What is Prairie Moves?

Published Tuesdays and Fridays, Prairie Moves is a roundup of career changes, media coverage, product development and other updates from the companies and individuals regularly covered by Silicon Prairie News.

If you or your company would like to submit an item for our next Prairie Moves post, please email editor@siliconprairienews.com or use the form below.

Lead Read

"Software Is Eating the World – And Will Help to Feed It" - Andreessen Horowitz partner John O'Farrell blogs about his firm's investment in Solum, a Mountain View, Calif.-based ag-tech startup that has plans to open a lab in Ames, Iowa.

Quotable

"Anyone on a social network can say, 'Well I want a burrito shop.' We wanted to make sure the site generated legitimate ideas that could be legitimately implemented by a legitimate agency." - Nick Bowden explaining the value of MindMixer over established social media channels - Fast Company

Fundings

• Nebraska Angels invest $450,000 in Austin, Texas-based VolunteerSpot - SPN and Lincoln Journal Star
• Solum, a Mountain View, Calif.-based ag-tech startup that plans to open a lab in Ames, Iowa, received $100,000 from the Iowa Economic Development Authority and closed a $17 million Series B round led by Andreessen Horowitz - IEDA, Press Release, Andreessen Horowitz blog, All Things D, Forbes, Vator News, Inc., TechCrunch, SPN and Des Moines Register

Career Moves

• Rocky Warren, formerly with John Deere, joined Dwolla - Rocky Warren blog

New Tech

• intevli, event mapping app, will launch July 6 during Kansas City Crossroads' First Friday - Press Release and Think Big Partners

Product & Business Updates

• ActiveGrade retooled its gradebook view - ActiveGrade blog
• Dwolla introduced its new mobile SDKs - Dwolla dev blog

Mentions

• Where da Spot - Kansas City's parking salvation could be just one app away - The Pitch
• MindMixer - Online Town Hall Lets Residents Improve Their Own Neighborhood Without Leaving The Couch - Fast Company

Gig Bits

Gig Bits is an occasional feature keeping our readers up to speed on Google Fiber. Read Gig Bits.

• Does Kansas City own the business of broadband? - GigaOm
• Tech Blogs Debate Ownership of Kansas City Broadband - Google Connects KC
• Google turns down Rosedale’s Wi-Fi idea - Kansas City Star

Recognition

• Ben Milne named to Inc.'s "30 Under 30" list - (inc.com version coming soon), Des Moines Register
• PlanetReuse one of 25 named to Bloomberg Businessweek's "America's Most Promising Social Entrepreneurs"

Blogged

• How Many Cups to Launch - Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
• Challenge Yourself - RareWire
• AngelHack Recap and Dwolla Integrations - Dwolla
• Did One Week KC help Kansas City Become America’s Most Entrepreneurial City? - Think Big Partners

Misc.

• RecBob uploaded pictures of its TechWeek trip - Facebook
• Des Moines Business Record's 2012 Readers Survey askeed: "How important do you think the growing tech start-up scene is for the overall health of the Des Moines business community?" - Des Moines Business Record
• Dwolla announced an eCommerce Hack Day in New York (August 4-5) - Dwolla blog and The Next Web
• Social Media Takes Command in KC for 2012 MLB All-Star Game - Social Media Club Kansas City
• Kansas City IT Professionals is holding its fourth anniversary celebration - KCITP
• University of Lincoln-Nebraska Raikes School fall class announced - UNL

Credits: Screenshot from a16z.com