PayIt gains $25M follow-on investment from early backer Weatherford Capital
May 31, 2019 | Tommy Felts
A Tampa-based venture capital firm run by three brothers sees investing in Kansas City’s PayIt as part of its long-term strategy.
Weatherford Capital first backed PayIt in 2016, through a $4.5 million Series A round led by New York-based Advantage Capital Partners, and followed by Weatherford, Royal Street Ventures, the Missouri Technology Corporation and Five Elms Capital.
The firm confirmed to Startland this week a follow-on investment of $25 million for the Kansas City GovTech innovator, which is led by co-founders John Thomson and Michael Plunkett.
Specializing in GovTech applications that better connect government to its constituents, PayIt made news in 2018 thanks to major partnerships with the State of Kansas and the Unified Government of Kansas City, Kansas. Its iKan app notably allows Kansas to skip the line at the Department of Motor Vehicles.
PayIt was named one of Startland’s 10 Kansas City Startups to Watch in 2017 and 2018.
“As investors, we seek out quality teams, leaders, and healthy cultures, not just assets and good ideas,” reads the investment firm’s website. “We believe that through long-term partnerships with purposeful capital and high-quality companies we will produce outcomes that promote human flourishing.”
Driven by Will, Sam, and Drew Weatherford, the firm has a nationwide focus on middle market firms with enterprise value of $50 million or more.
In March, PayIt made headlines with a more than $100 million investment by New York-based Insight Partners, which provided an exit for investors within the KCRise Fund.
Click here to read about the game-changing investment for PayIt and Kansas City.
“The company [PayIt] happens to be in Kansas City — Investors expect a return. They’re looking for big, scalable, durable businesses,” PayIt’s Thomson said at Startland’s May Innovation Exchange event. “You’ll hear the phrase ‘escape velocity’ — those that can turn into the next Fortune 500 company in a market or a category. It’s all about the execution of the business, the growth trajectory and how investable is that team and business.”
Meeting with more than 85 firms in its most recent funding push, however, PayIt saw rising interest not only in its GovTech offering, but in its hometown backing, he acknowledged.
“There’s a broad awareness of Kansas City, this ecosystem and this environment — and that it’s been on the rise,” Thomson said.
Featured Business
2019 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Former high school rivals from MADE, Local Legends ‘Play It Forward’ in bid to revive South KC
Organizers of the Aug. 12 Play It Forward charity basketball game traded playful taunts as they approached the doors of the former Hickman Mills High School gymnasium. “They painted over your cougar,” said AbdulRasheed Yahaya, a Ruskin High School graduate, referencing the giant eagle logo affixed to the former Hickman facility that now is part…
Founder: RFP365’s new Client Discovery launch shows startup-corporate deals build stronger tech products
A new product module from RFP365 defies common perceptions about Kansas City corporations overlooking tech talent in the startup community, said co-founder Stuart Ludlow, announcing the launch of Client Discovery. “Traditionally, we always say that an RFP [request for proposal] involves two people,” he said, describing the product. “Someone writes an RFP and then a…
Homegrown Resonate Pictures cultivates corporate market through creative risks
The same creative energy reverberating through cities like Los Angeles, New York City and Portland can be found in Kansas City, said Marc Havener, the filmmaker behind Lawrence-based Resonate Pictures. His message for fellow creatives: “We can make this back home.” After 10 years on the sets of blockbuster movies like “Pirates of the Caribbean,”…
Happy Food gathers ingredients for nationwide grocery platform, meal-locating app
Happy Food Co. has grown beyond distributing flavorful meal kits through small, standalone coolers at Kansas City-area Price Chopper and Hen House locations, said chef and co-founder Kiersten Firquain. The 2017 Startland Under the Radar startup has now developed a software platform — in partnership with retailers nationwide and 75 local vendors — to enable grocers…