August 26, 2011 by Michael Stacy
Kansas City Pipeline announced this week that applications are now available for the first regional class of its entrepreneurial fellowship. As we reported in April, Pipeline, a five-year-old, Kansas-based program for innovative, high-growth entrepreneurs, is expanding its focus from Kansas to the Midwest a result of … read more
August 25, 2011 by Geoff Wood
Des Moines Wednesday's Dwolla meetup brought out a cross section of the business and technology community from throughout Des Moines. The Dwolla team estimated more than 350 people passed through doors, first for a social at Americana, then next door at Zart. Dwolla founder Ben Milne was the event's headliner, announcing his company's new product … read more
August 25, 2011 by John T. Meyer
Sioux Falls In the past two years, we've seen and featured coworking spaces popping up on the Silicon Prairie. The Foundry opened in October of 2009 in Des Moines. CAMP emerged last summer in Omaha, and we recently mentioned Vault Coworking, set to launch in Cedar Rapids this fall. The coworking phenomenon continues to spread across the prairie with the arrival of Meso in Sioux Falls. Josh Aberson, a Sioux Falls entrepreneur … read more
August 25, 2011 by Brittany Mascio
Des Moines Whether by train or plane or automobile, travelers have their pick of transportation when it comes to cross-country trips, and now with the idea for DriveOR making the most affordable choice may become easier. DriveOR seeks to map out the most cost-efficient transportation for any traveler by comparing the routes and methods available from point A to point B. The web application plans to partner with airline and travel sites, in addition to gas stations to provide up-to-date pricing for consumers to make the best travel decisions for their budget. … read more
August 24, 2011 by Michael Stacy
Des Moines Dwolla today announced a private beta of a new iOS platform, called Proxi. The new technology from the Des Moines-based startup will allow users to convert their Dwolla-enabled devices (iOS for now, with Android and Windows Phone soon to follow) into movable Spots, seamlessly making and taking payments without additional hardware like NFC or dongles, which are prerequisites of other mobile payment systems. Dwolla's new feature uses GPS technology to give users a real-time … read more
August 24, 2011 by Michael Stacy
Des Moines Not able to make it out to tonight's Dwolla meetup at Americana (1312 Locust St. in Des Moines)? Not to worry; we'll have it here. Tune in starting at 6 p.m. for the meetup, which will feature the unveiling of Dwolla's latest innovation, Proxi (we'll have more on that on Silicon Prairie News in just a few minutes). Plus, in their traditional meetup fashion … read more
August 24, 2011 by Brittany Mascio
Des Moines There are plenty of ways to discover new music, but for Jake Kerber, who struggles with Top 40 radio and finds joy in the sounds of his community, there wasn’t an option for local music. So Kerber started Locusic to help users find the beats in their own backyard. Locusic is one of seven entries in the Dream Big Des Moines contest, which seeks the top tech-based business ideas in central Iowa. The top vote-getter in an online poll … read more
August 24, 2011 by Michael Stacy
For regular readers of Silicon Prairie News, none of what's discussed in the Aug. 19 Fox Business article "How to Become a Growth Company in a Small Market" is necessarily … 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.