Digital Sandbox expands to St. Joseph, partners with animal health incubator
June 21, 2017 | Meghan LeVota
Digital Sandbox KC will expand its efforts northwest to reach entrepreneurs in St. Joseph, Mo.
The proof-of-concept program announced Wednesday that it has established a partnership with Innovation Stockyard, a St. Joseph-based animal science business incubator. Located inside the Christopher S. Kit Bond Incubator, Innovation Stockyard will offer grant recipients of Digital Sandbox office space in their new coworking facility, which is set to open this summer.
Since its launch in 2013, the Digital Sandbox has worked with more than 400 entrepreneurs and startups across the Kansas City metro. In addition to Kansas City and St. Joseph, the program previously established partnerships with the cities of Olathe, Kan. and Independence, Mo.
Jeff Shackelford, director of Digital Sandbox, said that the partnership will spur even more Missouri-based startup ventures.
“This is an opportunity to start to stretch the program further across Missouri,” Shackelford said in a release. “We’re excited to be working with St. Joseph and the northwest part of the state. There are a lot of creative folks in that area with promising business ideas that, with some help, can turn into rapidly growing companies that create many jobs for northwest Missouri.”
Digital Sandbox has created more than 480 jobs and 85 proof of concept projects for Kansas City area startups since its launch. Innovation Stockyard president Ronan Molloy is excited to see similar benefits in St. Joseph.
“By using our new planned coworking space inside the Kit Bond Incubator to house more early-stage St. Joseph and Northwest Missouri entrepreneurs, we will be filling an existing gap in the ecosystem,” Molloy said in a release. “(We will be) maximizing our existing resources and driving an increase in the quantity and quality of early-stage entrepreneurs in northwest Missouri.”
To kick-off the new program, a public celebration will take place on June 28 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Jack’s restaurant in St. Joseph.
The Christopher S. “Kit” Bond Incubator is located on the Missouri Western State University campus. More information on the Innovation Stockyard incubator can be found here.
2017 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Meet the KC Chamber’s Top 10 for 2022: One will be the next ‘Small Business of the Year’
From a rapidly expanding restaurant chain to a 24/7 daycare facility to a workforce training and information technology leader building a statewide footprint, the finalists for the 2022 Small Business of the Year award run the gamut of forward-thinking Kansas City ventures, said Joe Reardon. “Every year I become more and more impressed with our…
Three-way tie: Public vote mixes ‘Fan Favorite’ small business honors between meals and more
A trio of Kansas City small businesses is sharing the Honeywell Fan Favorite Award this week after wowing the public during the Chamber’s recent candidate showcase at Union Station. “The rules can be bent,” said Eric Wollerman, president of Honeywell Federal Manufacturing and Technologies, announcing the three-way tie in the lead-up to the Greater Kansas…
Avatar for hire (in a few years): Gamified career platform helps kids explore their future in the workforce
It’s a powerful question asked in classrooms every day, Jessica Munoz Valerio said, recalling her own experience with the common prompt and how tapping into and gamifying it could change lives. “When my daughter was young — as early as 5 years old — she got asked, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’”she…
C2FO helped women-, minority-owned biz access nearly $2B in 2021 alone; why that slice of $200B is set to grow as company approaches $1T funded
Customers of C2FO have accessed more than $200 billion in working capital, the company announced, touting its wide-ranging successes and highlighting pandemic-era growth that has solidified its place as a world leader in the financing space — and a pace-setter for deploying capital to underserved businesses. “From Day 1, C2FO has worked to fill the…