Most-funded tech startups: $100M-plus investment puts PayIt on the map with C2FO
April 19, 2019 | Startland News Staff
Companies in the Midwest and South are making major plays for investment dollars, according to CB Insights, with Kansas City’s PayIt and C2FO earning spots on the latest map of the nation’s most well-funded tech startups.
“The tech boom has diffused beyond the traditional hotbeds of California, New York, and Massachusetts, across the entire United States,” the CB Insights report said.
The new map assigns top-funded startups in each U.S. state.
Fresh off a more than $100 million investment from New York-based Insight Partners in March, GovTech platform PayIt landed on the report for the first time, representing Missouri. Other investors include Advantage Capital, Royal Street Ventures, Five Elms Capital, and KCRise Fund, according to CB Insights.
Click here to read more about what PayIt’s recent investment news means for Kansas City.
The startup’s focus is on simplifying government to make it more modern, convenient, accessible and transparent — taking out the friction of working with city, county and state entities, said John Thomson, PayIt CEO and co-founder.
“We’ve emerged as the disruptive new tech in a market full of old tech,” he said. “We generate real outcomes, not just for constituents to simply their lives, but real benefits to the governments as well. We’re helping them collect revenue faster, improve compliance, and drive big savings and efficiencies.”
On the Kansas side of the border, Leawood-based FinTech firm C2FO has logged nearly $200 million from Temasek Holdings, Tiger Global Management, Mubadala Investment Co, and Union Square Ventures, Mithril Capital Management, according to the report.
Click here for more on C2FO’s $100 million funding round in 2018.
CB Insights map was created using disclosed equity funding, excluding money from debt, loans, and lines of credit. Only tech companies that have raised at least $1 million of equity funding since January 2014 are considered.
Click here for a closer look at the funding map.
Key takeaways from the CB Insights report include:
- The most well-funded tech startup was California’s Uber, with $15B in disclosed equity funding;
- Companies with the deepest pockets were found in Florida (Magic Leap, $2.4 billion in disclosed equity funding), Illinois (Avant, $655 million), and Georgia (Kabbage, $490 million); and
- The VC-backed startup with the least funding on the list is Oklahoma’s SendaRide with $1.74 million in funding.
Featured Business

2019 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Blooom makes national TV debut
Overland Park-based financial tech firm Blooom hopes to seed new growth opportunities after a recent national TV appearance. Blooom CEO Chris Costello and President Greg Smith hopped onto Fox Business Tuesday to discuss 401(k) management and their company, which created an online 401(k) management tool that’s seen solid early traction. The tool uses a flower in various…
KC tech firms respond to ‘bleak’ millennial voter turnout
A meager millennial voter turnout in Kansas City’s recent municipal elections is compelling local organizations to combat apathy with technology. More Kansas Citians 90 and older cast ballots in the City of Fountain’s 2014 municipal elections than voters under 30, according to a study by Kansas City-based civic engagement company mySidewalk. A paltry 0.7 percent…
Lean Lab announces new, mature fellowship class
The Lean Lab, an education innovation incubator, announced its second cohort of fellows who hope to bring meaningful change to Kansas City education. In the 2015 class, 10 fellows with seven solutions for Kansas City’s urban education will be participating in the Lean Lab’s summer program. Fellows arrive at the program with ideas in various…
KC newbie Rex tops $1M in revenue, kicks off hiring
Surging growth at one of Kansas City’s newest startups is leading it to hire a staff six times its current size. Rex, an animal health tech company that recently graduated from the Techstars-led Sprint Accelerator, is hoping to quickly boost its headcount from two to 12. In the days following a pitch at the accelerator’s…

