5 Takeaways From The Q3 Minnesota Tech Funding Report
The Q3 Minnesota Tech Funding Report was published last week which outlined some financial facts for the term; here is some aggregated analysis of the 26 unique deals.
Minnesota MusicTech 2018 Is On Oct 30th At IceHouse
Minnesota MusicTech 2018 is where music and technology collide. More than a dozen music & technology companies are based in Minnesota and this is a celebration of them:
Ion Concert Media, Audiofile Engineering, Exogal, Fideliquest, Haulix, Hum, MyMy Music, Pianu, Resonant Cavity, Soundpruf, Spark DJ, Studioso, and Zivix.
This unique event on Oct 30th at IceHouse from 8-10pm features local artists melding hardware and software to push the boundaries of sound:
- Robot Rickshaw is a platform for the creation, performance, and dissemination of early 21st century semi-nomadic robot herder’s music.
- Ions & Atrophy is a progressive metal band who incorporate the use of Jamstik’s Smart Guitar MIDI instrument.
Sponsored by: Vemos, Jamstik Smart Guitars, Messerli & Kramer.
featured job
Senior Software Engineer at Kipsu
Minneapolis
In Conversation With Angelina Lawton, Founder & CEO, Sportsdigita
Via Sports Venue Business
“In this latest interview, we hear from Angelina Lawton, Founder & CEO at Sportsdigita, who we caught up with at the ALSD International event in London last week. Angelina, firstly, welcome to London and ALSD International. Could you start off by telling us a little bit about yourself, your career journey thus far and your most memorable career highlights to date?”
Meet Atland Ventures: A Student-Run VC Firm at the U of M
Via Twin Cities Business
“The University of Minnesota has long been a hotbed of innovation, launching hundreds of startups and entrepreneurial ideas over its more than 150-year history. One of the newest, though, is unlike anything the school’s ever seen: an independent, student-run venture capital firm called Atland Ventures.”
Minnesota Edutech Venture Kidblog Raises $1.3m Equity
[B2B EDUTECH] blogging platform Kidblog has secured $1.3m of equity financing per SEC disclosure.
Q&A With Total Expert CEO Joe Welu On The $20m Round
Total Expert is a [B2B FINTECH] software company started by Joe Welu in 2012. As a former industry insider, Welu launched the company as a vertically focused CRM and has since expanded it into an all encompassing “Marketing OS”.
By 2014 the company was achieving noticeable traction followed by initial investor attention in 2016. Earlier this year they hit the 100 person milestone and Inc. 500/5000 recognition for ~ 1,500% three year revenue gains.
Just last week, Welu went to the next level with $20 million dollars of fresh venture capital from previous and new investors — launching Total Expert into the top 20 most funded of Minnesota’s tech industry.
Let’s hear what he has to say about it:
[VIDEO] BetaMN / Showcase TCSW 2018 Interviews [1]
Beta.MN delivered during Twin Cities Startup Week when /showcase featured a dozen entrepreneurial leaders. This is part one of some on-the-fly interviews:
PE-Backed Marco Makes Another Acquisition
Via News Release
“Marco, a leading technology services provider, announced today that it has purchased ETC ComputerLand, a business IT services company headquartered in Quincy, Illinois. ETC ComputerLand has been providing its clients with technology solutions since 1997.
Many of its employees have joined the Marco team and will be serving clients from their current location in Quincy. Marco also has offices in Peoria, Peru and Rockford, Illinois as well as Missouri offices including Jefferson City, Columbia, St. Louis and more.”
UMN Program Tackles Election Cybersecurity
Via St. Paul Pioneer Press
“At a time when U.S. voting systems have been under assault, an online program at the University of Minnesota is teaching students how to run secure elections and fend off cyber attackers. The 12-credit Certificate in Election Administration program is offered by the university’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs. Now in its third full year, the program has expanded its course offerings to include cybersecurity education. Administrators have formed a national steering committee comprising leaders in the field.”
[Updated] Which Tech Companies Based Outside Minnesota Have A Presence Here?
Building off our ongoing exploration of tech companies coming to and moving around town is which tech companies based outside of Minnesota have a presence here?
That is the question we seek to thoroughly understand in this running post.
Presence — for the purpose of the article — is defined as two or more employees that consistently work together in a professional office environment (coworking counts since many local expansions do start that way).