KC Digital Drive: Kansas City companies win 3 of 21 gigabit app awards so far
April 27, 2018 | Startland News Staff
Two Kansas City startups each recently earned $10,000 awards through a program promoting gigabit app development in the metro. A third firm won previously.
OnTimeSocial and PlanIT Impact were among 11 companies honored this spring by US Ignite, which seeks to leverage networking technologies to build stronger smart communities. In Kansas City, US Ignite and its Smart Gigabit Communities grants are managed by KC Digital Drive.
“Leaders in each of our Smart Gigabit Communities worked with development teams to identify the most promising gigabit applications in their regions,” US Ignite said in a press release.
Technology from OnTimeSocial provides a framework to unify data streams generated by smart devices into a social framework for improved community engagement and remote user interaction. PlanIT Impact is an architectural planning service that streams in big data to provide a dynamic city planning platform to decrease cost and improve environmental efficiency in urban construction.
Both companies — along with past KC-based $10,000 awardee Gigabots — have been active with US Ignite for years, said Aaron Deacon, managing director of KC Digital Drive. The trio are among 21 gigabit app award winners so far, he said.
“PlanIT Impact was actually one of our first projects,” Deacon said. “We put a team together in advance of our first gigabit hackathon in 2013. It has continued to get funding through sources we’ve brought to town or cultivated.”
Between US Ignite programs and the Mozilla Gigabit Community Fund, the startup has been awarded around $100,000, he added. PlanIT Impact additionally was a 2017 Launch KC winner, earning a $50,000 prize.
Led by Jonathan Wagner, Gigabots also has been funded by Mozilla — through multiple rounds and in multiple cities, he said.
Featured Business
2018 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Pipeline alum set to ‘save the world’ through $1M US Army biotech contract
The U.S. Army recently awarded a Missouri biotech startup a $1 million contract for 24 months. Based in Drexel, Missouri, about an hour south of Kansas City, InnovaPrep was selected out of hundreds of proposals for the Department of Defense’s 2016 Rapid Innovation Fund. The contract is expected to advance development of the U.S. Army…
Tech startup wants to bring Sunshine, electricity to hurricane victims
17° 73° Innovation Co. founder Conner Hazelrigg launched a crowdfunding campaign Wednesday to provide disaster relief to Puerto Ricans affected by Hurricane Maria. In response to the island’s electricity shortage, the tech startup wants to deploy its Sunshine Box, a portable solar-charging station that can charge 10 devices at a time. The technology is designed…
Blooom reaches $1 billion in assets under management
Blooom announced Thursday that the Leawood-based financial tech firm has reached $1 billion in assets under management, becoming the fastest, independent robo advisor to pass that threshold. Although it’s not the first robo advisor to reach $1 billion, Blooom did so by stretching its dollar much farther than Silicon Valley fintech counterparts, said co-founder Chris Costello. “This…
KC smart city leader: Only one city ‘smart’ enough for Amazon HQ2
Kansas City’s smart city excellence stands out among a crowded field of major U.S. cities vying for Amazon’s second headquarters, Bob Bennett said. “San Diego has a crazy amount of smart street lights, but they aren’t connected to anything except themselves. New York City has a great Wi-Fi network,” said Bennett, chief innovation officer at…