LaunchCode kicks off Kansas City office with $250K boost
February 12, 2016 | Bobby Burch
Fresh off its expansion to Kansas City, LaunchCode will tap additional capital from the Missouri Technology Corporation to boost its operations focused on tech workforce development.
Founded in 2013, LaunchCode now partners with a variety of Kansas City companies — including EyeVerify, UMB, Blooom and Venture360 — to provide a new pipeline of homegrown tech talent.
With a visit Thursday from Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon at the Sprint Accelerator, the MTC announced that it would inject an additional $250,000 into LaunchCode, which expanded from St. Louis to the City of Fountains in January. The additional funds bring the total support from MTC for the LaunchCode’s Kansas City expansion to $500,000.
“Kansas City’s thriving business community and highly-educated workforce make it the ideal location for tech companies to locate and grow,” Gov. Nixon said. “The burgeoning technology scene here in Kansas City’s Crossroads is a big reason why Missouri is a nationally-recognized leader in high-tech jobs and innovation. By balancing budgets and making smart investments in education and entrepreneurship, we will continue to move Kansas City and the entire state forward.”
Founded in 2013, LaunchCode is currently partnering with a variety of Kansas City companies — including EyeVerify, UMB, Blooom and Venture360 — and connecting with the region’s developers. The nonprofit’s goal is to support Kansas City’s tech ecosystem and provide a new pipeline of homegrown tech talent.
The organization was founded by Jim McKelvey, who was a co-founder in Square and is officing in the Sprint Accelerator. McKelvey previously sat down with Startland News to discuss LaunchCode’s plans.
“You can expect an accelerated version of what we did in St. Louis, which has been very successful,” he said. “The idea with LaunchCode is we are about bringing people into the ecosystem on behalf of the businesses. LaunchCode focuses on the needs of the businesses. We do education, we do reach out to underserved populations, but that is not our mission. Our mission is to solve the tech talent gap. So the way we do that is very specific: we start with the companies, we find out what the companies need and we help them.”
Also as part of the announcement, Gov. Nixon welcomed Pramata, a tech firm based in San Francisco that opened an office in the Crossroads and will create 15 jobs. Pramata offers business-to-business services to help companies retain and grow customer relationships.
“Kansas City offers a unique combination of a skilled talent pool along with a central location,” Saklani said. “It’s the ideal place to anchor our U.S. expansion and a fantastic base from which to serve our customers. We’re looking forward to being a member of and contributor to the local community.”
Featured Business
2016 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
KCPS superintendent to city struggling with violence: When do we all come together?
It’s inexcusable for Kansas City to simply accept 130 murders before it’s even December, Mark Bedell said. “Who do you think are committing these crimes?” Bedell, superintendent of Kansas City Public Schools, asked a crowd gathered Thursday for the Lean Lab’s Launch[ED) Day. “Probably people who have been victims of schools that have failed them…
Kauffman Foundation rolls out $1.2M microlending program to help underserved entrepreneurs
Amid a swarm of 160 events as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation announced a new microlending program to spur investment in underserved entrepreneurs. In partnership with four microfinance lenders, the foundation issued a series of grants totaling $1.2 million that a will change the way the nonprofit microlenders capitalize their…
Scared away from networking events? Anti-social introverts can turn to tech
Networking strength comes in numbers — even for anti-social introverts, Jeremy A. Smith told a crowd Tuesday at Global Entrepreneurship Week. “Anti-social people, myself included, hate events,” he said. But like all other entrepreneurs, such introverts still must build and maintain actionable professional networks from which they can request and receive value, Smith said. In-person networking…
Longfellow Farm coworking the soil amid KC’s urban food desert
In a city ripe with coworking office spaces, there’s a hunger for similar environments outdoors, Ami Freeberg said. As with maintaining individual workplaces, traditional urban farming also can be isolating and expensive, the Longfellow Farm manager said. By working together, however, the collaborative process allows for shared resources, greater human expertise and, of course, more…