May 1, 2013 by Danny Schreiber
Omaha It's shaping up to be quite the year for MindMixer. Last month, the Omaha startup revealed it acquired a social media analytics company. Today, it announced it closed a $4 million Series B round led by Lincoln, Neb.-based Nelnet, a publicly traded company. Omaha-based … read more
April 30, 2013 by Danny Schreiber
Des Moines Des Moines-based Dwolla today announced it closed a $16.5 million Series C round led by Andreessen Horowitz, the Menlo Park, Calif.-based venture capital firm whose portfolio includes Airbnb, Pinterest and Stripe, another payments startup. Three of Dwolla's previous investors, Village Ventures, Thrive Capital and Union Square Ventures, also participated … read more
April 24, 2013 by Danny Schreiber
Omaha Apple opened up its iPhone to third party app makers in March 2008. Less than a year later, Omaha developer Andy Peters left his full-time job and founded Ninth Division, a mobile app development shop. "There wasn't anyone at the time that was doing it full-time," he said. "Nowadays, there's really big versions of Ninth Division." Peters today announced the closing of his business and a new career path for himself. Next month, he'll join … read more
Lincoln State-funded venture capital organization Invest Nebraska recently announced it put an undisclosed amount into Lincoln, Neb.-based Pro-Fit Performance Club Fitting, a company constructing a club-fitting software system. "Pro-Fit has been able to effectively deliver an entirely … read more
April 24, 2013 by Danny Schreiber
Data centers in Iowa are dominating headlines this week as Facebook on Monday announced its intention to build a facility in Altoona and the next day the State of Iowa revealed Google is expanding its existing project in Council Bluffs. The immediate costs of these two projects is expected to reach nearly $700 million, creating hundreds of construction jobs but likely just ... read more
April 23, 2013 by Danny Schreiber
Omaha At my first Big Omaha I landed a job, but it wasn't with another attendee or sponsor, it was with the company behind the event, the less than one-year-old Silicon Prairie News. Six years ago, I worked in the same office building as Jeff Slobotski, and at least once a week, I'd make my way over to his desk to chat startups and hear the latest on the "web 2.0 / social media conference" he and his co-founder Dusty Davidson were planning. I was … read more
April 22, 2013 by Danny Schreiber
Omaha A little more than 10 years ago, Mark Hasebroock teamed up with two other Omaha entrepreneurs to buy and turn Hammocks.com into a viable business. Today, that company is known as Hayneedle, and it's one of the internet's largest retailers. Hasebroock (left), who now manages a venture capital fund, has a new goal in the ecommerce world … read more
Lincoln An effort to increase the funds set aside for Nebraska's angel investment tax credit from $3 million to $5 million met its match Friday as lawmakers failed to give the bill a first-round approval, according to the Omaha World-Herald. Created in 2011, the program provides tax credits to angel investors … read more
Altoona Rumors earlier this year pinned multiple tech giants, including Apple, for a possible $1 billion data center project in Altoona, Iowa. But this evening, the Des Moines Register's Donnelle Eller reported sources have said Facebook is behind the project, which could cost $1.5 billion … read more
April 19, 2013 by Danny Schreiber
Omaha Today is showtime for the University of Nebraska–Lincoln students participating in the Raikes Design Studio, a capstone class in which student teams build software for local and national businesses, such as Nebraska Global, Hudl, Hayneedle and Microsoft. The class is part of the Raikes School of Computer Science and Management. In anticipation of today's project showcase event … read more
Through August 22, help us decide the winners of our inaugural Silicon Prairie Awards, which will recognize 12
companies and individuals. You can vote once per day per category.
Winners will be announced live on stage at
our August 30 event.