Iowa capital pools, venture funds, and venture-funded businesses are everywhere. Ten years ago, a friend once said something like, if you blew up the room Dwolla launched in 2010, it would set the ecosystem back 20 years. That might have been true then, but it’s certainly no longer valid.
Searching available capital in the state
There is plenty of capital invested by entities based in Iowa. Here are some of the initial ones I discovered with either an estimate of the total fund size or a link. Some are easier to verify than others.
| Techstars Iowa | $21M |
| Grinnell College | $2.9b |
| Next Level Ventures | $90M |
| Curql | $250M |
| Manchester Story | $100M |
| ISA Ventures | $22M |
| Innoventure | $30M |
| Unity Point Ventures | $100M |
| Iowa State | $1.44b |
| University of Iowa | $3.1b |
| Global Insurance Accelerator | $21M |
| AAVIN Private Equity | $80M |
| Midwest Growth Partners | $40M |
| CareSource Iowa | $2M |
| Mango Seed | $2M |
| Summit Equity | $10M |
| Plains Angels | $2M |
| Ag Startup Engine | $10M |
| Ag Ventures Alliance | $5M |
| Ames Seed Capital | $3M |
| Red Cedar Fund | $10M |
| Rural Vitality Fund | $10M |
| Empower The Change | $200M |
Billions in available capital, and I am hopeful this list will grow. If you know someone to add, please send me a DM on twitter or respond to this tweet.
This brings us to the next question about capital from outside Iowa coming into the state.
Who is investing in companies with Iowa operations?
This is an integral part of the capital-raising cycle for any company here because it shows that high-quality companies can raise capital from outside the state. That used to be a complex problem.
It’s hard to isolate exactly how much comes in from one venture fund vs. another, so I looked briefly at companies that have operations here and capital raised from funds outside the state.
These data points help us understand if outside capital is willing to invest in technology companies in Iowa or with significant operations in the state.
Roboflow
| Non-Iowa Investors | Capital Raised |
| Craft Ventures | $22M |
| YCombinator | |
| Lachy Groom | |
| Quiet Capital |
Dwolla
| Non-Iowa Investors | Capital Raised |
| Union Square Ventures | $72M |
| Foundry Group | |
| Andreessen Horowitz | |
| Firebrand | |
| Detroit Venture Partners | |
| Thrive Capital | |
| High Alpha | |
| Ludlow Ventures | |
| Park West |
Basis Theory
| Non-Iowa Investors | Capital Raised |
| Kindred Ventures | $17M |
| Slow Ventures | |
| Ludlow Ventures | |
| Bessemer Venture Partners | |
| Box Group | |
| Conversion Capital |
Moov
| Non-Iowa Investors | Capital Raised |
| Bain Capital | $32.5 |
| Andreessen Horowitz | |
| Canapi | |
| RRE | |
Digital Diagnostics
Businessolver
| Non-Iowa Investors | Capital Raised |
| Warburg Pincus | $65M |
Lincoln Savings Bank
| Non-Iowa Investors | Capital Raised |
| Castle Creek | $45M |
| EJF |
Growers Edge
| Non-Iowa Investors | Capital Raised |
| Finistere Ventures | $40M |
| Skyline Global Partners | |
| S2G Ventures |
Tractor Zoom
| Non-Iowa Investors | Capital Raised |
| Builders VC | $11.4M |
| Bienville Capital | |
| Hyde Park Angels |
Based on the list above we can see hundreds of millions are going to work in companies with Iowa operations. That list alone sits at $400M+ discovered in about 15 minutes on Crunchbase, sorted by state. If we assume that only 50% of the overall raised capital came from outside the state, $200M is still a substantial amount. Since only a small number of companies are listed above, the overall invested capital is likely much higher.
There are many more questions, like how do we think about companies like Berkshire Energy, American Equity, Holmes Murphy, or others that fall into this search criteria?
Iowa based businesses can clearly access capital from inside and outside the state. Early stage, late stage, all stages! That’s exciting for entrepreneurs and the state.
Disclaimer – Crunchbase data isn’t always perfect. It’s also worth noting that a company raising capital doesn’t imply any relative importance over those who do not. The availability of capital gives companies a greater diversity of options and a higher likelihood of success in this writers opinion.