Chris Hegarty

Girls With Ideas puts young women on the path to leadership

A girl’s confidence peaks at the age of nine, but girls who are encouraged to be leaders are more likely to fill that role when they grow up. Girls With Ideas founder Dr. Allison Poss was working as a psychologist at an Iowa middle school when she noticed a culture of social media threats and…

November 21, 2016
Qneo offers Groupon-like deals for smaller cities

Groupon has had its ups and downs in recent months, but the deal-making site remains one of the most popular app in the US. But if you’re looking for local savings outside of a state’s top markets, the offerings start to get a little sparse. The Sioux City startup Qneo is looking to put more…

November 9, 2016
6 companies graduate Iowa Startup Accelerator at Launch Day [Updated]

The Iowa Startup Accelerator wrapped up its 2016 cohort Thursday night at the Paramount Theater in Cedar Rapids. A crowd of around 700, including Iowa Governor Terry Branstad and Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds, turned up for presentations by six startups. “One way we’ve kept the unemployment rate in Iowa low is to build up the…

November 4, 2016
Written Apparel looks to rewrite the pencil skirt

When you think about fashion cities, places like New York, Paris and Milan probably spring to mind. Cedar Rapids? Not so much. But a fashion startup, Written Apparel is looking to unfold into a worldwide brand with the help of the Iowa Startup Accelerator. How Written works “Fashion has always been very important to me,”…

November 2, 2016
Michigan startup FarmLogs expands to Des Moines

For five years the Michigan company FarmLogs has been helping farms with technology that helps map out fields and soil composition, track rainfall and more. FarmLogs got its start in Ann Arbor, but the company recently announced it was expanding into Iowa, opening an office in Des Moines. How FarmLogs works Co-founder and CEO Jesse Vollmar…

October 27, 2016
FliteBrite brings big data to the craft beer industry [Updated]

It’s a good time to be a beer fan. In 2015 there were 4,144 breweries in the United States, more than before Prohibition. Ordering flights of beer are increasingly popular as bars specializing in craft beers are constantly adding taps to showcase as many beers as possible. Instead of one pint, beer drinkers can order smaller…

October 19, 2016
KinoSol plans to launch Kickstarter to bring its revolutionary dehydrator to Western markets

Ames startup KinoSol is planning to launch a Kickstarter later this month to fund production of solar-powered dehydrators aimed at Western markets. KinoSol was founded in 2014 by Clayton Mooney, Elise Kendall, Mikayla Sullivan and Ella Gehrke when the quartet was attending Iowa State University. They came up with KinoSol while participating in the Thought…

October 12, 2016
Ace Blooms wants to grow the flower market for men

If you’ve ever bought flowers online, you’ve flipped through dozens of bouquets trying to decide which one says “You’re a pretty awesome grandma.” But what many buyers don’t realize is that when you send flowers, the order is being fulfilled by a florist near grandma’s house. If that’s in small town Nebraska, they might not have…

October 5, 2016
AMP’d Cycles wants to give bicycles the same safety features as cars

Bicycles are subject to many of the same rules of the road as cars but without the same protections. You can upgrade a bike with lights and mirrors, but many cars come equipped with things like backup cameras and collision avoidance systems. In 2013 there were an estimated 494,000 emergency department visits due to bicycle-related…

September 29, 2016
New ag tech accelerator in Des Moines plays to Iowa’s strengths

Iowa’s economy has two great strengths: insurance and agriculture. In 2014 the Greater Des Moines Partnership, an economic and community development organization, announced the Global Insurance Accelerator, aimed at growing insurance-based tech startups. It only makes sense that the partnership would seek to do the same for agriculture, which it will do with a newly announced…

September 22, 2016