America’s Cultivation Corridor launched its second iteration of Cultivo Virtual Academy Tuesday with a cohort of six startups from around the world. The six-week virtual program connects the participating companies with mentors and Iowa’s agricultural leaders and provides a curriculum focused on entering the U.S. market and navigating regulatory and finance systems.  “It is exciting to welcome a […]

Tim Zhang, owner of Des Moines-based Starkline, is in the final round of the Making It … With Lowe’s pitch competition, which aims to give diverse small business owners an opportunity to sell their product in Lowe’s stores. Zhang’s electrical netting product is in contention to be the Fan Favorite; the product with the most votes will receive […]

Inside the intimate auditorium at the Science Center of Iowa, an audience of startup community partners, members and investors displayed their energy and excitement for the 2021 Techstars Iowa cohort at the Demo Day event Wednesday. Founders from the 10 companies each spent three minutes pitching their concepts and sharing the progress they achieved during […]

Early stage insurtech startups can apply to Global Insurance Accelerator’s 2022 program until Sept. 12. This will be GIA’s eighth year hosting the accelerator, which supports cohorts by providing seed funding and bringing in more than 75 local mentors to advise companies. The 100-day equity-based program runs from Jan. 12 to April 21, 2022 with […]

The Global Insurance Accelerator’s 2021 InsurTech Days event was held at Curate Event Center in downtown Des Moines on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Business Record attended the first day to hear the growth story of Cowbell Cyber, a member of GIA’s 2019 accelerator program, and presentations from the 12 featured insurtechs. Attendees came from across […]

Representatives from Akur8 and Coherent shared their takeaways from Tuesday’s InsurTech Days events with the Business Record over email. What stood out to you from Tuesday’s panel and company presentations? Are there any specific takeaways for your company? Boriana Trifonova, Akur8: I particularly enjoyed hearing about CowbellCyber’s success story and fast evolution since the GIA! The team’s tenacity […]