10 Kansas City Startups to Watch in 2020
January 22, 2020 | Tommy Felts and Austin Barnes
Their hustle is fierce — their stories, strategies and strengths uncommon.
The future newsmakers rounding out Startland News’ Kansas City Startups to Watch in 2020 list are hungry to disrupt. They’re eager to drive and inspire innovation in industries under-explored or altogether forgotten.
Celebrating the Startups to Watch in 2020
A Jan. 30 celebration of the Startups to Watch in 2020 was sponsored by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a private, nonpartisan foundation that works with communities in education and entrepreneurship to increase opportunities that allow all people to learn, to take risks, and to own their success.
Click here to check out photos and more from the Startups to Watch event.
They’re creating awareness; offering sustainable solutions to everyday problems.
These are startups on the rise in a new decade of disruption; one with its own unique set of challenges in a city that’s set the bar high, producing multi-million dollar funding rounds and solutions to problems that have impacted lives on a global scale.
Click here to check out Startland News’ other big list — Kansas City’s Top VC-Backed Companies — to see some of the other startups you know we’re already watching: veteran newsmakers like C2FO, PayIt, Bungii, BacklotCars and ShotTracker that also have strong years ahead.
Crunching the numbers is never easy, we’ll admit. Kansas City is ripe with startup talent and energy. The competition for the 2020 list was stiff. The final result is by no means an indicator of popularity and an omission doesn’t indicate a snub or failure — Startland News holds firm on its mission to elevate all entrepreneurs.
The Startups to Watch list is designed to forecast which companies the Startland News editorial team believe are poised to make some of the most compelling headlines in the year ahead. The list was compiled through more than 50 hours of research and countless conversations with ecosystem experts, funders and support organizations.
Together, the Startland News editorial team culled 75-plus semi-finalists from more than 250 nominations and newsroom-generated leads, narrowed that list to 30, and finally to the selected Startups to Watch honorees. It was a highly competitive process, giving us confidence that 2020 will be a banner year for many Kansas City-area based startups.
And while anyone can promise big news, the Kansas City Startups to Watch list is curated largely on the honesty, openness and track record of founders.
Click here to check out Startland News’ 2019 list. And take a look back at our original predictions for Startups to Watch in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
The 10 startups featured in the 2020 list below are on track for a groundbreaking and impressive 2020. They range in age, industry, funding raised, job creation and mission, but find common ground in their goals to disrupt.
And while our reporters have their eyes trained on them, they only scratch the surface of what Kansas City’s startup ecosystem is producing.
Founders: James DeWitt, Michael Wilson
Founding year: 2019
Amount raised to date: Bootstrapped
Noteworthy investors: James DeWitt, Michael Wilson, Jason Mispagel, Josh Hill, Lloyd Hill
Current employee count: 9
Click here for a full profile on United American Hemp.
James DeWitt, Michael Wilson, Jason Mispagel and Josh Hill, United American Hemp
Founder: John Boucard
Founding year: 2018
Amount raised to date: $15 million+
Noteworthy investors: Undisclosed
Current employee count: 20
Click here for a full profile on Tesseract Ventures.
Tesseract Ventures
Founder: Tammie Wahaus
Founding year: 2014
Amount raised to date: $5.2 million
Noteworthy investors: Mid-America Angel Investors, Women’s Capital Connection, and several local and regional high net worth individual angel investors and family offices
Programs completed: Pipeline Entrepreneurs
Current employee count: 10
Click here for a full profile on ELIAS Animal Health.
Tammie Wahaus, ELIAS Animal Health
Founders: Sarah Hill, Dr. Jeff Tarrant
Founding year: 2015
Amount raised to date: $1.4 million
Programs completed: Apple Entrepreneur Program in Cupertino, Missouri Innovation Center Incubator, DOD Innovator Cohort, Women in XR Accelerator, Nueterra Health Accelerator, Mizzou Venture Mentoring Service, ECJC’s Pitch Perfect, ScaleUp!, REDI Bootcamp
Current employee count: 6
Click here for a full profile on Healium.
Healium
Founders: Gary Fish, Chuck Crawford, Dan Thormodsgaard
Founding year: 2016
Amount raised to date: Bootstrapped
Noteworthy investors: Gary Fish
Current employee count: 209
Click here for a full profile on Fishtech Group.
Gary Fish, Fishtech Group
Founders: Zarif Haque, Kevin Burke
Founding year: 2013 (launched in 2016)
Amount raised to date: $2.625 million
Noteworthy investors: Tim Barton, David Ferdman, Scott Coons, Brian McClendon, Matthew Vettel
Current employee count: 19
Click here for a full profile on Draiver.
Kevin Burke and Zarif Haque, Draiver
Founders: Jordan Warzecha, Stefanie Warzecha
Founding year: 2012
Amount raised to date: $2.45 million
Noteworthy investors: Serra Ventures, KCRiseFund
Programs completed: Techstars Sprint Accelerator Class of 2016
Current employee count: 17
Click here for a full profile on backstitch.
backstitch
Founder: Lauren Lawrence
Founding year: 2018
Amount raised to date: $340,000
Noteworthy investors: Karen Fenaroli (Fenaroli Minerva Investment Fund), Fountain Innovation Fund
Programs completed: Pure Pitch Rally award recipient, ElevationLab through Missouri Small Business & Technology Development Center, Digital Sandbox KC recipient
Current employee count: 2 executive team, 5 contractors
Click here for a full profile on Stenovate.
Lee Zuvanich and Lauren Lawrence, Stenovate
Founders: Clarence Tan, Edna Martinson
Founding year: 2018
Amount raised to date: $300,000
Noteworthy investors: AT&T Aspire
Programs completed: Sprint Accelerator, AT&T Aspire Accelerator, ECJC Pitch Perfect, LaunchKC, OHUB.KC
Current employee count: 14 (5 executive team, 9 contracted)
Click here for a full profile on Boddle.
Edna Martinson and Clarence Tan, Boddle
Founders: Parker Graham, Jerry Workman, Joseph Krywicki
Founding year: 2018
Amount raised to date: $100,000
Noteworthy investors: nbkc bank, Nex Cubed
Programs completed: Fountain City Fintech accelerator, Nex Cubed Accelerator, Digital Sandbox KC recipient
Current employee count: 4
Click here for a full profile on Destiny.
Jerry Workman and Parker Graham, Destiny
Check out previous lists of Kansas City Startups to Watch
Featured Business
2020 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Before prime time: Did Amazon’s 1999 arrival in Kansas deliver on hype?
In 1999, Amazon — still in its infancy — meant only two things to most consumers: low-priced books and CDs. But for one small town in Kansas, residents believed the online retailer had the potential to be a game-changer for their economically depressed, rural community. “People in Coffeyville were practically doing cartwheels in the streets,” said…
FCC head: Repealing net neutrality will boost innovation, investment; startups disagree
The Federal Communications Commission is preparing to eliminate regulatory rules that prohibit internet service providers from interfering with consumers’ access to web content. FCC chairman Ajit Pai announced in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that the regulatory body will vote Dec. 14 to repeal 2015 Obama-era regulations. That regulatory model, referred to as Title II,…
Bitten by Disney sharks, Roy Scott beats the odds with Healthy Hip Hop
When a potentially life-altering business deal suddenly vanished, Roy Scott didn’t get mad — he got funded. “Disney thought they were going to snuff us out, but all they did was put gasoline on this fire,” said Scott, founder of Kansas City-based H3 Enterprises (Healthy Hip Hop). Rewind. Starting his company with a live performance-based…
Governor-in-waiting talks startup funding, Amazon and why entrepreneurism is bigger than KC
The strongest person in the room isn’t necessarily the loudest, Jeff Colyer said. “Kansans are used to being overlooked,” he said. “My role as lieutenant governor was to be a little quieter. You give your best advice. And when decisions are made, you’re going to work to support them.” Soon, however, he’ll be the state’s…