A happy belated Thanksgiving to readers of this newsletter! I hope you were able to spend some time unplugged over the long weekend and are feeling refreshed and ready to engage with your local startup community.

As I begin putting together some year-end stories for VentureBeat, I want to hear your ideas about what I should focus on. In particular, I’m looking for suggestions related to:

  • Startups to watch in 2019
  • Cities to watch in 2019
  • Companies that have a great comeback or growth story from this year
  • How you’d like to see your startup community improve in 2019
It’s been exciting seeing some Heartland startups raise record-breaking amounts of venture capital in 2018 or double their headcount, but I know there’s always activity I’m missing. And I don’t want to ignore the challenges that many startups -- especially those just starting out -- still face in Heartland communities.

Thanks for reading, and as always, please send me your thoughts and feedback via email. You can also sign up here for VentureBeat’s Heartland Tech newsletter to get this column in your inbox weekly

Anna Hensel Heartland Tech Reporter

Featured Video

Check out this video from Powderkeg, “Interview with Dan Hanrahan, founder and president of Indianapolis startup Sigstrt”

Embedded 3rd party image

From the Heartland Tech channel

From left to right: Censys CEO Brian Kelly, COO David Corcoran, and CTO Zakir Durumeric[/caption]

From left to right: Censys CEO Brian Kelly, COO David Corcoran, and CTO Zakir Durumer

Censys, a search engine for internet-connected devices, raises $2.6 million led by GV and Greylock

Censys, an open source research project born out of the University of Michigan, collects information on alll of the devices connected to the internet.

Beyond VB

Project44 adds Uptake, Citadel vets

The logistics software startup raised $45 million last month, and its CEO expects revenue to double next year. (via Crain’s Chicago)

Ohio Becomes First U.S. State To Allow Businesses To Pay Taxes With Bitcoin

The state’s treasurer said Monday that businesses can now pay for 23 different kinds of taxes with the cryptocurrency. (via HuffPost)

How the Geography of Startups and Innovation Is Changing

We’re used to thinking of high-tech innovation and startups as generated and clustered predominantly in fertile U.S. ecosystems, such as Silicon Valley, Seattle, and New York. (via Harvard Business Review)

Microsoft Acquires Atlanta Virtual Desktop Startup FSLogix

FSLogix, an Alpharetta-based virtual desktop startup, has been acquired by its former partner, Microsoft, for an undisclosed amount. (via Atlanta Inno)