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
Teenage inventor creates retro game console that fits in your palm
For teenage entrepreneur Ernest Pereira, gaming is going small. The 18-year-old innovator is releasing a limited run of his retro game console, the Duinodrive, before shipping off to the Naval Academy in the summer. The Duinodrive — which can fit in the palm of your hand — comes in a kit that users assemble themselves…
Beth Ellyn McClendon: If you want investors, skip LLCs and form a C-Corp
Editor’s note: Beth Ellyn McClendon is a seed-stage investor with board and advisory board experience. She previously worked in design and product management for Google Mapping, Android, YouTube, Cisco and Netscape. The opinions expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone. So, you’re planning a startup, you’ve got a good lawyer and now you’re thinking…
Popular TEDxKC won’t return in 2018; organizers to focus on women, youth events
TEDxKC — one of the largest and most-popular independently-organized TEDx events in the world — won’t be back for 2018. While TEDxYouth@KC and TEDxKCWomen are expected to return in 2018, hitting pause on TEDxKC’s “general ideas” event will allow organizers to reflect on accomplishments, missteps and milestones, said Mike Lundgren, co-founder of TEDxKC. “We asked two…
Fitbit integrating Sickweather illness forecasting into new wearables
Sickweather is stepping into the wearables market. A new partnership with industry leader Fitbit is expected to see the Kansas City-based startup’s illness forecasting technology integrated into Fitbit’s new products. “Smartwatches provide a powerful platform to deliver important health tools that help our users manage conditions more conveniently than ever before,” said James Park, co-founder…