In the seventh year of the Business Record’s annual Leaders Survey, the Business Record asked local leaders whether they believe Central Iowa businesses had adequate access to venture capital. It’s a snapshot of our wider concerns – the survey, released in print and in daily e-newsletter snapshots, checks the pulse on some of Des Moines’ […]
San Francisco-based Instacart is facing boycott efforts from its own community of 70,000 contract shoppers, reports the Chicago Tribune. Instacart, which is active in Iowa as the Corridor Business Journal reports, recently changed its payment formula for contracted shoppers to match the weight and difficulty of each order; shoppers say the formula is resulting in […]
Des Moines-based insuretech startup Denim is branching out internationally through a new partnership with London-based Startupbootcamp Colab InsurTech (SBC Colab), Denim announced Tuesday. Denim’s micro-targeted marketing platform will be available to SBC Colab’s market starting in January 2019, CEO Gregory Bailey said.
The Iowa AgriTech Accelerator received first place in the 2018 Entrepreneurial Awards, hosted by the Mid-America Economic Development Council. The accelerator, launched in 2016 by the Greater Des Moines Partnership and Cultivation Corridor, came in first for communities with a population over 50,000 and accepted the award during the Dec. 2-4 Mid-America Competitiveness Conference & […]
Applications are now open to Iowa State University students or recent graduates for CYstarters, a 10-week summer accelerator assisting participants with their startup or business idea. Selected students will receive $6,500 for an individual or up to $13,000 per student team to spend the 2019 summer pursuing their business model from May 20 to Aug. […]
Dwolla, a Des Moines-based digital payment platform, is expanding its second Monetery summit to two days this May, the company announced on Wednesday. The 2019 summit will be held May 21-22 at the Temple for Performing Arts. Last year’s event was limited to 200 attendees, and this year’s will be similarly exclusive, said Steph Atkin, […]
Smart Ag founder/CEO Colin Hurd joined this year’s Forbes 30 Under 30 entrepreneurs in manufacturing and industry across the U.S. and Canada. Hurd, who is 28, graduated from Iowa State University with a degree in Agriculture and Business in 2013 and went on to develop AutoCart, an automated grain cart system that allows farmers to […]
High-growth companies that missed the Nov. 2 deadline can still apply to present at the 2019 InvestMidwest Venture Capital Forum in Kansas City. Midwestern companies interested in pitching to investors at the forum, held March 19-20 at the Westin Kansas City at Crown Center, can submit applications until Jan. 4, 2019. InvestMidwest annually attracts around […]
Midwest startup accelerator gener8tor announced a new partnership with Allianz Life Ventures and Securian Financial to establish the OnRamp Insurance Accelerator in the Twin Cities, reports AmericanInno. Five startups will be welcomed into the three-month program each year, with a cash investment of $100,000. The program builds off the existing OnRamp Insurance Conference, which has […]
The Ag Startup Engine’s seven initial agricultural startup companies have collectively raised more than $10 million in follow-on investments, the organization announced today. The seven portfolio companies within ASE at Iowa State University Research Park have also created more than 40 jobs since the initiative’s launch. Established in late 2016, the ASE began by looking […]