Midwest Startups, which supports the Midwest startup and innovation ecosystem, has released its 2022 Startup City rankings. This year’s data shows that the five Iowa regions included in the analysis of 59 Midwest cities all received lower rankings compared with last year. Des Moines moved from the rank of 20…
Iowa startup SAFI-Tech, which is creating no-heat and low-heat electronics solder, is partnering with Indium Corp., Clay and Milk reported. Indium and SAFI-Tech will evaluate market applications for supercooled solder materials and explore the development of new products, according to a news release. “Indium Corporation is a world leader and innovator…
The Global Insurance Accelerator is now accepting applications for its ninth accelerator program, incoming Managing Director Dan Israel announced in a blog post. “While change is occurring in the leadership of the GIA, our 100-day program, our mentors, and our insurance carrier investors all remain focused on helping amazing founders, teams,…
Entering its third year of the program, Techstars Iowa has announced the members of its 2022 class, which started in Des Moines Monday. Daniel Pfeil is joining Techstars Iowa this year as an investment associate to help founders collaborate with investors, according to a news release. Partners Grinnell University, the…
Like nearly all offices, Gravitate Coworking was quiet throughout 2020 as many worked from home. While its two locations never closed last year and precautions were in place, visitors to the space remained slim. But since the vaccine for COVID-19 became available, numbers have steadily returned to normal levels, and…
The Cedar Rapids-based Iowa Startup Accelerator is accepting applications for its fall cohort. Managing Director Alex Taylor said applications are open until Aug. 15. The cohort is expected to be announced by Aug. 27, and begin on Sept. 13 in Cedar Rapids. Taylor said applications will be reviewed to ensure they meet…
Des Moines entrepreneur Ben McDougal joined the Techstars Iowa team in a combined entrepreneur-in-residence and ecosystem development role, the accelerator announced last week. McDougal is a four-time company founder and co-founder, an author and is currently the midwest regional representative for the 1 Million Cups entrepreneurship network. The second class of…
It’s been a while since people have met for coffee. Entrepreneurship is already often described as a lonely journey for individuals and co-founders. Throw in an ongoing pandemic, and it’s not hard to imagine how isolated community members can feel in a year without in-person events. In the mix of…
Tikly, a Des Moines-based platform for event ticket sales, is closing one year after the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the company announced on social media Friday morning. The company aimed to lower ticket fees for live events by giving artists and venues direct control over tickets sold, and served clients in…
The Iowa Go-to-Market (G2M) Accelerator announced the inaugural 2021 G2M cohort of five participating Iowa biotechnology startups. Cohort members are CartilaGen of Iowa City, Classroom Clinic of Carroll, FBB Biomed of Coralville, Mazen Animal Health of Ames and Sushi3D, also of Ames. The accelerator is supported by BioConnect Iowa, VentureNet…
As part of a refresh of the Business Record’s Innovation Iowa brand, we have created a new landing page on the Business Record website to house all Innovation Iowa coverage and more stories from the Business Record covering innovation and technology.
Visit www.businessrecord.com/innovation-iowa to view all Innovation Iowa stories, including the 2026 Innovation Iowa Magazine, out now.
-Sarah Diehn, Business Record Editor