ARK Challenge

Don’t let appearances fool you. The Winters Law Firm in Fayetteville is considered a can’t-miss resource for the area’s startup community. read more >

As technology became accessible, people with a multitude of different agendas have embraced it. Some use it to design incredibly complex logistical plans for transportation; some use it to analyze big data for financial institutions; some use it to figure out a way to connect hungry people to food. read more >

Spencer Jones' ARK startup led to the launch of LineGuard Med to develop SafeBreak, a device engineered to protect IV access devices from accidental dislodgment. read more >

Jeannette Balleza Collins is a freelance strategic consultant with Scribe Marketing, which she founded in 2004, as well as the manager of the Tonic NWA Fund, an angel investment fund she co-founded. read more >

Despite laying low since graduating its 2014 classes, one in Fayetteville and one in Little Rock, the ARK Challenge tech startup accelerator will continue in northwest Arkansas. read more >

Real Agent Guard developed a mobile-enabled personal security system for real estate agents. It was created by founders Justin Horner and Tim Brasuell in the aftermath of the murder last year of a central Arkansas agent. read more >

Before 2012, Arkansas startup founders looking to join an accelerator program to fast-track their ventures had to look out of state. The ARK Challenge gave them a reason to stay home. The state’s first startup accelerator, the ARK was funded into life in 2012 when Innovate Arkansas submitted an application to the $37 million Jobs & Innovation Accelerator Challenge, an effort by the U.S. Department of Commerce to spur job creation within targeted regional industry clusters. read more >

With Politapoll on hold, and with Civik still searching for traction, Atwood said it made sense to explore a melding of the minds, of sorts. (RIP, Leonard Nimoy.) And a natural fit, it is. read more >

Justyn Hornor chose to place Politapoll on hold while he and co-founder Tim Brasuell pivoted to Real Agent Guard, which provides security measures for real estate agents. read more >

Leaders of the Arkansas Venture Center and the Little Rock Technology Park will set up offices in the former ARK Challenge space on the ground floor of the Block 2 building in the 100 block of East Markham in downtown Little Rock. read more >

David Allan, who founded Little Rock startup Acorn Hours and guided it through the 2014 fall installment of the ARK Challenge startup accelerator, has pivoted. Allan is the new CEO of Tagless Style, another Little Rock startup that participated in the ARK this fall. read more >

Spencer Jones, who won the 2014 fall edition of the ARK Challenge with his Little Rock startup Jones Innovative Medical Solutions, has some advice for aspiring entrepreneurs looking to emulate his early success. read more >

While the Razorbacks toiled themselves back to respectability in the rugged Southeastern Conference, Spencer Jones developed his Little Rock startup, Jones Innovative Medical Solutions, alongside some of the state’s most promising young entrepreneurs at the ARK Challenge. read more >

Students from eStem Public Charter High School in downtown Little Rock spent Friday morning pitching startup ideas designed to innovate the current educational model. read more >

The ARK Challenge startup accelerator last week concluded its fourth installment, and first in Little Rock, with Demo Day presentations of company pitches held inside the Clinton Center's Great Hall. read more >

Investors participating in the Arkansas Technology Summit Thursday at the Argenta Innovation Center in downtown North Little Rock said they'd prefer to see an inspired pitch from a potential investment target than a detailed business plan. read more >

Spencer Jones, a surgical nurse resident at CHI St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center in Little Rock, won an investment round of $150,000 for his innovative blood-draw device Wednesday at the ARK Challenge Demo Day in Little Rock. read more >

The summit will run all day Thursday from the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub's Argenta Innovation Center in downtown North Little Rock. read more >

The ARK Challenge is the tech-based startup "boot camp" launched in Fayetteville in 2012 through a federal grant that funded two installments. This year, the program was picked up by the state and private investors, continued in northwest Arkansas and expanded to Little Rock. read more >

Fayetteville's Skosay has developed a private two-way communications channel for customers and businesses to share feedback in real time, and wants to be that next big NWA venture. read more >