Cedar Rapids and Iowa City
Originally posted on the AIM Institute blog No one knows how the coronavirus pandemic will evolve, how long the economy will stay underwater, or even what recovery looks like. But the radical workplace upheaval and sudden ad hoc shift to remote technology over the past month suggest two truths: We need more tech talent. We…
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The Silicon Prairie had a dry week when it comes to outside fundings. So, the winning cities really appear to be Fayetteville, Arkansas and Iowa City, Iowa. While neither city had huge deals, they both participated in the creation of ground breaking technologies that have received multiple mechanisms of support from the universities, local economic…
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Last summer, the Aksarben Foundation approached Chapman and Company about creating a landscape analysis on talent for Nebraska. While this analysis is about Nebraska, there are many lessons for communities throughout the Silicon Prairie region. Here are some broad stroke lessons from the report: The United States is WAY behind on technology talent. This is…
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2018 was a terrific year for the Silicon Prairie regarding venture dollars deployed. More than $6.1B was deployed in the region. While the number of companies receiving funds was about 8% lower (approximately 1450 companies were venture backed in the region), the amount of funding was up more than 34.5% from 2017 to 2018. Thus,…
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Last week, Iowa City based iotaMotion CEO and co-founder, Chris Kaufmann, MD, announced that the company had completed its usability testing and raised $2.52 million in funding to help the company continue building products and managing the regulatory hurdles associated with commercialization. “We’re pleased to have completed this second round of friends-and-family financing with participation…
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The Iowa Economic Development Authority (“IEDA”) announced that five companies had received demonstration funds from IEDA last week The five companies funded by the IEDA are: Home Painter received a proof of concept loan of $25,000, Lender Close received a Propel Loan of $250,000 from the Iowa Acceleration Fund, MakuSafe received a…
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Tominsky, David (@tominsky). “These are my people, my tribe. On an adventure together at #entrefest #EntreFEST2019.” 10:25 AM – May 16, 2019. Tweet Tominsky, David (@tominsky). “Love that @geoffwood does this crash course on the Iowa Startup Scene and excited to have it as one of the first sessions at #EntreFEST2019.” 9:09 AM – May…
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Handrail filed paperwork in early April with the SEC identifying $800k worth of commitments to a larger raise. Handrail is a company that focuses on user experience research. The website boasts that the company provides an end-to-end collaborative research and insights platform. Specific examples of how teams use Handrail include the ability to collaboratively plan,…
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The first step in getting on Shark Tank, the reality TV startup pitch competition, is a casting call. On April 6, 150 teams got their chance to pitch to one of five casting producers in Lincoln. The event was organized by the Engler Entrepreneurship Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. “This is the time of…
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It’s no secret: The Silicon Prairie has a workforce problem. It isn’t just us, either. Employers across America can’t find enough qualified workers. With a historically low unemployment rate, qualified, talented workers aren’t just sitting in front of a screen browsing ZipRectuiter and CareerBuilder. This talent shortage hasn’t gone unnoticed by workforce developers. That said,…
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