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Companies pitch at Dream Big Grow Here in Sheldon, Iowa
Five finalist companies in northwest Iowa competed for a chance to win cash prizes to help grow their businesses. The fifth annual Dream Big Grow Here event, held at Sheldon, Iowa’s Crossroads Pavilion Event Center, took place on November 15. The committee selected five finalists to compete for first, second and third place prizes totaling…
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Sioux City is rebooting a bright tech future
Sioux City has a history as a tech leader, and history is about to repeat itself. For those that don’t know, Sioux City was once a hub of cutting-edge technology employing thousands of tech workers. In the late 1980s, Ted Waitt launched Gateway 2000 from his father’s Sioux City cattle farm. The Fortune 500 eventually…
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Sioux City Launch Week begins today
Sioux City Launch Week kicks off today with a wide range of events aimed toward engaging northwest Iowa’s entrepreneurial community and building a strong entrepreneurial ecosystem. Launch week is organized by Iowa’s West Coast Initiative, led by the economic development organizations in Plymouth, Monona and Woodbury counties, which are working together to increase entrepreneurial activity…
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Opendorse to hire 10 in 2019
In 2011, Nebraska football players Adi Kunalic and Blake Lawrence were talking with their teammate – Prince Amukamara. Prince had just been drafted in the first round of the NFL draft, but he had a problem. He needed help pushing quality content to his rapidly growing social media audience and wanted to capitalize on his…
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Follow-up report: State Expected Venture Values in the Midwest
Following the publication of our article on Tuesday regarding expected values in cities, Silicon Prairie News received multiple requests for more information. There were three primary questions regarding the data. The first question is where and how did you get this information. Silicon Prairie News and its partner organizations use Pitchbook and FormDs.com to identify…
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DeliveRecon knowledge share app helps keep fleets informed and efficient
Truck drivers sometimes encounter unexpected challenges that hinder their efficiency or put them behind schedule. For example, a security code at an entry gate for a delivery may have been changed without notice. Plattsmouth, Nebraska startup DeliveRecon has created an app and driver knowledge base that allows drivers to communicate issues like this to each…
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Silicon Prairie students make investment decisions
Dr. Dale Eesley is seeing his vision of a student-led investment fund become a reality as students learn the ropes of venture capital investing. Dr. Eesley, Director of the Center for Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Franchising at the University of Nebraska – Omaha (UNO), had heard about student-led venture firms for years. Dr. Eesley had not really…
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Todd Smith of Smith Ventures seeks to change the region’s K12 educational paradigm
Big Omaha was fortunate to have Todd Smith, owner of Smith Ventures, speak about economic competitiveness and the critical need to better prepare our next generation of industry leaders, starting early in their education. SPN sat down with Smith to learn more about how Smith Ventures is seeking to change the educational landscape to “prepare W2 and…
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Fintech Company AlphaBTC expands bitcoin kiosk network in Midwest
AlphaBTC has been providing client services for five years and has experienced some exciting growth in the past year. The company, founded in 2013, has been working with Maya to bring five of Maya’s 50 self-service payment kiosks to Omaha. Maya is a social initiative technology company that provides financial services infrastructure for underserved communities…
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Fargo, ND businesses see over $21M in investments so far in 2018
Fargo, North Dakota might not be the first city that comes to mind when discussing hubs for investments and venture capital. But the modestly sized town of 120,000 has put up some impressive numbers this year with several multi-million dollar deals. Botlink On April 26, 2018, Botlink received $3.36 million in individual funding – marking…
A week-long celebration of the startup and entrepreneurial community in Nebraska with events in Omaha, Lincoln, Ashland and Council Bluffs Learn more »