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
Lenexa-based Athlete Network teams with K-State, Arkansas, Lindenwood on student engagement
A Kansas City-area tech startup is expanding the scope of its social network for athletes, the company announced this week, revealing new partnerships between Athlete Network and three universities with Division 1 sports. The company is collaborating with athletic departments at Kansas State University, Arkansas State University, and Lindenwood University to develop game-changing technology with…
Cut from Sandlot’s lineup: Demand for Coaster Oven ‘coming out of the woodwork’
A faint smell of leather washes over customers when they enter Sandlot Goods’ new Crossroads space at 2125 Washington St. But the most recent buzz comes from owner Chad Hickman’s side venture with his brother: Coaster Oven. In the back corner of Sandlot’s workshop, where the Kansas City-born company specializes in leather and stitch work,…
Aug. 9 KC Coworking Day celebrates the future of work — happening now in Kansas City
Editor’s note: The following content about KC Coworking Day is sponsored by the KC Coworking Alliance but independently produced by Startland News. After setting a world record in 2017 for the most people coworking in the same place, KC Coworking Day is set to return Aug. 9 with a party meant to spark even greater…
Emerging from failure: Doughnut Lounge founder gets raw among startup peers (IXKC photos)
Jake Randall’s “crazy dream” — a collision of craft, creativity and conversation contained in Westport’s Doughnut Lounge — was gone in a matter of 24 hours, he said. “I found out on Monday. And we closed on Tuesday,” Randall told a crowd of startup community peers this week at Startland’s Innovation Exchange. “I was embarrassed.…