Popular ScaleUp! KC program welcoming area applicants
September 9, 2015 | Bobby Burch
ScaleUp! Kansas City is now accepting applications from area entrepreneurs that hope to boost their businesses through mentorship and a strong network of peers.
The program, which is now in the midst of its second class, welcomes about 15 businesspeople that aim to push their firm’s revenue past $1 million annually. ScaleUp! KC connects entrepreneurs with mentors, peers and resources to grow their businesses.
Operated by the University of Missouri-Kansas City Innovation Center, the program’s third cohort will be accepting applications until Nov. 23 and will begin in January.
“We know it’s important to attract and recruit companies to Kansas City, but growing our own [and] helping our homegrown businesses scale is critical to strengthening our economy, creating jobs and improving lives,” said Maria Meyers, director of the UMKC Innovation Center. “ScaleUP! KC wraps vital resources around Kansas City entrepreneurs who already know success and want to build bigger, better businesses right here in Kansas City. We’re energized that so many entrepreneurs — 32 to date — are using the program to strengthen their businesses and to create economic impact.”
ScaleUp! KC director Jill Meyer said that the program has made a significant impact on the entrepreneurs’ businesses since its January 2015 start.
Jowler Creek Vineyard & Winery recently received a loan to add a 6,000 square-foot facility to triple its footprint and increase production by more than 300 percent. El Padrino Apparel and Soccer Nation in June won the Kansas City Kansas Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business of the Year award.
“It’s been quite impressive to see the progress these companies have made in such a short time,” Meyer said in a release.
To be accepted into the program, entrepreneurs must lead a company that’s at least two-years-old, drive annual sales between $150,000 and $750,000, have a market that can generate more than $1 million in revenue and the determination to exceed that mark.
Click here to learn more about those now in the program.
Featured Business
2015 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Kansas City named a top tech locale
Kansas City again was touted as a top tech destination. Tech publication PC Magazine recently named Kansas City as one of “13 high-tech cities you’ll want to call home.” The magazine noted Kansas City’s access to Google Fiber, its low cost of living and communities such as the Kansas City Startup Village as reasons to…
Flow Forward Medical raises additional $1.3M
Flow Forward Medical boosted its latest funding round to further develop its device that helps improve outcomes for hemodialysis patients. The Olathe-based company closed a $1.3 million round of additional Series A financing led by the Kansas Bioscience Authority. Flow Forward previously raised $4.4 million, bringing its total funding raised to date to about $5.7 million.…
Schukman: 5 reasons why KC is the capital of social entrepreneurship
Take a walk in Kansas City’s startup scene and you’ll quickly hear something about KC’s devotion to becoming America’s most entrepreneurial city. This mantra is on everyone’s lips, from city leaders to corporate tycoons to scrappy startup founders. It’s amazing that in five years our city has created such clarity of purpose that millenials populating…
KC Digital Drive creates lab to test drive gigabit apps
Ever since Google Fiber announced Kansas City as its first fiber project, techies across the nation have wondered how gigabit Internet will shape a new wave of innovation and how the city would tap its new infrastructure. And thanks to a new KC Digital Drive initiative, Kansas Citians may have an up-close look at the…