Dream Big Grow Here Announces Finalists
The University of Northern Iowa Center for Business Growth and Innovation has announced 30 finalists in the Dream Big Grow Here business grant program. A pitch off event held in conjunction with Technology Association of Iowa’s Prometheus Awards scheduled to take place during the day of Thursday, April 14th in Des Moines to determine the six industry winners of $5,000. These six will then compete in another final pitch off that afternoon for an additional $5,000 grand prize. RSVP to the pitch off event is strongly recommended here: https://www.tikly.co/events/1127.
During the online portion of the grant program, the Dream Big Grow Here website accumulated 500,000 pageviews. The site attracted over 54,000 total users, roughly half from Iowa. The other half came from every state in the United States. In addition to the online traffic, the web portal logged 33,113 votes and over 1,600 comments of support for Iowa small business owners all across the state.
“We are really excited to have a great group of finalists this year,” stated program lead Patrick Luensmann. “This year was the hardest for the finalist selection, each entrant submitted a strong application and made it really hard on the judging committees. After reviewing each of our 81 dream applications, I never cease to be amazed by the ideas and innovation going on in the state of Iowa.”
The finalists by each industry category are as follows:
Ag Innovation, sponsored by Renew Rural Iowa
Iowa Cricket Farmer, Keystone
Tillage, Ames
SwineTech Inc, New Sharon
Van Shrimp, Rock Valley
Smart Ag LLC, Ames
Hospitality/Services
New Era Tax & Accounting, Sidney
Northeast Iowa Doulas, Cedar Falls
Crayon 2 Pencils, Norwalk
Roller City, Mason City
Lumin Therapy, Sioux City
Manufacturing/Bioscience
Flickboards, Sioux City
The Compost Ninja, Ladora
Iowa Distilling Company, Cumming
Stickalicious Pops, Missouri Valley
Lyman Veterinary Clinic LLC, Griswold
Pre-Revenue
Blaine’s on Main, Conrad
Terraoak, Inc, Waverly
STEMobile, Indianola
Climb Lab, Cedar Rapids
Red Acre Barn, Prole
Information Technology
AssetRover, Cedar Rapids
Citispoon Inc, Davenport
VoidWorks, LLC, Cedar Falls
Roster Monster, Clive
CIE Systems, Waukee
Retail/Restaurant
American Hero Clothing, Larchwood
Vintage Lane Design, Sioux City
Local Crumb, Mount Vernon
Trofix, Cedar Rapids
Caveworks Press & Studios, Reinbeck
Dream Big Grow Here is made possible through sponsorship by a mix of private and public sector agencies, including the University of Northern Iowa, Iowa Farm Bureau Renew Rural Iowa, Iowa Small Business Development Center, VentureNet Iowa, Iowa Bankers Association, IASourceLink, Technology Association of Iowa, UI Partners, iHeart Media, and University of Iowa Community Credit Union. Dream Big Grow Here is a program of UNI Business and Community Services.
For more information about the Dream Big Grow Here program, please visit www.DreamBigGrowHere.com and sign up for the latest news at http://eepurl.com/bEXQwH.
Valyn Reinig, Communications Coordinator, UNI Center for Business Growth and Innovation
