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
They started their own businesses; now these young founders are widening the pipeline to entrepreneurship for their peers
Aidan Hall felt the support of Kansas City’s entrepreneurial ecosystem when he launched what would become KC Handmade Goods as an eighth grader, he said; years later, the young business owner is working to pay that feeling forward. An Iowa State freshman and Shawnee Mission West graduate, Hall got his start selling duct tape wallets…
Lay off costly corporate conferences: Jewell Unlimited touts mobile-first microlearning in minutes
A learning agency funded by William Jewell College is bringing a fresh approach to professional development, hoping to curate the “unregulated mess” of digital information into mobile-first microlearning modules that will empower workers and help them advance their careers. “Every single thing throughout human history that has ever been learned and codified, it’s already available…
Meet the six competitors pitching for $50K in funding in HERImpact’s return to Kansas City
Editor’s note: 1863 Ventures is an advertiser with Startland News, though this report was produced independently by the nonprofit newsroom. The competition slate is set, as a half-dozen of Kansas City’s most promising emerging social entrepreneurs prepare to pitch for $50,000 in a public, shark-tank-style event for women founders. The live pitch event is set…
Web3 startup led by one of KC’s best-known exited founders redeems $2.5M pre-seed round
Redeem, a blockchain agnostic connectivity layer for Web3 that leverages phone numbers to send, receive and redeem utility NFTs, announced Wednesday its $2.5 million pre-seed funding round ahead of its launch, led by veteran blockchain investor Kenetic. The round also includes local venture firms Flyover Capital and KCRise Fund. Funding is expected to be used…