Photo gallery: Techweek’s LaunchKC Top 100 Expo
September 15, 2016 | Bobby Burch
Hundreds of Techweek Kansas City attendees converged on Union Station Thursday afternoon to explore dozens of startups part of the LaunchKC grants contest.
Now in its second year, the popular grants competition LaunchKC was again met with an enthusiastic response by applicants in 2016, drawing more than 400 applicants. The competition — which will distribute $500,000 via 10, $50,000 non-dilutive grants — will allow the top 20 applicants to pitch their firms Friday during a live presentation at Techweek KC. The grant competition is led by the Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City and the Downtown Council of Kansas City.
The expo Thursday featured the top 100 firms that applied in the contest. Below is a gallery from the event — enjoy!
Featured Business

2016 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Made in KC Cafe opens downtown with experimental blend of coffee, retail (Photos)
A hotly anticipated hybrid coffee shop — Made in KC Cafe — poured into downtown Kansas City Friday, marking the fourth store for a home-brewed retailer. “This will be a living, breathing experiment,” said Tyler Enders, Made in KC co-founder. “Made in KC Cafe is a nice way for us to dip our toe into…
Wonka of Wax: Dark times melt into quirky joy for Brandon Love’s Crumble Co
With scents as varied as “Lavender Lemonade” and “Drunken Unicorn,” Brandon Love’s Crumble Co. burns in a unique — Love would say “joyful” — space within the candle market. A wide grin spreads across the 21-year-old founder’s face as he notes the name of the wax melt spreading aroma throughout his loft apartment at One…
Football tech startup Lazser Down scores big with NCAA championship game
When two out-of-state foes face off Saturday at Children’s Mercy Park, the NCAA Division II Championship game will still host a hometown team. The title game — between West Florida University and Texas A&M University-Commerce — features local tech created by Lazser Down, a Kansas City-based startup that created a new down marker system that uses…
Plexpod acquires Think Big Coworking, expanding KC footprint
Plexpod isn’t playing. Amid Kansas City’s competitive coworking market, Plexpod is doubling down with the acquisition of Think Big Coworking’s 1712 Main Street location, Plexpod founder Gerald Smith said. The acquisition adds more than 30,000 square feet of space to Plexpod’s already large footprint in the area and forges a new partnership between the two…
