June: Great North Labs’s first fund raised!
$23.7 Million Raised Great North Labs has closed its first fund with $23.7M in committed capital! This is one of the largest debut seed funds ever raised in the Midwest. “We are very appreciative and humbled by the tremendous support shown for our debut fund by our limited partners,” said Great North Labs Managing Partner Rob […]
Great North Labs Raises $23.7M to Invest in Early-Stage Tech Startups in the Upper Midwest
One of the largest debut seed funds ever raised in the Midwest St. Cloud, USA — June 19, 2019 — Great North Labs closed its first fund with $23.7M in committed capital. Great North Labs is an early-stage venture fund focused on cultivating the next generation of tech startups across the Upper Midwest. The fund […]
May: Innovation Ecosystems, SingularityU Kickoff, and PrintWithMe
The Innovation Ecosystem At Great North Labs, we work to cultivate the next generation of leading tech companies across the upper Midwest. As a venture fund, this means deploying capital, providing startup intelligence, and utilizing our network to support and grow early-stage tech startups. We also provide low-cost training through our Startup School, in areas that we […]
April: Minnebar Recap, ZenLord Pro, and Supporting Entrepreneurs
Is it spring already? Where is the late-April blizzard? Ah well, there’s always a surprise October snow to look forward to. MinneBar 14 was this past weekend, with 1700+ tech enthusiasts gathering at Best Buy HQ for the best local tech event this side of Twin Cities Startup Week. As they say, a good time was had by all. Our recap will walk you […]
MinneBar 14 Recap
The annual MinneBar event, hosted by non-profit Minnestar, is the largest bar camp-style conference in the country. Saturday, April 27th was the fourteenth incarnation of this highly anticipated event, and it did not disappoint. How highly anticipated was it? Tickets were released in two waves this year, and the first wave sold out in under […]
Dispatch and 2ndKitchen claim Tech Madness titles
Great North Labs portfolio companies Dispatch and 2ndKitchen have claimed titles in American Inno’s 2019 Tech Madness competition. The annual competition is a tech startup, voting-based version of March Madness. And yes, it’s better than the actual thing, because if the NCAA tournament worked the same way, Duke would have won and everyone would be […]
Minnesota Innovation Collaborative
The Minnesota Innovation Collaborative (MIC) is one of the most exciting items in this year’s budget. It is a program under the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), led by former Google/YouTube exec and Silicon Valley boomerang, Commissioner Steve Grove. The program calls for $4.5M in 2020 and 2021 to grow the startup and […]
March: Minnebar, Hockey + Hustlers, and Innovation Workshops
Minnebar is almost upon us and this year is going to be great. The annual event will take over Best Buy’s headquarters for the fourteenth time, on April 27th. As always, it features local tech and startup community members, and an agenda of user-generated content that is vetted and voted on by said community. Both […]
February: Improving the Culture for Entrepreneurship, 2ndKitchen, and the Prairie Capital Summit
Improving the Culture for Entrepreneurship Many efforts are underway to continue to improve the culture for entrepreneurship in Minnesota and other Midwest states, ranging from policy driven efforts to increase access to capital for startup founders to workforce development initiatives to ensure the right talent is interested and available in high growth startup jobs. On the government side, forexample, the governor’s just-released budget includes funding for the creation of the Minnesota Innovation Collaborative, which is designed to accelerate the growth of the innovation ecosystem. Theproposed budget […]
Great North Labs at CES
CES, the massive annual Consumer Electronics Show, is taking over Las Vegas from January 8-11. This year there are 182,000 attendees, 4,400 exhibiting companies, 1,000 speakers, and more than 2.7 million square feet of exhibit space. Among the companies are two Great North Labs portfolio companies, Misty Robotics and Glowe. Misty Robotics is a customizable personal […]