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
Not high-growth or a tech startup? AltCap Your Biz $10K prize could be the boost you need
A $10,000 prize can mean a world of difference for the right entrepreneurial dream, said Davin Gordon. “There’s not a ton of opportunities for small businesses to not only pitch their business and go through that process, but actually have an opportunity to win some money,” he said. Entering its fourth year on the startup…
River Watch Beef envisions pure range of ‘farm-to-fork’ products delivered to your door
The beef industry is broken, said Chris Kovac, sitting just an ironic stone’s throw away from the historic Kansas City Stockyards. “We should all educate ourselves on what we’re eating and who we’re buying our food from,” the founder of River Watch Beef said, impassioned as he shared his concern for the health of consumers.…
‘Follow the Leader’: Brothers bootstrapping horror movie set in abandoned KC-area mall
Not enough films are being shot in Kansas City, said brothers Ben and Jacob Burghart. “The bigger problem is not enough feature films are utilizing Kansas City’s vast talent pool,” said Jacob. “[Kansas City is trying to] shoot more now, but we want to be a part of kind of kicking into another gear.”…
#MomFund: Unruh Furniture builds more than tables inside a century-old church off KC’s Main Street
A table can mean stability, said Sam Unruh, founder of Unruh Furniture. It’s four legs help provide the emotional support for a home. “Growing up, my family ate together every night at the table. We all had our spots and still do to this day,” said Unruh, whose custom, made-to-order furniture business operates out of…