Vault 100 boards are on display in the Cedar Rapids coworking space to help track the project’s progress.

Earlier this summer, Cedar Rapids-based Vault Coworking and Collaboration Space launched the Vault 100 project. The mission is simple: Over the next year, Vault hopes to connect 100 entrepreneurs, produce 100 events and gain 100 members—while working toward launching 100 startups over the next few years.

“We decided to launch the Vault 100 to help everyone track the growth of our entrepreneurial community and see their contribution to it,” SeedHere co-founder Amanda Styron told Silicon Prairie News. “We knew the Vault community was making strides, but before this initiative, it was hard to keep up with, articulate the activity and see where everyone and anyone can jump in. This project makes growing the community much more transparent and exciting all the way around.”

According to Vault’s website—where you can follow the progress—the project aims to “ensure that Cedar Rapids will always be a place where ideas grow and entrepreneurs thrive.”

So far, five startups of the project’s 100-company goal have launched, including Bandwidth Pool and NextStep.io—formerly RecBob. Styron says there is no set end date for the project, but that “most of the 100 goals are for one year, with the exception of new upstarts,” which will likely take a number of years. 

The project also has focused largely on producing events and creating community, most notably through the first UP Global entrepreneurial summit, which will be hosted by the Creative Corridor this October. In late May organizers announced the Vault Startup School, geared toward helping supply individuals with the correct tools to effectively start a company.

To follow the project’s progress more closely, check out Vault’s website.  

Credits: Photo by Frank Merchlewitz.