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

Kansas City In its quest to reinvent the mobile search experience, Kansas City, Mo., startup Leap2 today announced it closed a $1.6 million round of funding and launched the latest version of its iOS and Android apps. Since its start more than two years ago, Leap2's interface and functionality has evolved as the team tries "to reimagine what search is," director of product Tyler VanWinkle recently told Silicon Prairie News. In the new version … read more

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

Kansas City Kansas City startup myEDmatch wants to remedy the educational equivalent of spending nights out at the bar hoping for a chance encounter with your soulmate. Hours in front of the mirror primping for someone you know nothing about. Time and money … read more

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

Kansas City One million of anything is a lot. About a year ago, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation's Nate Olson set out to reach that many cups of coffee within the Kansas City startup community when he helped created 1 Million Cups (1MC), a weekly program that provides two startups the opportunity to present their companies to an attentive audience. It's … read more

Olathe Chris Smith, co-founder and CEO at Olathe, Kan.-based Career Athletes, believes in "affinity ecosystems"—networks that give users a head start through an existing common bond or relationship. Smith, a former Missouri State University football player, began believing in this type of network during a leadership conference put on by his former employer, Eli Lilly. While waiting for the company's president to speak, the crowd sat silent—no one was … read more

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