It’s been six months since Omaha editor Jordan Pascale has been on the job, and he reported on a lot in his first few months. We were taken back by all the movement, which got us to thinking, “What have been the key storylines for each region?” Each has had a unique story, and over the next three days we’ll run through some of those storylines—Nebraska yesterday, Iowa today and Kansas City on Friday. Tweet at us with #NEstorylines, #IAstorylines and #KCstorylines so we can continue and add to the conversation.

For Nebraska’s entrepreneurial community, the last six months meant lots moving and growing talent pipelines. In Iowa, that time has been spent building something new. Whether that’s a new startup accelerator (or two), a new gathering place for the community or a handful of successful community-run conferences, there’s no question whether or not Iowans have been creating. Some of these projects may only be in the early stages, but the energy across the state already is palpable.

But with so many different communities across the state, sometimes it’s hard to see changes across the larger ecosystem taking place. So let’s recap.

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Finding a center of gravity

At least in central Iowa, one of the community’s largest discussions has centered around place, specifically what will happen when StartupCity Des Moines shuts its doors at the end of September. But, like many other times, the community rallied to support a new endeavor that will help shape the ecosystem’s future, not only in the coming months but in the coming years. 

• In January, StartupCity Des Moines announced funding through the end of September. 
• Geoff Wood proposed a solution for what would become central Iowa’s new “entrepreneurial center of gravity” after StartupCity. Then the new space got a name: Gravitate. 
• A northeast Iowa co-working space, Open Decorah, opened in late 2013.  
• Iowa City’s Radiology Protocols grew its team and expanded into a second office. 

Launch, launch again

Over the last six months, we’ve seen lots of Iowa companies relaunching, rebranding and working to hone their products. Others have celebrated birthdays and significant milestones, taking the time to reflect on the decisions and struggles that made their business what it is today and learning what it means to be one of the “older” startups in the state.

• In December, the Hatchlings team launched its first mobile app—Hatchlings Match. The same week, their second mobile app, Alphabrawl, hit the App Store. 
• Just in time for the spring semester, ClusterFlunk announced it surpassed 10,000 users at the University of Iowa and would be scaling to more than 50 other public universities.
• Bloomsnap, a startup created during a Startup Weekend in Ames, launched just in time for Valentine’s Day.
• In February, Bawte relaunched to focus on customer experience, and later announced an integration with Amazon. 
• In late February, a team of Sioux City, Iowa-based developers and Morningside College students launched Pushlee, an app that helps users get gas station rewards. In May, the company launched their product at more than 40 Kum & Go stations around the region. 
• ActiveGrade’s founders launched the beta of their latest venture, Pear Deck.
• Cramer Dev rebranded as FullStack, and a week later, officially announced it would be opening a Kansas City office. 
• Offspring launched, and then asked parents to prank their kids by telling them summer was canceled. Naturally, tears ensued. 
• Locusic launched a redesigned web player and created an Android app. 
• It’s been a busy six months for Dwolla. First, they were named to Fast Company’s 2014 list of “The World’s Most Innovative Companies.” Then the integrations began—there was Amazon and then GoDaddy. Most recently, the startup announced next-day transfers for speedier business payments. 
• As the startup approached its second birthday, Goodsmiths’ co-founder James Eliason reflected on the company’s growth and some of the hard decisions they’ve had to make. 
• In May, BitMethod turned five (and threw a great birthday party). In April, they hosted a second Change Challenge with local East Village client Tacopocalypse. 
• Iowa companies proved they care about giving back to their communities. 
• Social Money’s CorePro API is now being used by an app that TechCrunch says could “challenge Mint.com.” 
• Despite Nike’s transition away from wearables, NextStep.io founder John Schnipkoweit says the startup’s growth is going strong and that he doesn’t think the new tech is going away any time soon. 
• Higher Learning Technologies’ nursing study tool reached the No. 1 grossing educational app in both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. 

Events with community focus

Multiple Startup Weekends, a hackathon or two, and a number of successful entrepreneurial conferences. There have been a lot of events happening around Iowa in the last few months, with more to come throughout the summer and into the fall. Along with building new things, Iowa entrepreneurs are continuously finding new ways to connect and come together. 

• Spencer, Iowa, hosted the first ag-focused Startup Weekend early this year. 
• Major Trading Cards won the first Startup Weekend Cedar Rapids—they’re now called Turnstile Cards and one of the companies participating in Lincoln’s NMotion accelerator. 
• The University of Iowa helped host the state’s first 3 Day Startup event.
• CodeDay events swept the Midwest, including Des Moines, where students gathered at the Science Center of Iowa. 
• In March, Dice hosted the first community hackathon central Iowa has seen in quite awhile. 
• Des Moines prepared to host its first community hackathon to benefit local nonprofits and charities—it kicks off Thursday evening. 
• Iowa City’s Mission Creek Festival added a tech and innovation component. 
• EntreFEST took over Iowa City with hundreds of attendees, and dozens of local and national speakers. 
• Eastern Iowa companies took the cake during the ninth annual Prometheus Awards in early April. 
• Lots of Iowans headed south for SXSW this year—there was even an #IowaHour. 

Funding

Funding news, an acquisition and a new Iowa investment fund. Raising money in Iowa will still likely be a topic of conversation moving forward, though slowly but surely, companies are proving it can be done. 

• In February, Higher Learning Technologies closed a $1 million seed round.
• Cedar Falls, Iowa-based company Banno was acquired by Jack Henry & Associates. 
• Emploi.us—now JobSiteUnite—was awarded a $50,000 loan from the Iowa Economic Development Authority’s Iowa Innovation Acceleration Fund.
• The state’s newest investment fund—Nestmint—launched in early April. 

Misc. & Outside Forces

In the past six months we’ve shared the stories of selfless community members who took it upon themselves to start after-school programs, throw themselves into their work and help make the world a better place for others. The individuals and groups who go beyond the typical 9-to-5 are what continue to make Iowa’s community so special. 

• A Des Moines nonprofit was inspired to teach homeless members of the community to code. 
• Nancy Mwirotsi started Pi 515, a Des Moines program to expose refugee children to technology and coding, and dazzled the community with her passion and generosity.
• Des Moines game developer Josh Larson is helping build autobiographical adventure game That Dragon, Cancer, which follows Ryan Green and his family’s journey with their son Joel’s battle with cancer. Joel passed away March 12.
• Iowa City-based Sculpt created a better option when searching for startup-related stock photos. 
• Shift Interactive helped build a statewide trails app with Des Moines nonprofit Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation. Functionality rolls out for the rest of the app later this summer during RAGBRAI. 
• The Technology Association of Iowa’s president Leann Jacobsen announced she’ll step down at the end of August. Jacobsen is the only president the organization has seen in its almost nine-year history. 
• In April, Microsoft revealed it will build a second data center in West Des Moines. 
• Then Facebook announced plans for a second building on its data center campus in Altoona, Iowa. 

Did we miss anything? Let us know at editor (at) siliconprairienews (dot) com.

How would you sum up Iowa’s last six months? Tweets us your thoughts about what things stand out the most using #IAStorylines and we’ll include them here.

Credits: Photo by Jason Mrachina.