A look back on building Maple Studios 2.0

Maple Studios, previously known as Maple Ventures, has transformed significantly over the past eight years on the Ramco Innovations campus. What began as a single conference room has grown into the impressive 11,000-square-foot startup studio we see today. 

In 2016, Maple Studios started as a conference room for Des Moines-based startup MakuSafe, an industrial startup team in need of warehouse space, office space, and a supportive team to provide guidance, introductions, and back-office support. They found this at Ramco Innovations, helping MakuSafe grow and succeed. 

By 2018, Ramco dedicated more space, creating a 2,500-square-foot studio for eight early-stage companies. The startup studio saw these companies move in, grow, and eventually move out, all while MakuSafe continued to grow and become more successful. 

In late 2021, plans for further expansion began. Ramco received the Entrepreneurship Innovation Award from the Iowa Economic Development Authority in early 2022, enabling them to hire a full-time director. Ramco also relocated their staff and cleared out older items across their three buildings to move their team closer together, freeing up an entire building for Maple Studios to support even more early-stage industrial companies. 

Construction started in fall 2022, culminating in a ribbon-cutting ceremony in August 2023. Today, Maple Studios has eight furnished offices, 32 workstations, three private builder labs, three workbench cells, four conference rooms, a private entrance, a shared kitchen, collaborative workspaces, a shipping and receiving station, and free parking. Entrepreneurs can also access fractional executive services from Ramco’s experienced staff, including bookkeeping and marketing. 

In the fall of 2023, Maple Studios opened a second location on the campus of Grace Technologies, a safety equipment supplier in Davenport, becoming Maple Studios Davenport. The first Maple Studios members moved in in February of this year, with room for at least one more company to call Maple Studios Davenport home.  

Currently, we have space for two more early-stage companies at our West Des Moines location, but we are near capacity to ensure our current members can continue to grow their teams. 

We envision Maple Studios continuing to be a hub of innovation and support for industrial startups. Our goal is to foster a community where early-stage companies can thrive, succeed, and grow so big they need to move out.  

We’re proud of our achievements over the past eight years and excited for the future. Here’s to the next eight years of innovation and success!