, and a $50,000 match from the Iowa Economic Development Authority. Applications are […]
Since launching an annual venture capital contest in 2006, Des Moines entrepreneur and venture capitalist John Pappajohn has been “happy to be the giver of money” to support entrepreneurs in the state, Pappajohn told the small crowd on Drake University’s campus over lunch on Thursday. All 12 of the small businesses represented – finalists in […]
A powdered shampoo (Powdu). An after-school chess club and traveling team (Chess Utopia). An online platform designed to simplify the resume-building experience for rising college students (CourseLink). And a comic book-framing shop that pivoted to quality prop replication for international customers (Comic Sandwiches). Students and graduates of Iowa State University presented their 15 individual business […]
The 2019 CYstarters Demo Day, which showcases Iowa State University student teams in the CYstarters Accelerator, will host members of the public on Aug. 1 from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Iowa State Economic Development Core Facility in the ISU Research Park. RSVPs are recommended. The 11-week CYstarters program is hosted by the ISU […]
In his 50th year as a venture capitalist, Pappajohn is still ahead of the pack John Pappajohn has invested in innovation from the very beginning of his career as a venture capitalist, and he prides himself on keeping himself — and his investment network — on the leading edge of technology. Some of his earliest […]
Fifteen student entrepreneurs are joining the 2019 CYstarters cohort, an 11-week intensive program managed by the Iowa State Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship. Businesses in the cohort are: AI for Microscopy, Camp Aramoni, CattleTech, Chess Utopia, Comic Sandwiches, Courselink, Flourish, Iowa Virtual Reality Labs, Jensen Applied Sciences, One Hop Shop, Pink Panda, Pock It, Powdu, the Modern […]
The Iowa State University Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship awarded $2,500 to four student businesses as part of the annual Innovation Pitch Competition this year. More than 25 students pitched their ventures to judges at The Maintenance Shop this year; juniors Konner Koerselman, Brian Fleming and senior Brad Lechton won the $1,000 prize of Best Overall […]
By Katharine Carlon | Corridor Business Journal A historic University of Iowa building erected in the 1930s to bring the then-revolutionary “Iowa Idea” to life is being reincarnated as the state’s bold idea factory of the future. In what one UI official is calling a “game changer” that will boost the school’s ability to support […]
The University of Iowa will seek permission from the Board of Regents to convert the former UI Art Building to an innovation center, reports the Corridor Business Journal. The building, where American folk artist Grant Wood worked out of, opened in 1936 as an arts colony. “By bringing together inventors, creators and leaders from a […]
Three Central Iowa startups achieved top five placements at the annual Surge Summit, the closing workshop for University of Iowa’s Venture School. Mo’ Goodness, a Des Moines-based specialty food line, received $3,000 and first place in the day’s final pitch competition, out of 12 teams statewide that completed the eight-week Venture School program. Also in […]