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Putting the Work In: Meet Jordi Becerril, a Rising Star in Tech
Jordi Becerril didn’t see a lot of Latinx people working in technology when he was growing up. An avid gamer, the South Omaha native enjoyed taking apart XBoxes and Playstations to study how they worked—and to see if he could put them back together again. But, because he never noticed any programmers he could really…
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Iowa State Fair hosts Iowa State University pitch competition
More than 200 Iowa State University student and alumni entrepreneurs representing 168 business ventures gathered to pitch their products and services as part of Iowa State University’s exhibit in the Varied Industries Building at the Iowa State Fair. The event took place from August 8-18. Each pitch contestant competed for $1,000 to $5000 awards in the “Great Iowa State University STANDING innOVATION…
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Rantizo: improving the ag industry one drone at a time
Last week, SPN had the chance to speak with Michael Ott, founder and CEO of Rantizo – a company offering a unique, easy-to-use and cost-effective solution to agrichemical spraying via drones. Rantizo sells agricultural drones and drone spraying services. These drones deliver targeted sprays precisely where they are needed for various agricultural applications. Rantizo’s upgraded…
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Pegex raises round, helps waste management with software, and apparently loves dogs
Pegex, a Madison, Wisconsin based startup, has built a SaaS platform that provides waste management companies with business productivity tools that include a robust CRM, an automated quote engine, documents and data automation, workflow management, and other unique sets of templates and tools for their industry partners. But, in doing our research for this company,…
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Hudl acquires Wyscout
In acquisition news, Hudl announced the purchase of Wyscout, an Italian based football (soccer) scouting company. The amount of the acquisition was not disclosed. In a previous round of financing, Wyscout raised $3mm on a convertible note at a $25mm pre-money valuation in 2014 (Crunchbase). In this April 2019 article in Forbes, Wyscout reportedly has…
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FanFood announces partnership with Samsung
Last week, SPN had the chance to speak with Carson Goodale, founder, and CEO of FanFood. FanFood was originally formed in Iowa but the company has since moved to Chicago to pursue their business. FanFood is a mobile ordering and concessions management platform designed to improve the fan experience while streamlining the concessions management and…
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HDC 2019 Mixes Business and Fun Sides of Technology…with Bigfoot
How is Sasquatch like the modern developer? They’re both brilliant, misunderstood minds seeking to get out of the woods, to redefine themselves, to learn new skills and innovate the Next Big Thing. And they’ll rub elbows next month at the 2019 AIM Institute Heartland Developers Conference, Sept. 4 – 6, at the Embassy Suites La…
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AIM Institute’s Cybersleuth Camp Teaches High School Girls about Technology, Cybersecurity, Digital Citizenship
Last Friday, 18 high school girls graduated from the AIM Institute’s 2019 Cybersleuth Camp in an afternoon ceremony at the AIM Brain Exchange. About 40 people attended the graduation to show their support for the next generation of tech talent. AIM’s Cybersleuth Camp is a weeklong cybersecurity camp for girls that seeks to raise interest…
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Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) Provides Funds
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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2nd Annual Future Builders Challenge brings students to the stage
This weekend, I attended the 2nd Annual Future Builders Challenge, hosted by Buildertrend, a successful Omaha startup. As Silicon Prairie News’s resident high school student, I had the pleasure of going through the event as a participant rather than an observer, which gave me an opportunity to experience the event hands-on, observe wonderful volunteer speakers,…