It’s a wrap for Twin Cities Startup Week (TCSW), Minnesota’s largest annual startup event. How big is it? In 2019 the event attracted 17,000 people to over 200 sessions. This year, the event stretched nearly a month as it went virtual for the first time.

Startup Competition Winners

One of two big competitions during TCSW is the MN Startup Awards, a joint venture between Tech.MN and TCSW. The winners this year included Canomiks (Emerging Startup), Maddy Kennedy (Impact Award), BetterYou (Operational Excellence) SayKid (Voyager Award), Black Tech Talent (The Inclusive Evolution Award), and Target Accelerators Team (Corporate Champion).

Great North Labs sponsored the 10K Lakes Award for Greater Minnesota for the second year in a row, which recognizes work supporting startups in Greater MN. MN Cup took home the award this year!

We are proud to support MN Cup through our Founders Pledge, where Rob Weber also judges the High Tech division, and are pleased with the recognition of their success. MN Cup wound up their own competition on Sept. 23rd, with top honors going to BlueCube Bio.

The winner of this year’s 10K Lakes Award for Greater Minnesota Startups is MN Cup. Director Jessica Berg accepted the award.

The other big competition of TCSW is the BETA Showcase, which routinely attracts 800+ attendees. This year featured 21 startups, including 7 startups from Greater MN. The winner of the coveted Golden iPod was Bibliate, a Minneapolis-based provider of academic research summaries.

gBETA Greater MN-St. Cloud

The accelerator program gBETA Greater MN-St. Cloud has announced its fall class. The class includes startups from around the state. Sproutary is from Kimball, Shrpa is from Rochester, LegalMaps is from Edina, and Live.Give.Save is from Red Wing.

This class has some accomplishments under its belt already, as Shrpa took home 2 dedicated awards form MN Cup this year, and Live.Give.Save is the winner of last year’s inaugural 10K Lakes Award.

$2M Pitch Competition for Black founders

Revolution’s Rise of the Rest (ROTR) is partnering with Opportunity Hub, 100 Black Angels & Allies, and Morgan Stanley’s Multicultural Innovation Lab to fund Black-founders via the “Rise of the Rest Virtual Tour: Equity Edition”. $2M in investments will go to the top 3 companies.

Please share this event with your network! It’s a great opportunity for Black founders in the Upper Midwest to connect with investors and resources, and to have a chance at a big check! Great North Labs has partnered with ROTR to help connect capital with Black founders, and Rob Weber be taking pitch meetings during the event.

Great North Labs + Vikings Football = $$ for Minnestar

For every point the Vikings score this season, we are matching up to $5 in donations to Minnestar! Give as little as 10 cents per point, and know that it will be matched, benefitting one of Minnesota’s top startup support organizations.

The campaign started on September 1st (when the Vikes were 0-0) and continues until the day after the Super Bowl, because hey, you have to believe! This campaign is through local startup ScoreSide, which connects sports with philanthropy.

It’s important to support the organizations that support our startups. Times are challenging. While we believe there’s a shortage of early-stage capital in the region, we also think that right now is a great time to build a startup.

Events

Here is a mix of upcoming events, for investors, founders, and/or ecosystem supporters. All events are virtual unless otherwise noted.

Oct. 1st, Flyover Tech Fest. Based in Iowa, this is a Midwest-centric event for tech startups seeking support, development, and funding.

Oct. 8th, 2020 TedX St. Cloud. This year is focused on personal transformation.

Oct. 20th + 22nd Innovation Expo Rapid City, SD, and Sioux Falls, ND. These are hybrid events, with in-person and virtual options.

Oct. 23rd, LaunchMN Friday Forums: Angel Tax Credit Program. All about the tax credit for MN angel investors.

Nov. 3-4th, 2020 Enterprise Rising. Casey Allen’s annual event for enterprise SAAS startups.

Nov. 9-11th, Wisconsin Early Stage Symposium. Speakers, panels, and networking plus opportunities to connect investors and founders.

Portfolio News

River’s Edge participates in new robotic technology pilot program for screening COVID-19. Misty the robot is being used to screen hospital employees for COVID-19.

PrintWithMe Announces National Partnership With Trammell Crow Residential. PrintWithMe has inked a deal with one of the nation’s largest developers of multifamily apartments.

Job Board

Dispatch is hiring a Business Development Representative and Manager, Account Management in Bloomington, MN; a Ruby Developer and Senior Ruby Developer for Remote work. Also Territory Sales Managers in Arlington, VA, Baltimore, MD, and Washington D.C.

FactoryFix is hiring a Team Lead – Full Stack Developer, Full Stack Developer, and Infrastructure Developer- DevOps in Madison, WI; and a Sales Development Representative in Chicago, IL, Indianapolis, IN, or Madison, WI.

PrintWithMe ishiring Regional Sales Directors on the East Coast and in Texas; AR/AP Specialist and Operations Lead in Chicago, IL; VS/SVP of Operations, Marketing Director, Part-Time Customer Service Representative, Inside Sales Executive and a Fall 2020 Strategy Intern (MBA) for Remote work.

Parallax is hiring an Experienced Product Designer in Edina, MN.

Branch is hiring a Data Platform Manager, Senior Software Engineer, Customer Success Manager, Customer Support Rep, Enterprise Support Specialist, and Fraud Agent in Minneapolis, MN.

Inhabitr is hiring a Chief Growth Officer/Head of B2C Growth, and a Sales and Customer Experience Associate in Chicago, IL.

NoiseAware is hiring a VP of Global Sales & Customer Experience, Embedded Developer, QA Technician (independent contractor), Account Manager, and a Customer Advocate in Dallas, TX.

Last month we wrote about the history of local startups that were formed during a recession and went on to success, including local unicorn Jamf. The conversation quickly turned to what that means for founders and investors.

Starting Up in a Downturn

The idea is that while many startups are beat down by strong headwinds, those that are resilient and adapt to stay aloft are better-positioned to take off post-recession. The local, successful startups that have come out of downturns offer compelling evidence to support this idea proposed by Rob Weber.

Lee Schafer delved into the topic in his Star Tribune article, “Can a downturn actually be the right time to start a business?” and spoke with Scott Burns, CEO of Structural and former CEO of GovDelivery.

Managing Partner Rob Weber’s own previous company, NativeX, was a startup success that came out of a recession.

Scott agrees that it’s probably true that “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”, but he doesn’t think that it’s better to start in a recession. Specifically, he laments the opportunities lost that he didn’t pursue when they presented themselves.

“When CEO of GovDelivery during trying times, he said, ‘we were so beat up we lost our ability to move fast when the opportunities did arrive.’”

Investing During a Downturn

Few people would disagree with Scott that running a startup during a recession is a difficult position. Being a startup founder is incredibly tough even in easy times. But if founders can run lean and stay agile, they might come out of the pressure cooker with a proven, capital-efficient business.

In the Midwest, capital efficiency is already a necessity for startups. We have 10% of US venture-backed startups, but only 5% of funding. For investors, this can mean attractive returns on investments. Specifically, a 5.17x median MOIC (Multiple on Invested Capital).

There is opportunity to be found in a recession. The next GovDelivery, NativeX, and Jamf could be out there right now.

The trick is to keep yourself willing and able to move on those opportunities when they arrive.

Events

Here are some interesting upcoming events. They are all virtual.

Sept. 7-25th is Twin Cities Startup Week (TCSW). The biggest annual tech startup event in Minnesota is spread over a month with sessions, networking, and education for founders, investors, and innovation-minded professionals.This is a can’t-miss!

Sept. 12th- Nov. 17th is Course 03: The Lean Startup. This is Course 3 in the Startup School offering from Great North Labs, ILT Studios, LaunchMN, and Red Wing Ignite. MN Founders, apply by Sept. 2nd to the Southeast MN cohort or the Central MN cohort.

Sept. 16th is BETA Showcase. The Showcase is a highlight of Twin Cities Startup Week, featuring tech startups from the Fall BETA Cohort as well as Greater Minnesota.

Sept. 23rd is BETA Backers. Part of Twin Cities Startup Week, BETA Backers is a matchmaking event between Minnesota based startups that are currently fundraising and investors that are looking for companies to invest in.

Sept. 24th is the Minnesota Startup Awards. Capping off Twin Cities Startup Week is the Minnesota Startup Awards ceremony, co-hosted by TCSW and Tech.MN.

Oct. 1st, Flyover Tech Fest. This is a Midwest-centric event for tech startups seeking support, development, and funding.

Portfolio News

Allergy Amulet is new to the Great North Labs portfolio! Allergy Amulet is a fast & portable food allergen & ingredient sensor. The wearable device is paired with test strips, and is the world’s smallest & fastest consumer food allergen sensor. Read more at Crunchbase.

“Indeed acquires recruiting process automation platform ZapInfo”. Jobs site Indeed has acquired ZapInfo!

“Misty the robot graces Fierce AI Week in engineering”. Misty demonstrated it’s use as a temperature screening assistant for COVID-19.

“PrintWithMe Announces National Partnership With RangeWater Real Estate”. PrinWithMe has partnered with a manager of 50,000+ multifamily housing units.

“Pitchly completes $2.5 million investment round”. Pitchly has completed a $2.5M capital raise.

Job Board

Dispatch is hiring a Business Development Representative, Data Engineer, and Quality Assurance Engineer in Bloomington, MN; a remote Ruby Developer. They are also hiring Territory Sales Managers in Albuquerque,NM; Denver, CO; Phoenix, AZ; Portland, OR; Salt Lake City, UT; Seattle, WA; and Tucson, AZ.

PrintWithMe is hiring a Regional Sales Director on the East Coast; AR/AP Specialist, Inside Sales Executive in Chicago, IL; Customer Service Representative, Marketing Director, and a Fall 2020 Strategy Intern (MBA) for Remote work.

Parallax is hiring a Growth/Experienced Business Development Representative in Minneapolis, MN; Experienced Product Designer, and Head of Customer Success & Product Ownership in Edina, MN.

Branch is hiring a Data Platform Manager, Senior Backend Engineer, Senior Software Engineer, Customer Success Manager, Customer Support Rep, and Fraud Agent in Minneapolis, MN.

Inhabitr is hiring a Chief Growth Officer/Head of B2C Growth, and a Sales and Customer Experience Associate in Chicago, IL.

Clinician Nexus is hiring for Customer Support I in Minneapolis, MN.

NoiseAware is hiring a COO, VP of Global Sales & Account Management, Embedded Developer, QA Technician (independent contractor), Account Manager, and a Customer Advocate in Dallas, TX.

Welcome back to the Great North Labs newsletter! 2019 has been a big year for us. We invested $5.7M in 10 startups, including six in Minnesota, three in Illinois, and one in Wisconsin. That brings our totals to date to $8M in 18 early-stage startups throughout the upper Midwest, and one in Colorado.

Other than investing, the past year has been full of great events, important developments, and growth. Here are our top 5 stories of 2019.

Events

The holidays are a busy time for everyone! If you find some time between family and friends, here are some events worth attending:

TONIGHT! -Dec. 19th- gBETA Greater MN-St. Cloud Pitch Night in St. Cloud, MN. We are proud sponsors of this accelerator, and are excited to see the first cohort’s pitch night, from the very first accelerator based in Greater MN!
Jan. 7-10- CES in Las Vegas, NV. This is the annual conference by the Consumer Tech Association. It attracted 175,000 attendees last year!
Jan. 9th- Founders Live Minneapolis in Minneapolis, MN. “An unforgettable happy hour experience. 5 startups pitch their business, but YOU decide who wins. It’s like Shark Tank, for the locals.”
Jan. 30th- One Million Thanks in Fargo, ND. “1 Million Thanks is an evening program dedicated to celebrating the incredible things that entrepreneurs do in our community.” Put on by our friends at Emerging Prairie.
Feb. 20- MinneDemo: Back to Campus in Minneapolis, MN. This showcase highlights students and recent grads.

Portfolio News

Clinician Nexus is the newest addition to the Great North Labs portfolio. Read about their $1.5M round in the Star Tribune. Clinician Nexus provides health systems, schools, and students with a transparent, people-centered platform that facilitates better clinical rotation management, from start to finish.

Job Board

Dispatchis hiring all over the country for Part Time Drivers and in Bloomington, MN for a Biz Dev Representative, Data Scientist, and CFO.
Structural is hiring an Associate Software Engineer in Indianapolis or St. Paul, MN.
TeamGenius is hiring a Sales Associate in Minneapolis.
FactoryFixis hiring a Software Engineer, Product Designer, and UX Designer in Madison, and a Biz Dev Specialist and Account Manager in Chicago.
Misty Roboticsis hiring a Lead Qualification & Inside Sales Specialist, and a Inside Sales Specialist (contract) in Boulder, CO.
2ndKitchen is hiring a Customer Success Manager, Account Executive, and Director of Sales in Chicago.
PrintWithMe ishiring a Customer Success Associate, Network Operations Specialist, Inside Sales Executive, and an Operations Lead in Chicago; Super User Technicians in Portland and Houston; and a Regional Sales Director for the West Coast.
Parallax is hiring a Customer Success Specialist, Quality Assurance Engineer, Senior Software Engineer, and for a Growth/Customer Acquisition role in Minneapolis.
Branchis hiring a UX Designer, Content Marketing Manager, Settlement Analyst, Software Engineer, Customer Support Agent, Customer Success Manager, and a Senior Backend Engineer in Minneapolis.

Twin Cities Startup Week is over! It was a busy week for many of us in the tech and innovation community, with around 300 events to attend and thousands of people to meet.

This year, Great North Labs was proud to bring Greater Minnesota into the BETA Showcase for the first time ever. Thanks to Reed Robinson and Adam Lingerfelt at Beta for working with us to include 10 non-metro startups at this year’s event! We are still waiting on final tallies from TCSW, but we know that over 900 tickets were sold for the Showcase event. The value for these outstate entrepreneurs of that kind of exposure is fantastic, and we are glad to have done our part in providing it through our partnership with BETA.

Great North Labs’s Ryan Weber speaks at the 2019 BETA Showcase at TCF Bank Stadium as BETA Executive Director Reed Robinson looks on.

Prior to the Showcase, Great North Labs hosted an invite-only event for the entrepreneurs and other attendees working from or with Greater Minnesota. The Greater MN Meetup brought together Greater Minnesota ecosystem stakeholders to join the conversation on improving the startup ecosystem. We had over 100 attendees involved in actively supporting the Greater MN innovation ecosystem! Thanks to Moss & Barnett and EPIQ Partners for co-hosting and making this event possible.

“With the efforts of some amazing partners like the NEW Launch MN initiative and Great North Labs, there’s an ever increasing appetite for supporting and celebrating technology being built in Greater Minnesota… Working together, we’re excited to see what kind of growth occurs – customers, investment, awareness, etc – by building tighter relationships between the local technology ecosystem and those building outside of the Twin Cities.” – Reed Robinson, Co-Founder and Executive Director of BETA

Events and initiatives like the 2019 BETA Showcase, gBeta Greater MN St. Cloud, and Launch MN are excellent catalysts for entrepreneurs. By supporting them we will continue to drive innovation and foster economic value creation in Minnesota and across the Upper Midwest.

In line with this mission on a national level is Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, who just announced a $150M second fund. They are focused on investing in startups from communities not located in traditional startup hotbeds. We are partners with Rise in Dispatch and Structural, and are supporters of what they do locally. Great North Labs’s Rob Weber will be speaking at their upcoming annual summit in D.C. on Scaling a Company and Growing a Team Outside of Silicon Valley. Congratulations to Steve Case, Anna Mason, Mary Grove and the rest of the Rise team!

Events

Nov. 5th, UMD Entrepreneurship Conference in Duluth, MN. This student-run conference will bring together entrepreneurs, educators, and innovators.

Nov. 6-7th, Wisconsin Early Stage Symposium in Madison, WI. This is an Investor/Entrepreneur conference with 500+ attendees.

Nov. 12th, Launch MN Roundtable Discussion: Central Minnesota in St. Cloud, MN. Great North Labs is hosting Launch MN! This session will educate innovation ecosystem stakeholders on the initiative, and serve as a forum for feedback about how to best support Central MN.

Nov. 12-14th, Fulcrum: The Conference on Solutions for the Future of Work inDetroit, MI. “The Fulcrum Conference will bring together a broad range of stakeholders to design win-win solutions that will benefit workers, employers, our communities, and our economy.” 50% off code for SingularityU community members: SUCOMM50.

Nov. 14th, Cultivate in Fargo, ND. Put on by Emerging Prairie, this conference is all about emerging tech in agriculture. Entrepreneurs in the AgTech space actively looking for investment and ready to pitch, apply here. Connect with Ryan Weber (@mnvikingsfan) at the event.

Nov. 14th, OnRamp Manufacturing Conference in Indianapolis, IN. The OnRamp Manufacturing Conference highlights innovations disrupting the manufacturing industry, the leaders making such innovations possible, and how new technologies and business models will reinvent the industry.

Nov. 18th, Moonshot Monday in Minneapolis. SingularityU Minneapolis-St. Paul’s happy hour event will feature Finnegan’s finest, networking, and the think-outside-the-box Global Grand Challenges game.

Nov. 19-20th, 2019 UNMET Conference inDenver, CO. “50 of the fastest-growing tech companies located throughout the middle of the US will be pitching to raise Series A/B Capital”. Connect with Rob Weber (@robertjweber) at the event.

Advisor News

Amit Patel is new to the Great North Labs Advisory Team! Amit is the Co-Founder and CEO of Vios Medical. Amit’s experience includes Global Partnership Strategy at Heartflow, Inc., and Corporate Development at Medtronic.

Brian Tockman is new to the Great North Labs Advisory Team! Brian advises consumer growth and omni-channel retail companies. He is a former Venture Investor at General Mills, Merchant at Target, and eCommerce Startup Leader.

Portfolio News

Misty Roboticshas released Misty II! Check out their latest robot/developer platform here.

Dispatch won the Operational Excellence Award at the 2019 Twin Cities Startup Week Awards. Congrats to the Dispatch team!

Job Board

More information about our portfolio companies can be found here.

Dispatch is hiring all over the country for Drivers and for Biz Dev, QA Engineer, Front-End Engineer, Accounts Payable, and a CFO in Bloomington, MN
Structural is hiring for a Sales & Marketing Operations Specialist, and Account Exec in St. Paul, MN.
FactoryFix is hiring a Software Engineer and Product Designer in Madison, and a Business Development Specialist and an Account Manager in Chicago.
Misty Robotics is hiring a Lead Qualification and Inside Sales Specialist in Boulder, CO.
2ndKitchen is hiring a Digital Marketing Manager, Customer Success Manager, Account Exec, Customer Support Manager, and Director of Sales, all in Chicago.
PrintWithMe is hiring a Customer Success Associate, Network Operations Specialist, and Operations Lead in Chicago, and a Regional Sales Director for the West Coast.

Twin Cities Startup Week kicks off tonight, and goes until October 16th! This is the biggest startup (event? happening?) anything in Minnesota every year, and TCSW 2019 is bigger than ever, with over 300 events. So what does a venture fund like Great North Labs have to do with it? Are we just wandering around writing checks?

Oh, no. Oh ho ho ho ho NO.

1. BETA Showcase

Oct. 14th, from 7-9 pm at the DQ Club Room at TCF Bank Stadium

When Reed Robinson at BETA approached us about including Greater MN in Twin Cities Startup Week (TCSW), we had some ideas.

This year, we helped BETA source and vet startups from around the state for the BETA Showcase, which regularly sells out (and which attracted 800 attendees last year!). For the first time ever, this premier event of TCSW will include 10 startups from Greater MN, in addition to the 14 from the BETA cohort. Who will take home the Golden iPod this year?!

While many demo events are industry or metro-specific, this will truly be a celebration of the state’s entire ecosystem. Come to eat, drink, and talk one-on-one with some of the hottest new founders in the state!

2. Greater MN Meetup

Oct. 14, from 5-6 pm at the “M” Club Room at TCF Bank Stadium

2019 is the first year focused on including Greater MN, so Great North Labs decided to help organize the Greater MN Meetup, with sponsors EPIQ Partners and Moss & Barnett.

This invite-only (request and invite at the link if you haven’t received one) pre-event gathering before the BETA Showcase will be a place for policy folks, business leaders, economic development pros, entrepreneurs, and investors interested in supporting the innovation and startup ecosystem statewide. It will also give all of the Showcase newcomers a place to gather with likeminded people before the craziness of the BETA Showcase.

Join us to connect with Greater MN stakeholders, and have a drink and snacks before the BETA Showcase!

3. Exponential Medicine

Oct. 14, from 1:30-2:30 pm at Junior Achievement of the Upper Midwest

Ryan Weber is not only a Managing Partner at Great North Labs, but he is also the Co-Ambassador at SingularityU Minneapolis-St. Paul (SU-MSP), where he keeps up on digital transformation and exponential technologies.

The mission of SU-MSP includes educating people in the community around these topics. Exponential Medicine is part of the featured Health track, and we have gathered 3 cutting-edge local companies to speak about what they do, where they see the tech going, and the impact that will have in the future.

Come to learn about advanced tech in local medical companies StemoniX, Recombinetics, and Miromatrix Medical.

4. Exponential Medicine Moonshot Workshop

Oct. 14, from 3:00-4:00 pm at Junior Achievement of the Upper Midwest

Another part of the mission of SU-MSP is to promote local moonshots using exponential tech to take on the world’s most pressing problems! This Moonshot Workshop will work on generating some of these big, transformative ideas with a health focus.

Ryan Weber will co-facilitate this workshop with fellow SU-MSP leadership team member Nick Tietz, Founder and CEO of ILT Studios.

Want to think outside of the box while brainstorming BIG ideas to make the world a better place? Join us for this session to not only learn how to generate these ideas, but to generate some yourself!

5. TCSW Awards Ceremony

Oct. 16, from 6-9 pm at the Science Museum of Minnesota

The Closing Party of Twin Cities Startup Week is going to be a blowout at the Science Museum. This will be the last hurrah of TCSW 2019!

Sign up separately to attend the TCSW Awards Ceremony from 6-7 pm. There are a variety of awards given out, and this year we are proud to be sponsoring the 10K Award. The award is for recognizing an organization, team, or individual fueling Minnesota’s startup ecosystem outside the greater MSP Area.

Vote for the 10K Award recipient here, and attend the event for the last goodbye to TCSW until 2020!

6. Partnerships Matter: Why Go it Alone if you Don’t Have to?

Oct. 11, from 10 am-12 pm at EPIQ Partners

Managing Partner Rob Weber will be speaking at EPIQ Partners alongside Neela Mollgaard, Director of Launch MN, and Matt Meents, former CEO of Magnet 360.

“Success rarely happens as a solo effort. Every entrepreneur must find and nurture partnerships along the way. From co-founders developing trust in early stages to finding the right advisors to track towards an exit, partnerships matter. Come and absorb from an informed group of experienced partners.” – from the event description that was so right-on it had to be directly quoted

Come to hear about the value of partnerships, and valuable partnerships.

7. Kind of all over the place

Great North Labs contributes to many organizations that are important to the local startup ecosystem including MN Cup (Final Awards ceremony on Oct. 14th!), Minnestar (Minnedemo 33 is Oct. 10th!), BETA (operational support for all of TCSW), and SingularityU Minneapolis-St. Paul.

A healthy ecosystem produces more startups, and we hope to grow it locally, while continuing to invest in early-stage startups throughout all of Minnesota and the Upper Midwest. We are glad to see Twin Cities Startup Week growing in attendees, events, and sponsors, and by including startups from Greater MN!

This year, Greater MN is joining Twin Cities Startup Week in a big way! The premier event of TCSW is including Greater MN for the first time, as Great North Labs has partnered with BETA to open up the BETA Showcase to Greater MN startups. BETA is the founder and organizer of Twin Cities Startup Week, and every year the Showcase is the sold-out highlight of the week, featuring top startups.

Ten Greater Minnesota startups will be highlighted alongside 14 from BETA’s cohort.

“With the efforts of some amazing partners like the NEW Launch MN initiative and Great North Labs, there’s an ever increasing appetite for supporting and celebrating technology being built in Greater Minnesota. It’s our privilege to present some of these companies at one of Twin Cities Startup Week’s most exciting events – the BETA Showcase. Working together, we’re excited to see what kind of growth occurs – customers, investment, awareness, etc – by building tighter relationships between the local technology ecosystem and those building outside of the Twin Cities.” – Reed Robinson, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Beta.MN

The event will be Oct.14 in the DQ Club Room at TCF Bank Stadium, from 7-9 pm. Tickets for the Showcase usually sell out, so be sure to get them well in advance as 1,000+ attendees are expected this year.

Greater MN Meetup

Great North Labs is sponsoring a special, invite-only, pre-Showcase gathering for Greater MN stakeholders called the Greater MN Meetup. The Greater MN Meetup will focus on Greater MN start-ups, founders, and relationships, and making introductions and connections within this group. Ticketholders for the Greater MN Meetup (from 5-6 pm) are invited to stay for the VIP Showcase event from 6-7 pm, and the Showcase itself.

If you haven’t received an invitation to the Greater MN Meetup and are interested in attending, please make an inquiry here.

There are quality startups around the state that can use the exposure that comes with a slot at the top startup event of the largest startup gathering in the state (and one of the largest in the country!). We are excited to do our part connecting Greater MN with this awesome gathering.

Events

Oct. 9-16th, Twin Cities Startup Week in Minneapolis, MN. This is the largest startup gathering annually in Minnesota, featuring dozens of events at multiple venues around the city. Be sure to check out:

Beta Showcase on Oct. 14th. This year’s Great North Labs partnership with Beta will bring Greater MN into the metro startup ecosystem! Plan to showcase, sponsor, or attend!
SingularityU Minneapolis-St. Paul’s Exponential Medicine and Exponential Medicine Moonshot Workshop on Oct. 14th. Exponential Medicine will feature leading local health tech entrepreneurs Ping Yeh of StemoniX, Mark Platt of Recombinetics, and Jeff Ross of Miromatrix Medical. Great North Labs’s Ryan Weber will be running the Moonshot Workshop with ILT Studios’s Nick Tietz.

Oct. 10th, Innovation Expo inSioux Falls, SD. Great North Labs partner Ryan Weber will be speaking on the Finance Panel.

Oct. 11th, Future Finance Forum at Allianz Field inSt. Paul, MN. “Join more than 300 CEOs, founders, VCs, government leaders, journalists and corporate executives from across the country as they connect in Minnesota to discuss the latest trends moving the fintech industry forward.”

Oct. 15th, The Dance – Automation Summit in Columbus, OH. “We’re bringing together more than 300 of the brightest minds in robotics and automation for one day summit at the Columbus Musuem of Art on October 15th.”

Nov. 6-7th, Wisconsin Early Stage Symposium in Madison, WI. Investor/Entrepreneur conference with 500+ attendees.

Nov. 11-17, Startup Wisconsin Week in multiple locations across the state. “Advancing Wisconsin’s tech and startup ecosystems through unique programming driven by entrepreneurs” is the mission of this state-wide happening.

Nov. 14th, Cultivate in Fargo, ND. Put on by Emerging Prairie, this conference is all about emerging tech in agriculture.

Nov. 14th, OnRamp Manufacturing Conference in Indianapolis, IN. The OnRamp Manufacturing Conference highlights innovations disrupting the manufacturing industry, the leaders making such innovations possible and how new technologies and business models will reinvent the industry.

Portfolio News

Parallax is new to the Great North Labs portfolio. Parallax is a platform that simplifies lead planning and provides real-time answers to the most important questions, allowing businesses to succeed while crafting their vision for tomorrow.

Branch is also new to the portfolio. Branch is a mobile-first technology that helps hourly workers get ahead financially. The application allows users to budget, take paycheck advances, and earn more income by picking up available shifts.

Job Board

More information about our portfolio companies can be found here.

Dispatchis hiring all over the country for Drivers and locally for Product Owner, Biz Dev, QA Engineer, UX Designer, Accounts Payable, Driver Engagement, and a CFO.
Structural is hiring a Software Sales & Operations Support Specialist.
FactoryFixis hiring a Software Engineer and Product Designer in Madison, and a Business Development Specialist and an Account Manager in Chicago.
Misty Robotics is hiring a Devops Engineer and Principal Electrical Engineer in Boulder, CO.
2ndKitchen is hiring a Digital Marketing Manager, Customer Success Manager, Account Exec., Biz Dev Development Manager, and Director of Sales, all in Chicago, and a Product Designer in New York, NY.
PrintWithMe is hiring a Marketing Manager and NOC Tech Support Technician in Chicago, and a Regional Sales Director for Sacramento/Bay Area and Los Angeles. Branchis hiring a Senior Fronted Engineer, Senior Backend Engineer, Android Engineer, Creative Manager, Content Marketing Manager, Senior iOS Engineer, Settlement Analyst, Customer Support Agent, Demand Generation Manager, Customer Success Manager, Account Exec., and an Office Assistant.

Summer is coming to an end, but fall is shaping up to be a good time! The ever-growing Twin Cities Startup Week is October 9-16th this year, and the schedule is currently being finalized.

There are quality startups around the state that can use the exposure that comes with a slot at the top startup event of the largest startup gathering in the state (and one of the largest in the country!). This year Great North Labs has partnered with Beta to open up the Beta Showcase to Greater MN startups.

Beta Showcase

The Beta Showcase is a collection of top local startups, with roughly 18 spots available to metro and Greater MN startups this year. Hundreds of people gather to talk to the founders, network, drink, and vote on their favorite, with the winner announced at the end of the night. Tickets for the Showcase usually sell out, so be sure to get them well in advance.

This is the first year Greater Minnesota startups will be highlighted during the Showcase event alongside metro startups.

If you are a founder who is interested in the exposure and the experience that comes with this event – applications are open until August 30th. We are especially interested in any startups located outside the Minnesota metro area who want to take part. The Showcase is Monday, October 14th in the DQ Club at TCF Stadium in Minneapolis. Interested startups can apply here.

With this event expansion to Greater MN comes expanded sponsorship opportunities. If your company is interested in joining Great North Labs and Beta as we work to bring Greater MN into the startup ecosystem, simply reply to this email for more info. MN DEED has already grabbed the title sponsorship, but there are other opportunities available.

Events

With Twin Cities Startup Week on the horizon, it’s easy to overlook other events. Instead, look them over here:

Sept. 10th, Beta’s Tournament of Champions Grand Finale in Minneapolis, MN. This competition is down to the Final Four, and the winner will walk away with $50,000.

Sept. 16-17th, 2019 US FinTech Symposium in Chicago, IL. This educational event will focus on FinTech disruptors like AI and blockchain, while also featuring some Midwest startups.

Sept. 17th, Cross-border investing: Wisconsin Tech Council Luncheon inUW-Eau Claire, WI. Great North Labs Analyst Mike Schulte will be presenting.

Sept. 17th, MedCity Invest Digital Healthin Minneapolis, MN. This event, supported by our friends at the Medical Alley Association, “will unite active investors with corporate business development executives to facilitate investment opportunities with the most innovative companies from the Digital Health sector.”

Oct. 8-9th, Fall Experiment in Milwaukee, WI.This is a gathering of tech and creatives with focuses on “Tech, Art, Gaming, Music”.

Oct. 9-16th, Twin Cities Startup Week in Minneapolis, MN. This is the largest startup gathering annually in Minnesota, featuring dozens of events at multiple venues around the city, including:

Beta Showcase on Oct. 14th. This year’s Great North Labs partnership with Beta will bring Greater MN into the metro startup ecosystem! Plan to showcase, sponsor, or attend!
SingularityU Minneapolis-St. Paul’s Exponential Medicine on Oct. 14th. This 2-part event features local speakers who are using exponential technology in the medical field, followed by a Moonshot Workshop to develop ideas for applying exponential tech in transformative ways in the medical field! Great North Labs Partner Ryan Weber will be running the event along with Great North Labs Marketing Manager Josef Siebert.

Oct. 10th, Innovation Expo inSioux Falls, SD. Great North Labs partner Ryan Weber will be speaking during the Finance Panel.

Portfolio News

Great North Labs advisor Neela Mollgaard was named the head of Launch Minnesota! The new state program will provide incentives, training, and grants for new startups across the state.

Portfolio News

ZapInfo raised $1.75M in a Series Seed 2 funding round, which included new investor Randstad Innovation Fund. They have grown by over 400% in the last 12 months since Doug Berg took over as CEO.

Misty the robot (of Misty Robotics) took a road trip to Twilio SIGNAL 2019. You can check out the trip recap here. One developer who took Misty for a spin said, “I don’t usually program robots because it’s hard, and not very fun. But this was super fun and easy, so, I’m definitely going to pick one up.”

Job Board

Dispatchis hiring all over the country for Drivers and locally for Engineers, Biz Dev, QA, UX, Accounts Receivable, and a CFO.
Structural is hiring a Customer Success Specialist, and a Software Sales & Operations Support Specialist.
FactoryFixis hiring a Software Engineer in Madison, and a Business Development Specialist and an Account Manager in Chicago.
Pitchly is hiring a Product Designer in Des Moines (preferably) or the Upper Midwest.
Misty Robotics is hiring a Devops Engineer and Principal Electrical Engineer in Boulder, CO.
PrintWithMe is hiring a Marketing Manager and NOC Tech Support Technician in Chicago, and a Regional Sales Director.

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 through the highlights and show you why we love it.

Speaking of Twin Cities Startup Week, mark your calendar for this October 9-16th. It’s going to be a good one this year. And hopefully snow-free!

Rob Weber has been supporting entrepreneurs in St. Cloud and hanging out with the Governor. Read all about it on the Greater St. Cloud Development Corporation’s website.

Great North Labs Managing Partner Rob Weber with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

While you’re at it, do a little supporting yourself by contacting your state rep about supporting the Minnesota Innovation Collaborative. Steve Grove, MN DEED’s commissioner, has some big plans, and he knows a thing or two about both public policy and supporting entrepreneurship.

Mary Grove does too, as the former director of Google for Entrepreneurs. She was on-hand at MinneBar to present “VC Reverse Pitch” with Rob Weber, where they shared metrics and qualifications they look when investing as VC’s. Mary, a partner in Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, also spoke about partnering with Great North Labs, “One of the reasons we like co-investing with Great North Labs is because Rob and Ryan have the experience of building, growing, and exiting a company.”

Speaking of ecosystem building, a great article came out comparing Sioux Falls and Fargo. Sioux Falls and Fargo: Two Approaches to Building Startup Ecosystems. It’s a great intro for anyone interested in the tech and entrepreneurship communities in the two cities, or for anyone interested in practical examples over theory.

Upcoming Events

Beta Showcase Spring 2019-May 8th, Minneapolis, MN. It is “a science fair for startups, with beer and music”.

Minnesota Entrepreneur Kickoff – May 14th, Fort Snelling, MN. This annual event is devoted to growing the MN entrepreneur ecosystem. Ryan Weber will be presenting on Exponential Technology.

5 Lakes Forum– May 14th, Milwaukee, WI. “5 LAKES Forum is a launchpad for tech and startup leaders from the Great Lakes region to create meaningful connections and navigate high-level business and technology topics.”

EntreFest – May 16-17th, Cedar Rapids, IA. A two-day conference for entrepreneurship and innovation professionals. Ryan Weber will appear on two investor panels, and will also be speaking on Exponential Technology.

Drone Focus – May 29th, Fargo, ND. This conference is expanding their focus to include the infrastructure, software, systems, and resources for autonomous systems. It is put on annually by Emerging Prairie.

Lean Startup Bootcamp – May 29th-June 19th, St. Cloud, MN. Join Great North Labs for our Lean Startup Bootcamp to level-up your skills as an entrepreneur, a product manager, or student of innovation. This work-friendly training is from 6-8:30 p.m. for four consecutive Wednesdays.

SingularityU Minneapolis-St.Paul Chapter Kickoff – June 4th, Minneapolis, MN. Join chapter co-ambassador Ryan Weber for the inaugural event of this organization, one of only 2 Midwest chapters of a total 142 chapters in 66 countries worldwide. SU-MSP is focused on education, networking and community, with a mission to work to solve the world’s most pressing problems with exponential technologies. (Signup and Speakers TBD).

Portfolio Action

ZenLord Pro is live with a new website. The landlord management software startup also has a flashy new explainer video, in case you’re looking for an easy way to manage your rentals or just need to understand what it is, exactly, that they do.

New Advisors

Six Great North Labs advisors are new to the team.

Nick Tietz is the former Director of New Business Development and Innovation at Life Time Fitness, and is a co-founder of VariAware, LLC and Vitals Aware Services. Nick is the founder of The Sota Enterprises, where works with companies and startup founders to turn ideas into assets. Among other things, he partners with Great North on Innovation Workshops.

Aaron Kardell is Founder & CEO of HomeSpotter, which is a “relationship engine” for brokers, real estate agents, and clients.
He is the former founder & CEO of Mobile Realty Apps, and co-founder of Deals.by.

Casey Carl is CEO and founder of North Coast Ventures, a strategic advising and early stage venture investment company. He is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors at Minnesota health nonprofit MATTER.

Thompson Aderinkomi is co-founder and CEO of Nice Healthcare, which is a primary care clinic that provides care through in-home and remote video visits. He also co-founded Relate, and is a former co-founder and board member of Healthcare.mn.

Bryan Laskin is the founder of Operability, LLC, which is leading development for cloud based communications for the healthcare industry. He is also the SVP of Innovation for Dental Care Alliance, and co-founder of Talentship.

Scott Resnick is theCOO of Hardin Design & Development, and is the current Entrepreneur is Residence at StartingBlock Madison. He is also the former Executive Director of StartingBlock, which is an entrepreneurial hub in Madison (similar to 1871 in Chicago).

Job Board

Dispatch is hiring all over the country for Field Sales Representatives and Drivers and for a variety of positions in Bloomington, MN.
Structural is hiring a Digital Marketing Specialist in St.Paul.
TeamGenius is hiring a Part-time Customer Success Associate in Minneapolis.
FactoryFix is hiring a Software Engineer in Madison, and a Business Development Specialist, Business Development Manager, and a Key Accounts Manager in Chicago.
Misty Robotics is hiring a Head of Hardware and a Manufacturing and Repair Engineer in Boulder.
Pepr is hiring for Business Development – Outbound Sales in Minneapolis.
2ndKitchen is hiring a City Lead and a Full-Stack Developer in Brooklyn, NY.

Ryan Weber Jul 15, 2024

Great North Ventures Leads OneCarNow! Series A Unlocking $86M In Funding For Improved Gig Worker Financial Well-Being

Grant Gibson Jul 15, 2024

Micruity Secures $5 Million to Transform Retirement Income Solutions

Ryan Weber Jun 27, 2024

Pear Commerce Secures $10M in Series A Funding to Transform Shoppable Media & Enhance Retail E-commerce

Rob Weber Jun 06, 2024

How Long Does It Take for a Startup to Get to a Big Exit?

Grant Gibson May 25, 2024

VCs and Startups Are Adjusting to the Corrected Market

Rob Weber May 23, 2024

Let’s Celebrate the Two Year Anniversary of Great North Ventures Fund II

Grant Gibson Apr 30, 2024

April Newsletter

Sergio Angelini, Luis Morales, Patricio Naumann

Rob Weber Apr 09, 2024

Great North Ventures Invests in Mangxo to Revolutionize Credit Terms in Latam’s Construction Sector

Rob Weber Mar 12, 2024

WithMe: A Startup Growth Story Fueled by Profits

Rob Weber Mar 06, 2024

HLRBO Raises $1M Seed Round to Better Assist Landowners in Leasing Their Land to Hunters

Great North Ventures Jun 29, 2023

June Newsletter

Pradip Madan Jun 27, 2023

Revolutionizing Medical AI Development: Flywheel Announces $54 Million in Series D Funding led by Novalis LifeSciences & NVentures

Rob Weber Jun 01, 2023

Grant Gibson Joins The Great North Ventures Team

Rob Weber May 01, 2023

Demystifying Startup HR

Rob Weber Apr 26, 2023

Joseph Daher Joins The Great North Ventures Team

Great North Ventures Mar 29, 2023

Head of Finance & Fund Administration- Venture Capital Firm (Remote)

Great North Ventures Jan 05, 2023

Demystifying Startup HR

Great North Ventures Sep 03, 2022

3 Portfolio Companies Make Inc. 5000 + Quicklly & Instacart Expand

Great North Ventures Sep 02, 2022

Mike Schulte, Principal at Great North Ventures, on Episode 15, “Execution is King” (Part 2)

Great North Ventures Sep 01, 2022

Mike Schulte, Principal at Great North Ventures, on Episode 14, “Execution is King” (Part 1)

3 Portfolio Companies on The Inc. 5000 List

Great North Ventures Aug 23, 2022

3 Portfolio Companies Ranked on The Inc. 5000 List

Great North Ventures Aug 04, 2022

iraLogix closes $22M + Branch expands with Uber

Great North Ventures Aug 01, 2022

iraLogix closes $22M Series C

Great North Ventures Jul 11, 2022

Flywheel lands Gates Foundation grant

Great North Ventures Jun 30, 2022

Venture Capital Analyst

Great North Ventures Jun 23, 2022

Orazio Buzza, Founder and CEO of Fooda – on Episode 13, “Execution is King”

Great North Ventures Jun 03, 2022

$40M Fund II Raised!

Great North Ventures May 26, 2022

Eric Martell, Founder of Pear Commerce: Episode 13, Execution is King

Great North Ventures Raises $40M Fund II

Great North Ventures May 23, 2022

Great North Ventures Raises $40 Million Fund II

Great North Ventures May 18, 2022

Investment Thesis: Fund II Strategy

Investment Thesis: Community-Driven Applications

Great North Ventures May 13, 2022

Investment Theme: Community-Driven Applications

Investment Themes: Digital Transformation Through AI

Great North Ventures May 13, 2022

Investment Theme: Digital Transformation Through AI

Great North Ventures May 13, 2022

Investment Theme: Solving Labor Problems

Great North Ventures May 02, 2022

Trends in the Gig Economy + Work in the Metaverse

Great North Ventures Apr 20, 2022

Tipatat Chennavasin, General Manager and Co-Founder of The Venture Reality Fund: Episode 12, Execution is King

Great North Ventures Apr 04, 2022

Portfolio raises $125M + talking fundraising with Branch CEO

Great North Ventures Mar 17, 2022

Omnia Fishing closes $4M round, joins Great North portfolio!

Great North Ventures Mar 09, 2022

Atif Siddiqi, Founder/CEO of Branch: Episode 11, Execution is King

Great North Ventures Feb 24, 2022

Michael Martocci, CEO and Founder of SwagUp: Episode 10, Execution is King

Great North Ventures Feb 04, 2022

Yardstik new to portfolio, closes $8M Series A

Great North Ventures Feb 01, 2022

First venture studio startup comes out of stealth!

Great North Ventures Jan 31, 2022

Insights for founders from a data guru, + FactoryFix raises a Series A!

Great North Ventures Jan 26, 2022

Una Fox: Episode 9, Execution is King

Rob Weber Jan 24, 2022

Start With a Mobile App, Not a Website

The rise of rapid detection technologies

Pradip Madan Jan 13, 2022

The Rise of Rapid Consumer Detection Technologies: A 2022 Outlook

Great North Ventures Jan 03, 2022

2ndKitchen acquired by SoftBank-backed REEF + advice from an early Googler

Great North Ventures Dec 29, 2021

Joe Sriver, 4giving: Episode 8, Execution is King

Great North Ventures Dec 22, 2021

2ndKitchen Acquired by REEF

Great North Ventures Dec 04, 2021

Venture studio startup jobs + advice for founders from founders

Great North Ventures Nov 24, 2021

Best Advice from the Great North Annual Event: Episode 7, Execution is King

Great North Ventures Nov 01, 2021

Newsletter: Do you fit our investing themes?

Great North Ventures Oct 21, 2021

Jonathan Treble, PrintWithMe: Episode 6, Execution is King