Last Friday, January 12, Governor Bruce Rauner moderated an entrepreneur roundtable discussion at Peoria NEXT Innovation Center. Bradley University was well represented and, after a brief meeting with BU president Gary Roberts, the governor sat down with a few of…
BIG NEWS for startups and angel investors for 2018 – the State of Illinois renewed a sweet tax credit that investors can take advantage of! Official Angel Tax Credit webpage of Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity What STARTUPS…
Save the date for our next Startup GP Mixer! When The Winter Startup Mixer will be held Friday, January 26, from 7 - 9 PM. Where In the GAR Hall, located at 416 Hamilton Boulevard in downtown Peoria. What it…
Click here to register today for 2017 Brave Launch Pitch Day - Nov. 9! The front conference room at Peoria Next Innovation Center buzzed with entrepreneurial energy Tuesday evening during the third week of the Brave Launch accelerator sessions. The…
Here at the GPEDC, we've all been wondering what Mark Hanback, Director of GP Manufacturing Network, has been up to at TADA, a startup company right here in Peoria. At TADA, Hanback provides leadership as General Manager. So, when he…
We attended the Brave Launch Kickoff Reception on Tuesday where we met the teams competing this year. This year, there are nine teams competing. They come from a variety of different backgrounds: startups, small businesses, corporate innovation teams, and more.…
We were able to visit with Natural Fiber Welding after they flipped our travel grant on its head. They flew Steve Charron from North Carolina to Peoria using their grant, and were able to make a lot of progress. Charron…
We checked-in this week with our latest travel grant winner, Allan Dikeman, founder of Digital Dipstick Company. He applied for the travel grant so he could drive from Peoria to Indiana and was awarded! Founded back in 2016, Digital Dipstick…
When an industry leader of autonomous transportation lives in your backyard, it behooves you to pay a visit and say “Hello…I noticed your car drives itself.” So for our Spring Startup Mixer, we invited the crew from AutonomouStuff to hang…
We recently awarded another Startup GP Travel Grant, and we followed up with a few of those that received funding in the past. Natural Fiber Welding We want to extend a congratulations to the team at Natural Fiber Welding for receiving a…