Startups

  • Global Insurance Accelerator announces 2016 class

    Global Insurance Accelerator announces 2016 class

    The Global Insurance Accelerator out of Des Moines has announced five teams for its second class, which include regional, national and international startups in the insurance industry. The teams include: Smart Drivinc (St. Louis, Missouri): Distracted driving and crash prevention app Fluttrbox (Montreal, Canada): Property assessments via aerial drone images WeSavvy (Dublin, Ireland): Health insurance app that pays…

  • Striv shows students how to live stream high school events

    Striv shows students how to live stream high school events

    The Henderson, Neb., company has expanded to 66 schools in three years. Taylor Siebert, CEO of Striv, is what some people call a “boomerang” — someone who grew up in Nebraska, left the state and then came back. “I got my degree from Doane and wanted to get out of Nebraska,” Siebert said. “I made…

  • Pipeline announces 10th Anniversary class

    Pipeline announces 10th Anniversary class

    Celebrating its 10th anniversary, the Pipeline Entrepreneurs announced the 2016 class of Fellows at the annual Innovator of the Year event in Kansas City on January 21st. The sold out event brought together over 600 people from across the entrepreneurial spectrum. Each year for the last decade the exclusive group has invited 10-13 new members from…

  • This simple device from KinoSol could feed millions

    This simple device from KinoSol could feed millions

    Based in Ames, Iowa, the KinoSol team is prototyping a revolution in food production that could save tons of wasted food each year. The co-founders of KinoSol are wrapping up field tests on the latest prototype of their lightweight, solar-powered dehydrator designed to increase the shelf life of produce and reducing post-harvest losses worldwide. Powered by the…

  • Upklose wants to bring transparency to the art market

    Upklose wants to bring transparency to the art market

    Upklose combines all of the qualities of a real-life curator into a high-quality app. With Upklose, users can browse original artwork, contact featured artists and virtually place art on their walls to see how it will look before purchasing. “We wanted users to have a way to search criteria (price, medium, size, genre, etc.) and to be…

  • Meta opens sales office in Austin

    Meta opens sales office in Austin

    Iowa City based Meta has announced the opening of their new sales office in Austin, Texas. The office will be led by Meta’s CSO Chris Turnley, and they hope to hire a team of 10 by the end of the year. “The revenue we expect to generate from this new sales office will pave the way to…

  • QA with Alicia Herald, 2014 Innovator of the Year

    QA with Alicia Herald, 2014 Innovator of the Year

    As this year’s Innovator of the Year competition approaches, we thought we would check in with last year’s winner of the Pipeline prize. Alicia Herald is founder and CEO of myEDmatch, a site that matches teachers and schools to increase retention. SPN caught up with Herald over the phone. SPN: Since you won IOTY last year, what’s happened…

  • Crumb hopes to revolutionize the healthcare industry with its data-sharing platform

    Crumb hopes to revolutionize the healthcare industry with its data-sharing platform

    Crumb wants to solve a really tough problem: untangling the mess of patient data in order to save lives. “Hospital errors are the second leading cause of death in the U.S.” said Luis Lopez, Co-founder of Crumb, based out of The Exchange in Omaha. “It’s not because we have bad doctors or nurses. It’s because…

  • E-commerce company Spreetail wants “to make a dent in the universe”

    E-commerce company Spreetail wants “to make a dent in the universe”

    With $138 million in revenue last year and a new brand identity, Lincoln-based Spreetail is on a hiring spree. Established in 2006 as VM Innovations and officially announcing their name change in late 2015, the hugely successful online retailer Spreetail says the rebranding was about recruitment and awareness. “Archrival did all of our branding and…

  • MindMixer co-founder launches Tiperosity in Omaha

    MindMixer co-founder launches Tiperosity in Omaha

    Co-founder of Mysidewalk (formerly MindMixer) Nathan Preheim has launched a new tip-sharing web application called Tiperosity. The project is a return to an idea he started with before MindMixer called Daytipper. “I put the concept on hold to start MindMixer,” said Preheim. “Tiperosity is the initial concept, rejuvenated. As a company, we’re just getting started. We…