Karen and Jim Linder of Linseed Capital took home the Golden Analog at our second-annual Awards.

It won’t be long until we’re all looking elegant and dapper August 21 at Midland Theatre in Kansas City, celebrating another year of growth and success across the region at the Silicon Prairie Awards.

We’ve seen unique storylines unfold in our three core regions—an influx of code schools in Nebraska, Iowa’s foundational growth of accelerators and spaces for collaboration, and Kansas City’s attraction as a hub for testing out new technologies.

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Everyone plays a part, which brings us here. Before we can celebrate, we need all of you to help us determine which individuals and companies we’ll be crowning. It’s a two-week voting period that ends at 11:59 p.m. on August 11. That means you have loads of time to spread the word.
Cast your vote for the Silicon Prairie Awards!

Join us for the Silicon Prairie Awards: We have an exciting evening of community celebration planned for Aug. 21 at the Midland Theatre in Kansas City. Tickets are still available for the event, which includes an opening reception, keynote talk by N3TWORK co-founder Erik Lammerding, awards ceremony and closing party. Purchase your tickets today.

Meet the five Investor of the Year finalists

They don’t just provide funding. They brag about their companies and connect them to the people who will make things happen.

	Built by Iowa Built by Iowa is an Iowa-based early stage fund created to help entrepreneurs bridge the funding gap between angel and Series A investment. (Iowa City) Led by Roby Miller, Ravi Patel and Adam Ingersoll. Invested in area startups like Tutor Universe, ClusterFlunk, Higher Learning Technologies, TelePharm and the Iowa Startup Accelerator Read more: SPN
	Dundee Venture Capital Dundee Venture Capital invests between $50,000 – $500,000 in growth companies with an ecommerce and web services focus. (Omaha) Invested in Leap.It, Bulu Box, Briefcase and more Other portfolio companies: Cosmic Cart pitched on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt, MindMixer moved from Omaha to Kansas City Helped start Interface Web School Read more: SPN
	Linseed Capital Linseed Capital invests in companies that have a viable product or service, market growth prospects, competitive advantage, a strong management team and a fully-developed business plan. (Omaha) Funded Flywheel, Tethon 3D ceramic printing, RaceNote, Travefy and more. Jim Linder appointed the University of Nebraska’s interim president Nomination: “Makes you feel good about taking their investment. Their term sheets are founder friendly.” Read more: SPN
	Nebraska Angels The Nebraska Angels are a network of 60 active, local angel investors. Over the past two years, the Angels have deployed $4M in capital, investing in early-stage, high growth opportunities. (Nebraska) Invested in Powderhook, Travefy and more. Nomination: “Making great strides in connecting Nebraska’s angel community, raising awareness of start-up investing, providing a conduit to access investors (including connections to other angel groups) for local entrepreneurs.” Read more: SPN
	OpenAir Equity Partners Open Air Equity Partners invests in the wireless and mobile landscape. (Kansas City) Last July was the sole regional investor out of four—including Peter Thiel’s Mithril—that invested a total of $18M in C2FO, which helps companies improve their working capital via cash flow optimization technology systems. Part of another raise for former KC startup AgLocal Read more: SPN