Predictive Health Partners, with founder Jim Lewis, is the only local startup represented in the Global Insurance Accelerator’s 10-member cohort for 2019. It’s also one of only three Iowa startups that have participated among 36 since the GIA’s first cohort in 2015.  Based now in West Des Moines, Lewis, a serial entrepreneur, thinks of Predictive Health […]

Monetery 2019, Dwolla’s second regional summit dedicated to creating value in the Midwest, is dedicating Day 2 of the summit (scheduled May 21-22 at the Temple for Performing Arts)  to One-on-One meetings between selected startups and representatives from at least five national venture capital firms traveling to Des Moines for the conference, events manager Ryan […]

If the Kauffman Foundation’s 1 Million Cups initiative is “church for entrepreneurs,” Des Moines entrepreneur Ben McDougal is preaching the gospel – and his congregation is getting bigger. After leading the Des Moines chapter for five years – the second 1MC chapter in the country after Kansas City – McDougal is stepping back locally in […]

SwineTech: $1.5 million in the company’s second round, completed in June. Participating: AgVentures Alliance, Quake Capital and InnovaMemphis. The June round added eight additional full-time jobs to SwineTech, co-founder/CEO Matthew Rooda confirmed, adding that “a majority” of funding came from Iowa and Minnesota. SwineTech is planning an expansion through North America and into Canada, Rooda […]

Registration is open for the public interested in hearing from 16 insurance startups at this year’s InsureTech Week, hosted by the Global Insurance Accelerator. From 2:30-5:30 p.m., international insuretech startups will do a Q&A-style interview presentation with representatives from the GIA at the Science Center of Iowa; breaks are scheduled to encourage networking. The public […]

Artist’s rendering of the Maple Ventures renovation design, expected to open on Oct. 1. Illustration provided by Ramco Innovations. At Ramco Innovations on Maple Street, the warehouse was not an immediate contender to house up-and-coming startups. In fact, renting space and offering administrative assistance from the 50-year-old Ramco business wasn’t even a formal strategy when the company […]

“Diverse” would be one way to describe the field of 15 startups leaving their final impressions on the 2018 CYstarters cohort during Wednesday’s last pitch. “Distinctive” fits all 19 founders. From a wireless boombox design to the making of a wedding reception tablescape, Iowa State University graduates and students showed off their progress from the […]