AccessAble Living: $10K prize will help AltCap Your Biz winner speed services to seniors
November 21, 2019 | Austin Barnes
A medical supply startup designed to help Kansas Citians age in place earned judges’ seal of approval — and $10,000 — in the 2019 AltCap Your Biz Competition.
Dr. Brandy Archie, AccessAble Living
“I hope this is a jumpstart for us to help solve a common healthcare problem,” said Dr. Brandy Archie, director of AccessAble Living, Wednesday night during Global Entrepreneurship Week as she received the first place prize in the fifth showing of the AltCap competition.
Reinventing living spaces with easy, affordable fixes, AccessAble Living works to provide its senior and reduced mobility clients with the necessary tools and resources to maintain comfortable lives in their own homes, Archie explained during a pitch to judges.
“I can promise this money is going to go to a really good cause and help people in the Kansas City area,” she told a crowd gathered for the competition’s grand finale and happy hour at the Black Archives.
Most AccessAble Living clients receive an assessment and necessary upgrades to their living space within seven days, Archie noted. The cash infusion from AltCap will help the startup grow its inventory and could reduce turnaround time to less than one day.
Click here to view AccessAble Living’s application video.
African Designs by Liliane and Amisi
Kanbe’s Market
African Designs by Liliane and Amisi secured $5,000 as the competition’s second-place winner, while Kanbe’s Market walked away with third place and a $2,500 injection.
“It’s been an amazing, really emotional day,” said Davin Gordon, business development officer at AltCap. “It’s been tough on our judges — because everybody was amazing. All of our finalists deserve an opportunity to win and all of you are great.”
“This is really the reason why I get up every single day … these sorts of opportunities,” Gordon continued. “Not only to create meaningful relationships, but also gather a community of people to support you and show you why your work is so important to Kansas City.”
New in 2019, AltCap added a Fan Favorite Award to the competition. Social media votes awarded a $500 prize to White Noiz Studio — a digital content agency.
White Noiz Studio
Healthy Hip Hop, Duct Tape Grandparenting, Blockchain Water, Neighborbuilt, Safely Delicious and SandByrd Design also competed in the pitch contest.
Previous winners of the AltCap Your Biz competition include Rightfully Sewn, Maker Village, Barefood’n Happy, and Hostel KC.
This story is possible thanks to support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a private, nonpartisan foundation that works together with communities in education and entrepreneurship to create uncommon solutions and empower people to shape their futures and be successful.
For more information, visit www.kauffman.org and connect at www.twitter.com/kauffmanfdn and www.facebook.com/kauffmanfdn
Featured Business
2019 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Designed by women, for athletes: How the woman-led team behind KC Current’s new stadium is ‘equalizing the playing field’ for women’s sports
It’s uncommon to design a first-of-its-kind structure in the world of architecture, said Jill Monaghan, but the new KC Current soccer stadium — the first such facility being built specifically for a professional women’s team — scored her just the opportunity. In her nearly 11 years with Kansas City-based Generator Studio, Monaghan — who serves as senior…
Kauffman awards $5.3M to DreamSpring to expand microlending to underserved entrepreneurs in KC
A newly announced $5.3 million grant is expected to vastly expand access to small business credit among historically underserved entrepreneurs in Kansas City, said Philip Gaskin, detailing the latest in a series of funding awards this week from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. DreamSpring, a nationally recognized nonprofit Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), is set…
WATCH: KCK-raised R&B artist emerges from the ruins of vulnerability to ‘touch people’s souls’
For Alanzo McIntosh Jr., exploring his voice means journeying through the KCK native’s roots, along with themes of self-doubt and self-discovery, and a deep connection to the struggles faced by Black and brown people across the globe — and here at home, he shared. “I wanted to make music that spoke to the soul and spoke…
Loud is in season: How one designer plans to yell their angrily sewn message during KC Fashion Week
Dustin Loveland channeled love — and anger — into a debut spring and summer collection that premieres soon at Kansas City Fashion Week 2023. “I’ve had to deal with a lot of anger from the past couple of years for a variety of reasons,” said Loveland, a non-binary freelance designer and sewer in Kansas City.…