No Coast winners: Two rapidly growing KC tech startups championed
March 9, 2019 | Tommy Felts
Tech leadership and innovation know No Coast, said Ryan Weber Friday night as the KC Tech Council revealed its inaugural award show honorees.
The Abbott
Beneath the glittering chandeliers of the Abbott luxury event space — and surrounded by elaborate set pieces and balloon art — Weber and the KC Tech Council team announced winners in four No Coast categories that enveloped industry, policy and workforce.
Startup faces taking home prizes included a Martin City-headquartered cyber security powerhouse, Fishtech Group, and the driving force behind Merriam-based sports tech firm, ShotTracker.
Click here to learn about how Fishtech is securing its place in a threat-filled market.
Click here for more on why ShotTracker was selected as one of Startland’s Startups to Watch in 2019.
“The story of Kansas City’s tech industry is being written at a rapid pace,” said Karen Hornig, CEO of KC-based insurance information tech services firm NIPR, introducing the Outstanding Contribution to Tech Award. “The story of the region’s future as a technology hub will be written by many of the people and organizations in this room.”
Danielle Feinberg, Pixar Animation Studios
Friday’s family-focused No Coast celebration featured a number of youth award presenters, as well as a lively crowd of children in the audience. Fittingly, a keynote illuminated by Danielle Feinberg, a director of photography at Pixar Animation Studios, focused heavily on Feinberg’s experience working on such hit family films as “Wall-E” and “Coco.”
Loving that the @KCTechCouncil has embraced #InternationalWomensDay throughout their #nocoast19 event, featuring a female speaker, engaging women and girls, and making the event explicitly kid-friendly. And also, not pink. Tech event organizers, take note. #startupkc #techkc pic.twitter.com/WzsuvQ0heN
— Melissa Roberts (@msmeliss2024) March 9, 2019
“We hope to make our attendees feel comfortable to bring kids, nieces, nephews, you name it, because there’s going to be a great opportunity for them to experience the tech that’s created in Kansas City and be inspired,” Weber said before the event, which began with an interactive tech showcase featuring such KC companies as Dimensional Innovations, Garmin, VMLY&R, WeWork and Fishtech Group.
No Coast award winners included:
Outstanding Contribution to Tech
(Finalists: Alphapointe; and Stackify)
Kara Lowe, KC Tech Council; Jennie Hanna and Valerie Sablin, Fishtech Group
Tech Connector of the Year
Davyeon Ross, co-founder and COO, ShotTracker
(Finalists: Greg Kratofil, managing partner, Polsinelli; and Matt Watson, founder, Stackify)
Ryan Weber, KC Tech Council; Ryder Jarrett, student intern; Jeff Portsche, Garmin; and Davyeon Ross, ShotTracker
Tech Champion of the Year
Brian Baker, lead government strategist, Cerner
(Finalists: Bob Bennett, chief innovation officer, City of KCMO; and Travis Fitzwater, member, Missouri House of Representatives)
Brian Baker, Cerner
Tech Educator of the Year
Jill Riffer, Blue Valley CAPS
(Finalists: Kevin Clevenger, Blue Springs School District; and Lisa Oyler, Summit Technology Academy)
Antonio Linhart, student; Jill Riffer, Blue Valley CAPS; and Ryan Weber, KC Tech Council
Featured Business
2019 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
New in KC: Elizabeth Pishny treks from farming to human trafficking, Facebook to Google, Austin to KC
Editor’s note: New in KC is an ongoing profile series that highlights newly relocated members of the Kansas City startup community, their reasons for a change of scenery, and what they’ve found so far in KC. This series is sponsored by C2FO, a Leawood-based, global financial services company. Click here to read more New in KC profiles. While Elizabeth Pishny is…
WATCH: Master craftsman builds on military career — a catalyst to avoid wasted opportunity
Tony Bien cuts lumber. He might even cut into a melon. But service in the Kansas Army National Guard taught the hands-on force behind Swell Spark’s in-house design workshop to avoid cutting corners. “I’ve been very blessed in my career with the Army and with what I am doing now,” said Bien, who serves as…
Blockchain to beef: Why one serial innovator traded the slow pace of corporate life for another muzzle
Shekhar Gupta learned early that life comes with two approaches for overcoming challenges: accept the problem and move on or figure out a better way of solving it. The Kansas City serial entrepreneur has no shortage of ideas for finding solutions, but he keeps moving nonetheless. As COO of Blockchain Initiatives, Gupta has his hands…
Meet six newly funded companies helping get KC’s economy ‘back on track’ with Digital Sandbox
Digital Sandbox funding is a game-changer for CuePlay — one of six companies selected for the proof of concept program’s latest cohort — said founder Rebecca Simons, who first launched the idea two years ago at Techstars’ Startup Weekend in Kansas City. “It allows us to finish the development of a beta app and get it…