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Funding Roundup for the Week of November 18th & 25th
This week we are writing a funding roundup that really covers one and ½ weeks to cover Thanksgiving week plus the week previous. During this time period, Chicago received a disproportionate amount of the funding dollars in the region. However, Omaha and Oklahoma City both had companies close out fund raising campaigns. Also, the region…
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Research: Talent Attraction Case Study (Nebraska)
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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Funding Roundup: Week of September 23rd
In the interest of keeping tabs on fundings on the Silicon Prairie, this week we are providing a simple funding round-up. For this round-up, we used Form Ds, Pitchbook, and Crunchbase to provide us with a list of companies that received early stage funding, venture capital funding, or grants. We have provided information regarding the…
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Research: State Funding Report for the Silicon Prairie
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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Acorn Growth expands portfolio with acquisition of Black Sage Technologies
An Oklahoma based private equity firm, Acorn Growth, acquired Black Sage Technologies, based in Boise, Idaho. The acquisition out of the company’s third fund represents a continuance of the strategy to invest in aerospace, defense, and intelligence companies. While the terms of the deal were not disclosed, Acorn Growth did file paperwork with the SEC…
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First fundings research report
In talking to Jessica Straus, Dundee Venture Capital’s new Venture Partner, it occurred to me that we should write an update on first fundings in what Straus called the “mighty middle”. This paper describes first fundings. First fundings are a recordation of companies that raise capital for the first time. This paper uses Pitchbook data…
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Cattle in the Cloud? AgBoost® is revolutionizing livestock management
Cattle producers now have access to a web-based tool that enables them to manage their herds and make management decisions supported by beef genomics. AgBoost® has secured $120,000 in early stage funding to accelerate growth.
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Your guide to the Heartland’s 1 Million Cups events
1 Million Cups was developed in Kansas City, MO in 2012 by Co-Founders Cameron Cushman and Nate Olson who were working at the time on the Entrepreneurship Team at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. What began as an experiment to bring entrepreneurs in one city together over a cup of coffee towards a goal of…
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Medical device start-up Simergent completes seed round
Launched through the Chicago-based health-tech incubator Matter, medical device start-up, Simergent, LLC, recently closed a $2.835M round of seed funding on April 18. Led by Oklahoma-based i2E, Inc. with an investment of $1.475 million, the round also included contributions from the Oklahoma Seed Capital Fund for $750,000, the Oklahoma Angel Fund for $500,000 and the…