People
Sep 12
After being held at gunpoint while working a student job, Nikhil Kolli built an AI security company driven by a resilience inherited from his father.
Opinion
a16z has raised the Machine Age Fund: $1.1B for AI hardware. Will the Midwest be equity partner or tenant and training model?
Funding
Sep 4
Midwest startup funding, week ending September 4, 2026: a thin week of three rounds, led by Stack Health's $21m seed, plus battleface and Silicon Prairie.
Ecosystem
Universities in Indiana and across the Midwest serve entrepreneurs best by helping students take the first step, and giving them a place to fail and learn.
By
Sebastian Penix
•
September 14, 2026
Midwest startup funding, week ending September 11, 2026: three rounds worth $53.8m, led by Impossible Objects' $40m Series B, plus Harmoni and Concorda.
26 Midwest companies cracked the top 250 of the 2026 Inc. 5000 — led by Chicago's Loop at 14,831% growth. See the fastest-growing businesses across nine states.
Inside MN:EVC's first summit Minnesota: early-career investors learn how AI, founder expectations, and platform work are reshaping venture capital.
The 10th year of the largest self-reported startup dataset from High Alpha and Visible: and Midwest responses matter more than ever.
A new UW-Madison CROWE report finds Wisconsin manufacturers have booked $1.6B in AI-related orders — and warns power is the main limit on the state's data center boom.
Digital Reference founder Ryan Stevens on leaving D.C. to build in Michigan, what AI has done to resume screening, and the trade-offs of a smaller pond.
How Midwest startup founders in Michigan and Ohio manage financial, operational, and market pressure — hard-won lessons on resilience from the trenches.
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