How the Business Innovation Act helps NMotion founders advance Nebraska’s economy
Kearney-based Fast Forward received strategic investments from the Business Innovation Act and is creating high wage jobs in central Nebraska
The grass is always greener where you water it. The Business Innovation Act does exactly that.
What if you knew that by investing $1 into a Nebraska startup, you would trigger $11.52 in additional investments? What if you knew that by investing $1 into a Nebraska startup, you would help it generate $11.50 in revenue?
Up until recently, it was a no brainer. You’d make those strategic investments every day, all day, especially if you want to make sure your best and brightest can build new, high wage paying companies here in Nebraska.
That’s the economic impact the Business Innovation Act and all of its strategic investment programs makes. It’s just good business and good for the future of Nebraska.
With reams of research to back up the claim, the Business Innovation Act has propelled Nebraska from the bottom of the barrel to the top half of states in terms of startup success. But out of nowhere, the state of Nebraska announced it was pausing funds already appropriated without giving a reason.
Just becoming aware about the Business Innovation Act? Here is a quick Mug.News primer on its programs and impact. Plus, here is a Guest Editorial from Tech Nebraska’s Executive Director supporting its reinstatement.
The Business Innovation Act is Nebraska’s secret weapon. It is a competitive advantage we have over other states in the region. These programs have helped attract Nebraska founders back to the state and keep those already here from leaving for greener pastures.
Not only has the Business Innovation Act made it possible for Invest Nebraska to co-invest in every NMotion powered by gener8tor company, it has helped generate valuable non-dilutive grant funding to help founders build their prototypes without giving up additional ownership.
It has been a rare area of agreement in the political arena. Nebraska legislators and Governors across the political spectrum agreed this was one of the best strategic investments they could make to advance Nebraska’s economy.
But don’t take our word for it. Here is what NMotion founders have to say about the impact the Business Innovation Act has helped them make an impact here in Nebraska.
Stacy Dam, CEO and Co-Founder, Set Your Sites
We are deeply grateful for the support provided through the State of Nebraska’s Business Innovation Act (BIA), particularly the Prototype Grant and investment through Invest Nebraska’s matching funds with NMotion and leading our pre-seed round. This investment has been nothing short of transformational for our company and for the communities we serve.
Since receiving the Prototype Grant and NMotion-Invest Nebraska matching funds, Set Your Sites has grown from a single pilot location at Lake Wanahoo in Wahoo to managing more than 600 campsites across four states, generating six-figure sales within just 10 months. Our ability to innovate quickly with this funding, helped position us to be named Nebraska’s Innovation Business of the Year by Governor Pillen and the Nebraska Business Development Center, an honor we will forever cherish, further staking our determination to innovate locally.
BIA funding enabled us to bring innovative solutions to market rapidly and with capital efficiency—momentum that directly attracted private investment. In the months following our Prototype Grant award, Set Your Sites secured a $500,000 pre-seed round led by Invest Nebraska. Their lead investment brought our round to the finish line and the financial support gave us the resources we needed to grow from a part-time team of two to a dedicated team of six, with contracts now deployed from coast to coast.
The Prototype Grant did more than accelerate our growth; it created high-quality Nebraska tech jobs, fostered new partnerships, and helped generate increased revenue for Natural Resource Districts, the Nebraska State Fair and private campgrounds, dollars that are being reinvested right here in our state. Programs like BIA are foundational to Nebraska’s innovation ecosystem, providing a launchpad for companies that might otherwise struggle to gain traction.
We are currently preparing to apply for an SBIR award through the USDA—a critical next step toward national commercialization—the SBIR match offered through the Business Innovation Act has been a major factor in our decision to pursue this federal grant. Without this match, the incentive to build and scale our operations in Nebraska diminishes.
Other states, including Minnesota, Iowa, and Wyoming, continue to offer SBIR matching programs. The current pause on Nebraska’s program puts homegrown companies like ours at a competitive disadvantage and forces us to revisit where best to base our long-term operations.
We respectfully urge the reinstatement of Business Innovation Act funding as soon as possible. This program is vital to fostering entrepreneurship, retaining innovative companies, and ensuring Nebraska remains a national hub for technological advancement and economic development.
Set Your Sites is proud to be a Nebraska company founded by University of Nebraska graduates with small town Nebraska roots. By reinstating BIA, we are confident in our ability to keep building, innovating, and hiring right here at home.
Kent Campbell, CEO and Co-Founder, Quantum Qool
The Business Innovation Act has been foundational to Quantum Qool’s launch and Nebraska-based growth and its loss would directly undercut our ability to build a globally competitive deep-tech company here in the state. The Act is not an abstract policy for us. It truly is the mechanism that made this company exist and for it to be possible for both founders to come back to Nebraska. Without the BIA-backed capital from the likes of Invest Nebraska, it's very unlikely that we could have attracted sufficient private investment at this early, hardware-intensive stage in the state.
The BIA’s Prototype Grant and Academic R&D Grant programs are exactly the tools Quantum Qool needs to de-risk and commercialize our disruptive thermal management technology. These programs help companies like ours turn high-potential lab innovations into manufacturable products in partnership with Nebraska universities and local talent.
Both Quantum Qool co-founders are Nebraskans who left the state for other careers, then made intentional decisions to return and build here because of incentives like the BIA and the strong signal it sent about Nebraska’s commitment to innovation. Knowing that BIA capital, prototype support, and academic R&D partnerships were available was a key factor in choosing Nebraska over other tech hubs. Preserving and even strengthening the BIA will determine whether companies like Quantum Qool are built in Nebraska or someplace else.
Claudia Munoz-Najar & Armando Salgado, Co-Founders, Build Más
Without the Business Innovation Act, our ability to initiate Build Mas would have been considerably limited, if not entirely unattainable. It provided the essential capital to develop and improve our initial product, which now serves over 20 small trade contractors. Furthermore, participating in NMotion marked a significant milestone for our organization, as it introduced us to the Nebraska ecosystem and enabled access to numerous opportunities.
Dennis Einspahr, CEO and Founder, Tour Golf League
The Business Innovation Act helped Tour Golf League, a manufacturer of glow golf products for golf courses, accelerate our research and development efforts at a critical stage.
By receiving the BIA, Tour Golf League was able to invest further into research and development. After successfully completing R&D, we were able to purchase injection molds to establish scalable manufacturing of glow products. With manufacturing now established, we are preparing to distribute nationwide out of Nebraska. None of this possible with out the BIA.
More specifically, I want to highlight the direct impact the BIA grant had on other Nebraska businesses through our manufacturing development. Tour Golf League became Big O 3D Print and Design’s first major customer in 2024, a local product design company. The funds Big O 3D Print and Design received from Tour Golf League as a result of the BIA allowed them to purchase additional 3D-printing machines to expand their operations. Big O 3D Print and Design is now a growing business in Omaha supporting other startups just as it supported us.
Outside of the manufacturing impact, the BIA grant also enabled us to invest in sales. In a short time, we expanded our course partners in Nebraska from 3 to 16, resulting in more revenue for golf courses during unused business hours, increased part-time job opportunities, and new activities for Nebraskans to participate in at night.
The BIA grant creates an immeasurable downstream and long term impact, and without it, Nebraska will miss out on the valuable benefits that come from innovation investment.
Jessi Korinek, CEO and Co-Founder, Nave Analytics
The Business Innovation Act has been the single most critical mechanism for de-risking our technology and successfully attracting private capital to Nebraska.
As an AgTech company developing advanced sensor-free soil moisture intelligence, we relied on the BIA to prove our concept. The Prototype Grants (received twice) provided the crucial, non-dilutive capital needed to develop and validate our initial data pipeline. This validation was the required foundation that allowed us to secure a key pre-seed investment from Invest Nebraska.
Without the BIA, we would have lacked the sequential funding required to move from research to a scalable commercial product, and we likely would have been forced to seek our growth capital outside of Nebraska. Our recent SBIR/STTR match award is a critical validation. By matching federal R&D dollars, the BIA amplifies the state’s return on investment, accelerating the development of advanced algorithms and ensuring that cutting-edge geospatial science and data technology is commercialized by a Nebraska company.
We are profoundly grateful because the BIA allowed us to build a high-growth technology company right here in the heartland. The Act didn't just give us money; it gave us a full ecosystem—from the initial grant funding to the business structure provided by incubators accelerators like NMotion and The Combine—that recognizes the unique needs of a deep-tech startup.
By enabling Nave Analytics to grow, the BIA is fulfilling its mandate to create high-wage jobs and drive the next generation of technological innovation within Nebraska's most vital industry, agriculture.
Joe Toscano, CEO and Co-Founder, Service Stories
I am deeply grateful for the Business Innovation Act and the vision Nebraska's leaders had in creating it. This funding is part of the reason I decided to move back home to Nebraska from NYC to start my company. The state's commitment to supporting entrepreneurs was a decisive factor in my decision to come back to Nebraska.
Shortly after founding Service Stories, we were awarded $80,000 through the prototype grant program - funding that proved absolutely transformative. I can say with complete confidence that we would not be where we are today without that support, and it's quite likely our company simply wouldn't exist. That investment allowed us to hire a full-time developer and bring on two supporting team members part-time, giving us the technical capacity we needed to build our product. Because of this funding, we're on track to complete our MVP by the end of the year and will have a full-featured product ready to launch.
I'm particularly proud that all of these talented team members we've hired are right here in Nebraska. We're creating good jobs and generating tax revenue that flows back into the state - exactly the kind of economic multiplier effect the BIA was designed to achieve. It's incredibly rewarding to be part of that virtuous cycle.
What makes me most grateful is how the BIA demonstrates Nebraska's commitment to being a place where entrepreneurs can thrive. Without programs like this, companies like ours would be forced to seek funding from out-of-state sources, and over time, that pattern could lead businesses to relocate to markets with stronger financial ecosystems. The BIA ensures that Nebraska remains competitive and attractive for the next generation of entrepreneurs.
I hope the state will reverse its current decision in favor of maintaining this vital program that turns innovative ideas into thriving Nebraska businesses.
Emma Sheyi, CEO and Co-Founder, Immigify
The Business Innovation Act has played a foundational role in helping us launch and grow Immigify. We quite literally would not be where we are today without the support provided through the BIA programs.
Invest Nebraska, through the NMotion accelerator, invested in us early and gave us the initial lift we needed to build momentum. Their partnership not only provided critical capital but also opened doors to mentorship, networks, and credibility at a stage when most startups struggle to find footing.
Additionally, the Prototype Grant was instrumental in enabling us to build our native AI model—technology that sits at the core of our platform today. This funding allowed us to experiment, iterate, and develop a high-impact product that would have been extremely difficult to build without early non-dilutive support. Thanks to this, we’ve been able to create a scalable, tech-enabled solution for immigrants navigating complex processes, and we’ve grown into a mission-driven company making meaningful impact.
We are deeply grateful because the BIA didn’t just help us start—it allowed us to sustain and grow a high-impact business built right here in Nebraska. Their belief in our vision has empowered us to serve thousands of users, build cutting-edge technology, and contribute to the state’s innovation ecosystem in ways that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.
