Nearly 30 percent of InvestMidwest applicants from Kansas City
February 8, 2019 | Startland News Staff
Young Kansas City companies are hungry for investor dollars and connections — as evidenced by dozens of metro startups and businesses applying for next month’s InvestMidwest Venture Capital Forum.
Of the more than 140 applications from entrepreneurs in 19 states seeking to pitch their companies, 18 hail from Kansas City, Missouri, and 10 call Overland Park home. Twelve more operate in other cities across the Kansas City metro, according to InvestMidwest.
But only 36-40 overall applicants ultimately will be selected to present March 19-20 at the 20th annual VC forum, organized this year at the Westin Kansas City at Crown Center. Names of applicants and presenters are not released before the event. (Applications closed in early January.)
Click here to register to attend the VC forum.
“InvestMidwest consistently offers a carefully curated collection of the Midwest region’s best young companies that are seeking investments to help boost their businesses to the next level,” said Christine Walsh, executive director of the nonprofit InvestMidwest Venture Capital Forum. “And because we have such strong companies presenting, we consistently attract a great group of investors.”
Click here to read more about how InvestMidwest impacted KC startup Life Equals.
The 2019 event is expected to include three industry tracks, presented simultaneously: life sciences; agriculture, food and bioenergy track; and technology. Presenters will have no more than eight minutes apiece to make a compelling case about their respective businesses to pique the interest of prospective funders.
In addition to industry track venues for presentations, InvestMidwest offers numerous opportunities for entrepreneurs to meet privately with venture capitalists, private and corporate investors, and business, legal and financial professionals.
About 350 attendees — venture capitalists, angel investors and corporate investors — are expected at the 2019 VC forum.
Companies that presented at the previous 19 InvestMidwest events have raised funding in excess of $1 billion in equity, corporate collaborations and exit proceeds, according to the organization. The forum alternates between Kansas City and St. Louis each year.
Featured Business
2019 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
PrairieFood grows power of its micro-carbon ag solution with a pipeline of human connection
Startland News’ Startup Road Trip series explores innovative and uncommon ideas finding success in rural America and Midwestern startup hubs outside the Kansas City metro. LAWRENCE — Entrepreneurship is all about networking, Robert Herrington said. “You never know where a pivot or direction is going to come from,” said Herrington, an early member of the Pipeline…
C2FO marks $300B in funding for businesses as entrepreneurs navigate ongoing credit crunch
Rapid marketplace expansion in the first half of 2023 helped push Leawood-based C2FO — the world’s on-demand working capital platform — past the $300-billion mark in total funding to its customers. This record funding amount reflects invoices paid an average of 31 days early via C2FO’s platform. C2FO gets vital, low-cost capital into customers’ hands…
Froyo with a ’tini twist: Entrepreneur collaboration serves alcoholic frozen yogurt in KC
Kansas City is excited by the new flavor combinations popping up as two entrepreneurs give customers a taste of collaboration, said Isaac Collins, teasing a line of alcoholic frozen yogurt that’s already hitting cups in the metro. Through a partnership with KC-based Brain Freeze Mobile Daiquiri, Collins’ Yogurtini locations have begun a series of happy…
How Meshuggah Bagels ‘built a bakery without a recipe’ — now expanding to Liberty, Lawrence
Pete Linde tested 72 bagel recipes before hitting perfection with number 73, said Janna Linde. She knows because she tried every single test bagel. “Pete worked on that recipe for about a year. He had a notebook and took notes on every little tweak and modification he made. I’d see the big hand mixer come…