For all of you who scoffed at my ability to publish the Iowa Startup Power Rankings at the beginning of the month, I present you with the following: the December post on the last day of November. Boom.
Of course, I skipped October and November so let's just call it a draw. This post recognizes the good works of the companies, organizations and individuals that make up the Iowa startup community throughout all of September, October and November. Since a bit of time is passed, I added a few runners up at the end as a personal bonus to all of you.
Click here for the most recent rankings. And, as always, here are the rules.
December Power Rankings
1. Serious Social Media (Des Moines)
This is Serious Social Media's first appearance in the Power Rankings
Serious Social Media, a/k/a Insurance Social Media, closed a $700,000 investment round in October! The investors are two Iowa-based insurance carriers: Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Co. and IMT Group of West Des Moines. Serious Social Media is based in Anaheim, California and maintains an office in Des Moines.
They are graduates of the most recent cohort at the Des Moines-based Global Insurance Accelerator.
2. NewBoCo (Cedar Rapids)
This is NewBoCo's third appearance in the Power Rankings
NewBoCo maintains their position as #2 in the Power Rankings after a successful Launch Day on Nov 3. This event marked the culmination of their third cohort—six companies, all from Iowa—of the Iowa Startup Accelerator, a flagship program of NewBoCo. The organization also announced plans to launch the first code school in Iowa which they are calling DeltaV.
3. KinoSol (Ames)
This is KinoSol's first appearance in the Power Rankings
KinoSol, the ag-tech startup trying to eliminate food waste in developing companies, makes the rankings for the first time this month. The company, founded by Iowa State University students, successfully completed a Kickstarter campaign in October and is now shipping units. Additionally, Elise Kendall, one of the co-founders, was named a "Global Citizen"—and received the accompanying $35,000 prize—by the Global Poverty Project and Waislitz Foundation.
4. Performance Livestock Analytics (Osage/Ames)
This is Performance Livestock Analytics first appearance in the Power Rankings
Performance Livestock Analytics, the makers of Cattle Krush and other software for managing livestock, also joins the rankings for the first time this month. The team was recently named a semifinalist in the National Farm Bureau Rural Entrepreneurship Challenge and, if history is any indication (both previous winners have been Iowa startups), they have a good shot at the top prize.
Additionally, the team announced they had relocated their office from Osage to Ames to participate in the Ag Startup Engine and ISU Startup Factory programming.
5. SwineTech (New Sharon)
This is SwineTech's second appearance in the Power Rankings
SwineTech gonna SwineTech. They first made the Power Rankings in April after reeling off four impressive wins in pitch competitions and they're still at it. Most recently they took the top prize at Future Founders U.Pitch competition in Chicago.
SwineTech was founded by University of Iowa students and is a graduate of the Iowa Startup Accelerator.
Others Receiving Votes
The following group includes a bunch of companies that were also considered for this month's rankings (in no particular order). Since they likely would have made the rankings at some point in the past few months had they proceeded as expected, I still wanted to give a shout out here.
- The Kitchen Council food incubator (Council Bluffs) held their first event.
- The Global Insurance Accelerator (Des Moines) added two more investors to its cadre of insurance carriers who fund the program.
- DriveSpotter (Omaha/Des Moines) graduated from Techstars Mobility and established a Detroit office.
- WorkHound (Des Moines), graduated from the Dynamo accelerator in Chattanooga, Tenn.
- Seed Slide's (Sioux City) founder and Morningside College Student Josh Doering won first prize in the Collegiate Entrepreneurs' Organization 2016 national pitch competition.
Geoff Wood is the founder, connector and space captain at Gravitate, a workplace community for entrepreneurs, freelancers and remote workers in the heart of downtown Des Moines. In addition to writing here, he hosts a podcast, speaks at conferences, organizes events and has been helping tell the story of the Iowa startup community since 2009.