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Sioux City’s startup community has no illusions
The working class city on the Missouri River has a history with tech innovation—a history it hopes to transcend. At Base 3, Sioux City’s annual entrepreneurship event, a microbrewer passes out samples of hibiscus beer while live local musicians play in the background. Sioux City’s young, creative and ambitious mingle around the century-old, exposed red brick…
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Clickstop gears up for $6 million expansion
Urbana, Iowa-based Clickstop announced plans for their multimillion-dollar expansion last month. This will be their second expansion since 2011 and will largely focus on their manufacturing department. This expansion will add an estimated 100 jobs to their workforce by 2018, of which about half will be manufacturing-related. The estimated completion date for the project is August 2016.…
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Repair chain Gophermods expands into Des Moines and Omaha
Founder Casey Profita wired up his first Gophermods outlet while attending the University of Minnesota, and immersing his team in the college’s University Technology Enterprise Center (UTEC) program. Profita’s going-on-six-year-old consumer electronics repair company is now expanding from a regional perspective while the entrepreneur considers its potential as a national brand. “The economic downturn…
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QA with Ryan Martinez and Sean Richardson on Sioux City and Base 3
On Thursday, July 16th, Sioux City’s premier entrepreneurship night, Base 3, will be returning for its fourth event. The one-night event includes 3 speakers, live music and art, as well as beer sampling and food. We spoke by phone with the event’s organizers Sean Richardson and Ryan Martinez from Flyover Technology to find out…
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Brent Comstock’s take on StartupCity Spencer in Iowa
Community leaders of Spencer first reached out to me after my TEDx Lincoln debut in November 2014 with the intention of learning more about the rural innovation program I’ve been working on for about a year now. At first, our conversations were limited to brief email exchanges. It was great to see a group…
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1Comm Medical announces 2.5M fundraise, led by Next Level Ventures
1Comm Medical has announced the close of a 2.5 million fundraising round, led by Next Level Ventures. Founded in Ankeny, Iowa, in 2013, 1 Comm Medical offers an online portal for doctors and nurses to connect with patients testing blood in home. 1Comm had $1.2 million in sales last year and over 1,000 patients using the…
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What’s it like to pitch Shark Tank producers? Iowa entrepreneurs share
Last week ABC reality show “Shark Tank” hosted an open casting call in Des Moines and more than 100 entrepreneurs and inventors turned out for an opportunity to swim with the sharks. It’s still too soon to say if any of the companies that pitched last Monday will make it on to the show’s taping.…
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Pig breeder Carl Blake’s mission to acquaint Iowa technologists, farmers
If there’s anyone who truly personifies entrepreneurship in Iowa, it’s Carl Blake. A software engineer with no formal training turned innovative hog farmer, Blake is the cross-section of what Iowa’s economy has been traditionally known for and what it’s working to become …
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Following TMone exit, Anthony Marlowe gets behind Iowa startups
If you think Anthony Marlowe’s name looks familiar, you’re probably right. Over the last decade, there have been countless stories about Marlowe’s business-process outsourcing company TMone, which was acquired by Jacksonville, Fla.-based Enhanced Recovery Company earlier this year. He’s been named one of Inc.’s “25 Youngest CEOs from the Inc. 5,000 list” and he just…
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30-plus Iowa startups to follow on Twitter
In anticipation of our Silicon Prairie Awards next month, this week we’re highlighting the software, Internet and mobile startups that call our region home. We published a list of “50-plus Nebraska startups to follow on Twitter” yesterday, and today we bring you an installment for the Hawkeye State. (Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post on Kansas…