PayIt’s iKan app named a finalist in Fast Company 2019 Innovation by Design honors
September 10, 2019 | Tommy Felts
Kansas City’s PayIt isn’t just worthy of investment — its foundational technology continues to win awards alongside the likes of Nike, Microsoft and Mastercard, said John Thomson.
Fast Company honored iKan — a PayIt-powered app that allows Kansas residents to pay vehicle registration renewals, renew their driver’s license (the country’s first-ever mobile driver’s license renewal service), and order vital records (birth, death, marriage, and divorce certificates) — during its Innovation by Design Awards for 2019 in the Apps & Games category.
Alexandru Otrezov, John Thomson, and Mike Plunkett, PayIt
“A cloud-native platform, PayIt was first in market to deliver a wallet citizens can use to simplify access to government services, an Amazon-like experience,” said Thomson, PayIt co-founder and CEO.
Click here to learn more about iKan.
Innovation by Design is the only competition to honor creative work at the intersection of design, business, and innovation, according to the Kansas City startup. This year’s applicant pool was the most competitive, with more than 4,300 entries. PayIt was among 483 honored projects, products, and services.
“We care deeply about supporting the mission of government and making government smarter, more modern, more transparent and more connected,” said Thomson. “Our approach is unique in this market and frankly our team has done an amazing job of delivering consumer grade omni channel experiences via an enterprise grade platform. All of which is serving to transform the GovTech market!”
PayIt’s partnership with the State of Kansas helped the startup deliver a local reference point as its business expanded across the nation, now serving some of the largest entities in state and local government, he added.
In March, PayIt banked a more than $100 million investment from Insight Partners, then a $25 million follow-on investment from Weatherford Capital in May.
Such milestones of progress for PayIt reflect a changing space for tech startups, said Alexandru Otrezov, PayIt’s newly announced chief marketing officer.
“It’s a new era out there for companies that are created by demand,” he said. “It’s not just ‘I have a great idea and I’m going to put it out there. I need a great marketer to sell it.’ People need something, so companies provide the solution. Look at Netflix, Uber, Tesla. They’re all created because customers demanded those products.”
PayIt is an example, Otrezov said, of a startup built to ease pain points as old as government itself.
Featured Business
2019 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
‘Millennial’ isn’t a curse word — it’s a critical marketing tool, says Social Apex Media
Social Apex Media is designed to feed the creativity of hungry millennial entrepreneurs who don’t fit into the corporate culture of many other marketing agencies, said Brandon Priest. “We’re building Social Apex on the backs of entrepreneurs. That means instead of employees who feel like, ‘OK, I just got to work 9 to 5 every…
ProfessionalChats founders on high growth: Don’t reinvent the wheel, just make it better
Entrepreneurship isn’t like Shark Tank, said the co-founders of rapidly expanding Kansas City startup ProfessionalChats. “I think people get confused in the Kansas City entrepreneurship community and they think they need to have an original idea that nobody’s ever done before and they need funding,” said Scott Hansen, co-founder, and CEO. Outside funding doesn’t necessarily…
Serial entrepreneur hopes to cultivate ‘real talk’ with startups at day-long Own It event
Business often isn’t pretty, said serial entrepreneur Mike Wrenn. And it’s time to expose some of the hard truths he and his wife, Becky Cole — as well as other business heavyweights — have learned through their careers, he said. “Becky and I have built a successful business with national and international reach,” said Wrenn, chairman…
Enjoy the college life experience? Homeroom invites you to KC’s new coliving concept
Homeroom is a coliving experience that takes you back to your dorm room days, said Johnny Wolff. “I think everyone looks back with really fond memories of living with really good friends in college in a house. The coliving experience is about taking that shared roommate situation and kind of curating it at Homeroom,” said…