Startups

An Omaha-based company using a data-driven approach to combat human trafficking recently raised funding to expand its crucially needed work to support law enforcement, victims and survivors of the practice. HTI Labs, a social enterprise corporation combating human trafficking, domestic violence and sexual assault through data-driven research and tech, has grown far larger than CEO…
Read MoreHouston native Natalie Micale, CEO and co-founder of Lincoln-based marketing agency Oh Hello, attended the same performing arts high school as Beyoncé. We’re not sure whether that had anything to do with her drive to be successful, or her desire to inspire women to take the plunge and pursue their entrepreneurial dreams, but it probably…
Read MoreWe have yet to meet anyone who wishes this year would last longer. From COVID-19 to civil unrest to political and economic turmoil, 2020 brought us a number of challenges and tragedies beyond the scope of this article. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that December is almost over. So while it might seem premature…
Read MoreThis guest post written by Karen Borchert, COO of Flywheel, originally appeared in Medium. This March, I was planning to give a speech at SaaStr US, about how our company, Flywheel, built something big, right in the middle of Omaha, Nebraska. This week is my last week at Flywheel, and while the pandemic prevented me from…
Read MoreOn its own, a corn plant will pollinate itself: the golden tassels topping the slender green shoots that comprise nearly one-third of U.S. cropland naturally release pollen that fertilizes the silky portion of the plant below. This natural process is critical to the country’s number-one feed crop, but experts say fertilization must be facilitated to…
Read MoreLast night, members of Omaha’s tech and startup communities attended the first-ever virtual version of the AIM Tech Awards, a celebration of local innovators and changemakers in the technology sector. A prerecorded ceremony streamed on a virtual stage, accompanied by a live chat constantly scrolling with affirmations, congratulations and commentary from attendees. Traditionally held in…
Read MoreTwo Omaha entrepreneurs are celebrating the sale of their first start-up, Median, while looking ahead to the next endeavor. Derek Homann and Ben Stevinson recently announced that Dallas-based telecommunications company Loup had acquired the co-browsing startup in late October. The sale, for an undisclosed amount, comes more than three years after the duo left their…
Read MoreBefore Seattle-based Costco broke ground on its $280 million poultry operation in Fremont in 2017, Scott Niewohner remembers a conversation with his cousin about the pros and cons of building barns to raise chickens to supply the plant. Chief among the cons, according to Niewohner’s cousin: daily retrieval of the dead birds scattered throughout the…
Read MoreGreat ideas start with curiosity. Bringing those ideas to life is its own challenge. That’s what longtime entrepreneur Brian Ardinger believes, and that’s why he’s made it his mission to help Nebraska startup founders, business leaders and innovators solve those challenges. Ardinger is cofounder of InsideOutside.io, an innovation-focused resource network for startups, entrepreneurs, investors, enterprises,…
Read MoreWith no fewer than 32,000 business closures in the restaurant industry through the end of August—nearly 20,000 of them permanent, according to Yelp’s latest Economic Impact Report—the fragility of restaurateurs and similar walk-in businesses has been laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic. Even for establishments that sought to pivot to curbside pick-up and deliveries, the…
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