Investment & Funding

  • Nebraska startup announces $5 million pre-seed funding round

    Nebraska startup announces $5 million pre-seed funding round

    Bluestem Biosciences, a renewable chemicals company maximizing agriculture and energy infrastructure through synthetic biology, announced today a pre-seed financing round of $5 million. Zero Infinity Partners led the round, including participation from Matt Vining, CEO of Navigator CO2 Ventures; Invest Nebraska; angel investor Robert Sali and Bluestem Co-Founder & CEO Billy Hagstrom.  Founded in January…

  • Agtech startup announces seed funding from Invest Nebraska and others to speed up development of fertilization-irrigation tech

    Agtech startup announces seed funding from Invest Nebraska and others to speed up development of fertilization-irrigation tech

    Sentinel Fertigation, a technology company that has developed a platform to quantify nitrogen status in crops to anticipate fertigation needs, recently announced the close to an initial, $1.2 million seed fund round. The fundraising round includes investors from Invest Nebraska, Burlington Capital Ag-Venture, Nebraska Angels, Proven Ventures and several angel investors across the nation. Fertigation…

  • Beeso Studio portfolio company, Abstrakt, wins startup showdown

    Beeso Studio portfolio company, Abstrakt, wins startup showdown

    Beeso Studio, an Omaha-based startup studio, announced last week that one of its portfolio companies recently won a $120,000 investment from Panoramic Ventures through Startup Showdown in Atlanta.  Abstrakt Corp won the competition for entrepreneurs designed to showcase and fund early-stage technology companies. Thousands of companies had applied to the pitch competition with only twenty-five…

  • Arch Grants increasing award amount for annual startup grants competition, will fund relocation costs

    Arch Grants increasing award amount for annual startup grants competition, will fund relocation costs

    Arch Grants has announced it will increase the awards for its annual startup grants competition beginning this year. The program awards annual non-dilutive grants to startups and early-stage businesses who base their operations out of St. Louis for at least one year. Winners receive $75,000, with an additional $25,000 available for eligible applicants to cover…

  • LaunchLNK recruiting for 2022 startup cohort; applications due Dec. 31

    LaunchLNK recruiting for 2022 startup cohort; applications due Dec. 31

    LaunchLNK, a program that helps high-growth startups get established and grow in Lincoln, Neb., is currently recruiting its 2022 cohort of tech startups. Applications are due by December 31 to be considered for one of five startups to receive a $25,000 grant. The grant is funded by the Lincoln Partnership for Economic Development (LPED), a…

  • Invest Nebraska chosen as finalist in EDA’s Build Back Better Regional Challenge

    Invest Nebraska chosen as finalist in EDA’s Build Back Better Regional Challenge

    Invest Nebraska, in partnership with several community partners that collectively make up the Heartland Robotics Cluster Coalition, was named by the Economic Development Administration (EDA) as a finalist in the $1 billion Build Back Better Regional Challenge, beating out nearly 500 applicants from 50 states and five U.S. territories. The Heartland Robotics Cluster Coalition will…

  • Arch Grants Awards $400,000 to four portfolio companies in fall growth grants cycle

    Arch Grants Awards $400,000 to four portfolio companies in fall growth grants cycle

    St. Louis-based nonprofit Arch Grants has officially awarded $400,000 in non-dilutive grants to four of its portfolio companies through its Growth Grants program, according to a press release issued yesterday. The list of companies includes Big Heart Tea Co., Native Pet, Rebundle and Swipesum. Earlier this spring, Arch Grants awarded $200,000 to two additional portfolio…

  • MedTech startups Notable and CicloMed collaborate on new technology to predict patient responsiveness to anti-cancer drug

    MedTech startups Notable and CicloMed collaborate on new technology to predict patient responsiveness to anti-cancer drug

    Notable Labs, Inc. (Notable), a clinical-stage predictive precision therapeutics company, and CicloMed LLC (CicloMed), a developmental-stage pharmaceutical company, today announced the beginning of a Phase 1B/2A clinical trial of potential cancer treatment fosciclopirox in patients with a deadly disease known as refractory acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). A Phase 1B/2A clinical trial is a crucial step…

  • Arch Grants, in partnership with local charitable fund, provides $50,000 each to five high-growth startups in Greater St. Louis

    Arch Grants, in partnership with local charitable fund, provides $50,000 each to five high-growth startups in Greater St. Louis

    St. Louis-based NISA Investment Advisors’ Charitable Fund has partnered with nonprofit Arch Grants to increase the amount of funding available from Arch Grants’s annual startup competition via the newly formed #STLOnward Awards. NISA contributed $270,000 to the effort, allowing Arch Grants to fund five high-growth startups for $50,000 each. This comes in addition to the…

  • Startup Sioux Falls now one of 51 grantees of federal program giving a boost to underserved entrepreneurs

    Startup Sioux Falls now one of 51 grantees of federal program giving a boost to underserved entrepreneurs

    Entrepreneurs in South Dakota just scored a huge win from the federal government.  Startup Sioux Falls, a hub that offers guidance and resources to South Dakota’s budding small business orders, was one of 51 grantees to qualify for the Small Business Administration’s Community Navigator Pilot Program.  Brienne Maner, Executive Director of Startup Sioux Falls, said…