-
blabfeed announces acquisition by Osni Ponca
blabfeed, a digital signage startup led by Keith Fix-Knudsen, was acquired today by the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska. Fix-Knudsen said that the acquisition of blabfeed opens the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska up to being commercially competitive, especially when it comes to obtaining the first successful federal government contract in the history of the tribe. “This…
-
Don’t Panic Labs pioneers “dev-for-equity” model to help startups
Lincoln based Don’t Panic Labs doesn’t believe that building software should be a matter of uncertainty. “There’s a lot of conventional wisdom right now that says if you’re going to build software and you have all these uncertainties and changes coming for it, basically you can’t architect for it,” said Brian Zimmer, Business Director at…
-
Firespring’s PaymentSpring acquired by Nelnet
PaymentSpring, a payment processing gateway developed by Lincoln’s Firespring, was recently acquired by another familiar name in the community, Nelnet. The first step in closing the deal was a cold call. “It started with a sales call,” said Mike Phelan, President of PaymentSpring. “We saw an opportunity from the Nelnet Transaction Solutions (pre-name change) perspective…
-
Our 10 favorite investment stories of 2016
Silicon Prairie News covers the tech startup scene across Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri. Here are our most popular investment stories this year: 1. Flywheel raises $4 million in Series A, led by Five Elms (Omaha) In April Dusty Davidson’s Flywheel announced the close of a $4 million fundraising round led by Kansas-City based Five Elms Capital.…
-
Flywheel acquires Pressmatic
Omaha startup Flywheel has announced the acquisition of Pressmatic, an OS X application for publishing WordPress sites. Pressmatic was released earlier this year and quickly gained prominence in the WordPress design market, according to Dusty Davidson, CEO and co-founder of Flywheel. “In a short amount of time it became one of the leading products in that space,” said…
-
Prairie Crest: The Midwest lacks large venture capital firms
The statistics are all too familiar to those involved in the Midwestern venture ecosystem. The Midwest is home to over 20% of the nations’ top research universities, research and development expenditures, defined benefit pension fund assets, and GDP. Its undergraduate programs graduate 20% of the founders backed by venture capital investments that attract almost 20%…
-
Kauffman announces $960,000 in scholarships to solve Midwest capital gap
Most of the scholarships will be awarded to VC fund managers in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri. This week the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and Kauffman Fellows announced $960,000 in scholarships for emerging venture capitalists in the middle of the country. The goal, according to a press release, will be “to enhance capital-formation expertise across the…
-
ShotTracker raises $5 million in seed round with Magic Johnson, David Stern
Basketball wearables startup ShotTracker has raised $5 million in its seed round, according to a press release. The fundraising round includes investments by Earvin “Magic” Johnson and former NBA Commissioner David Stern. The two basketball legends will also serve in an advisory role for the company. “ShotTracker TEAM will revolutionize the game not only because…
-
Why Mark Hasebroock is optimistic about the Silicon Prairie
Mark Hasebroock is the founder of Omaha-based Dundee Venture Capital, which announced today their new $20 million Fund III, focusing on e-commerce, B2B SaaS and consumer-network startups. They also announced a strategic partnership with Lakewest Venture Partners in Chicago. SPN caught up with Hasebroock over the phone. SPN: The big news last week was EyeVerify’s acqusition by Ant Financial.…
-
QA with Nebraska Angels’ Laura Classen on EyeVerify’s recent acquisition
Kansas City based EyeVerify announced last week their acquisition by Alibaba subsidiary Ant Financial. Anonymous sources say the deal was over $100 million. Nebraska Angels was one of the first investments in the company. Laura Classen is the Executive Director for Nebraska Angels. SPN caught up with Classen over the phone. SPN: It may surprise some people…