Jack Sellwood, Grapple founder and CEO, announced that the startup has raised $1 million in a pre-seed round. Grapple helps make data analytics more accessible and streamlined for businesses through an AI-powered, digital platform. The company will use the funds to expand its reach and grow its team while remaining based in Omaha.

Sellwood said he credits Omaha and its startup ecosystem for helping him discover a sense of community. It’s also where he has found support from local investors. 

“Startups are the reason I know about Omaha and why I live here,” Sellwood said. “And then to now build a company is sort of full circle — which is fun.”

Sellwood said Invest Nebraska and Nelnet led the round. Other investors include MOVE Venture Capital and Nebraska Angels. He also noted that Grapple was recently accepted into the California-based LAUNCH Accelerator and said his participation in that program has also added funds. 

“At the pre-seed stage, timing and storytelling matter just as much as the idea itself,” MOVE VC Managing Partner Charlie Cuddy said in an email to SPN. 

“Jack was able to clearly articulate the vision and why his team is the one to deliver the solution while also showing real progress: product improvements, growing traction and external validation like LAUNCH all coming together at the same time.” 

Sellwood, who came to Omaha from Minnesota to work for the prominent startup Flywheel, said his time at Flywheel let him explore the world of data analytics. Later, while working for other startups and still finding himself dabbling with data, Sellwood said he became interested in building a product to solve shortcomings he was seeing. 

Grapple launched in 2025 and offers a “do-it-yourself” software solution that can pull together information from a variety of sources. These include databases, spreadsheets and commonly used apps, such as Salesforce and Quickbooks. 

The product enables nontechnical users — such as sales, marketing and finance teams — to find and present what they need without the expertise of a data engineer. The goal is to save businesses time, energy and money that would otherwise go into compiling reports.

“There’s a graveyard of a lot of dead companies who have tried to solve this problem,” Sellwood said. “I’m very well aware of the challenges building a product in this space and how competitive it is.”

Sellwood said he has taken time to complete user research, earn product validation and think through a working solution and its pricing. He pointed to resources and advisers in the Nebraska startup ecosystem that he has turned to for assistance, including 1 Million Cups Omaha and the Nebraska Startup Academy. 

In Nebraska, Grapple has gained attention as a finalist in the 2025 Silicon Prairie Startup Week Pitch Competition and as a member of the first Techstars Founder Catalyst Program for Greater Omaha. Sellwood said he also has brought on early customers who are fellow Nebraska startups, including Guardify and Workshop.

“Personally, I’ve known Jack for a while. We worked together at Flywheel,” Guardify CEO Ben Jackson said in an email to SPN. “However, the kicker for us was when we saw his 1MC presentation, as we were in the middle of a struggle with our previous platform that did the same thing. His demo pretty much sealed the deal.”

Outside the state, the LAUNCH Accelerator provides early-stage founders 14 weeks of programming centered on fundraising, pitching and putting startups in front of investors. Sellwood said he plans to raise follow-on pre-seed funds through his participation.

Sellwood said he didn’t get a formal introduction to the LAUNCH Accelerator; its organizers reached out to him directly. Cuddy, who used to work for members of the LAUNCH Accelerator team, said he sends the team the names of founders who demonstrate the qualities he believes they’re looking for. 

“We help our founders get on the radar when we can, but it is up to them to deliver,” Cuddy said. “And Jack consistently does.”

Looking ahead, Sellwood said he plans to make some hires, dive into marketing efforts and fulfil a go-to-market strategy to quickly generate awareness and revenue.