Iowa City Just because the spring semester is coming to an end doesn't mean that Iowa City-based startup Tutor Universe is heading out on summer vacation. On the contrary, co-founder and CEO Michael Morrison says the company is busier than ever. The team of 12 just completed a $300,000 round of funding from angel investors. The Tutor Universe website, which went live for its soft launch last November, attracted roughly 1,300 users in its first two months. After the site's official launch at the end of January ... read more

Iowa City Over the past decade, Guitar Hero has become a household name across the U.S., though what many don't know is that the company behind one of hottest video games once resided in Iowa. Founded in 2001 by the video game designers Jason Andersen and Isaac Burns, Budcat Creations called Iowa City home. The company helped produce the Guitar Hero … read more

Iowa City ActiveGrade, a startup established to help educators better track pupils' development, announced today it has signed an agreement to be acquired by Goshen, Ind.-based Haiku Learning Systems, a cloud-based learning management system. "With the incredible talent behind Haiku, we'll be able to take standards-based grading to new places that we simply didn't have the resources for until now," the company said in a written … read more

Iowa City After years of frustration struggling to collaborate with peers in large lecture classes, University of Iowa juniors Adam Nelson (far left) and Joe Dallago (near left) took matters into their own hands in the form of a startup. The resulting venture is clusterFlunk, a virtual meeting place that allows students enrolled in the same course to collaborate on assignments, help one another study before tests and upload documents. The site will go live tonight … read more

Iowa City A crowdfunding and beta-testing platform's creators hope to change the way health care products and apps go to market. Based in Iowa City, Health Tech Hatch combines testing and funding into one website, allowing developers to receive feedback … read more

Iowa City Koala Pay, a mobile application launched last month, is out to help merchants cultivate a more loyal and engaged customer base, starting with users of web-based payments network Dwolla. Released in the App Store on Nov. 26 and officially unveiled at a Dwolla meetup Nov. 30 in Des Moines, Koala Pay was designed to provide merchants a channel for marketing directly to customers and to give customers deals and discounts to their favorite merchants. "It’s a mobile app that allows merchants to create more loyal and engaged customers," said Troy Miller … read more

Iowa City Imagine having the ability for your tutor to proofread an essay at 2 a.m. the night before it’s due, or being able to ask a last-minute question moments before a big exam. One of Iowa City’s newest startups, Tutor Universe, aims to allow students to do exactly that. … read more