The temptation to hibernate through winter is strong, but don’t let that keep you inside! Bloomington and the surrounding areas are hosting a number of events that’ll keep you plugged in to the the latest tech news.

Verge Winter 2011 Meetup
5:30 p.m. Thursday, December 8 at DeveloperTown, Indianapolis, IN
Verge is for all people in the Indianapolis-area working at or investing in tech startups. The Winter Meetup will highlight three new startups:

• Quipol, a cool social polling platform
• Knomingo, a unique video community
• uFlavor, a custom beverage startup, which will be launching to the world at this event!

So whether you’ve founded a startup, hack at a startup, or both, you’re likely to have a good time and make some great connections at their monthly meetup.

Click here for more information.

Drupal December Meetup
6:30 p.m. Tuesday, December 13 at the IUPUI Library, Indianapolis, IN

This month’s meeting is a hack session –there is no set topic or schedule. The topics are determined based on those who are attending. You can work with other Drupal people on your projects and get help if you’re struggling with something specific.

This meetup is great for beginners as well as experienced Drupal developers. There will be professional Drupalers present to help, so no topic is too simple or complex.

Click here for more information.

hYPe December Social Networking Event: Martinis and Merriment!
5:30-7:30 p.m. Wednesday, December 14 at Serendipity Martini Bar, Bloomington, IN

The Bloomington Chamber of Commerce started hYPe in 2010 as a means to foster young budding professionals in Bloomington. hYPe will host a social networking event at Serendipity Martini Bar featuring door prizes, hors d’oeuvres, and drink specials. Bring three canned goods for admission!

Register for the event here.

Indy Media Artists Meetup
6 p.m. Thursday, January 19, 2012 at the J. Everett Light Career Center, Indianapolis, IN

Indy Media Artists provides a source of information and sense of community for local graphic designers, web designers, motion media and video creators. This month’s meeting will feature breakout groups on Photoshop, Adobe Suite 5.5 Demo, and WordPress.

Click here for more information.

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Last week, we announced that MyJibe was acquired by MoneyDesktop, provider of the fastest growing personal financial management platform for financial institutions. After less than 9 months on the market, MyJibe made waves in the industry. They caught the eye of MoneyDesktop CEO Ryan Caldwell, who quickly established a vision for accelerated growth.

“I was impressed with the potency of MyJibe’s team. They had accomplished, in software and business development, what most of our well-funded competitors were still working towards,” said Caldwell.

Based in Provo, UT, MoneyDesktop boasts a client base of over 200 banks and credit unions and unmatched partnerships with the country’s top online banking providers. The combination of MyJibe and MoneyDesktop will take PFM to the next level. MyJibe Founders Mike Langellier and Brandon Dewitt will join the MoneyDesktop team in leadership roles.

We’re thrilled by the success MyJibe has achieved is such a short time. We know that most of our investments won’t exit this quickly, but this acquisition is proof that great entrepreneurs can truly move markets when equipped with a great product. With only SproutBox’s investment and a whole lot of hustle (no angel round, no VC funding), Mike and Brandon multiplied their company’s value. I have no doubt that they will add fuel to the fire that MoneyDesktop has created. We’re excited to be part of it.

To read more about MyJibe’s deal check out the articles from Inside Indiana Business, Indiana Business Journal, or read the press release from MoneyDesktop.

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The end of the year is right around the corner. We hope you’ve been spending your time developing the next idea that we’ll invest in. If you haven’t, you still have time to submit an application for consideration. That being said, the deadline for this round of applications is December 18th at midnight.

We’ve worked on a lot of different projects over the years, recurring billing, proposals, Indian movies, and a better way to manage your finances, so the possibilities are endless.

Make sure to check out SproutBox’s website to see what characteristics we look for in an idea. And if you need some more help, Brad Wisler, wrote a post a while back describing who we like to invest in.

Don’t forget December 18th is the cutoff for this round. So get cracking on developing the best idea we’ve ever heard and apply!

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