10 Kansas City Startups to Watch in 2021
January 13, 2021 | Startland News Staff
In a world disrupted, entrepreneurs are leading the charge — remaking their communities in the image of innovation and meeting a rising demand for solutions to real-world problems.
The future newsmakers assembled as part of Startland News’ Kansas City Startups to Watch in 2021 list are eager to reinvent. They’re simplifying over-complicated industries and blazing bold trails in critical sectors, from healthcare and GovTech to hospitality and even four-legged entertainment.
Celebrating the Startups to Watch in 2021
An in-depth interview special with the Startups to Watch founders will stream Jan. 27 in partnership with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and Plexpod. The one-time-only broadcast is produced by Stellar Image Studios.
Click here for tickets to the Jan. 27 premiere.
They’ve survived a global pandemic, bounced back in the face of an economic downturn, and found new inspiration to innovate in a decade that’s changed the way we live, learn, work and think.
Steps taken by these starters in the present day are sure to shape Kansas City’s tomorrow.
The path they walk isn’t new, but their approach promises a new course as they seek to build companies that meet the needs of an evolving community, strengthen the perception of the Plains and Midwest, attract capital at record rates and bring world class talent to the metro.
Choosing only 10 companies to highlight has never been more challenging. In fact, it’s our opinion that Kansas City entrepreneurs have never shown more hunger, making competition for the 2021 list the strongest to date. The final result isn’t a declaration of the best of the best. The Startups to Watch list is intended to spotlight companies the Startland News editorial team believes are among those best positioned to make headlines in the year ahead. The ranking, like the list itself, is subjective.
To those companies left unrecognized — we see you. Startland News maintains its mission to elevate all entrepreneurs through its non-profit news coverage, and you’ll be hearing from our reporters in the days, weeks and months ahead. We remain committed to reporting your stories as they unfold.
Email news@startlandnews.com to submit your tips directly to the Startland News assignment desk.
The 2021 Startups to Watch list was compiled through more than 70 hours of research and countless (virtual) conversations with community experts, funders and support organizations.
Ultimately, curation of the list relied on the honesty, openness and track record of founders.
The Startland News editorial team culled 50-plus semi-finalists from more than 200 nominations and newsroom-generated leads, narrowed that list to 30, and finally to the selected Startups to Watch class of 2021. This highly competitive process has assured us 2021 will be an impressive year of rebuilding with no shortage of progress in Kansas City’s bid to become the most entrepreneurial community in America.
The Kansas City Startups Watch in 2021 list is made possible by presenting sponsors Husch Blackwell and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, though independently produced by Startland News.
Click here to check out Startland News’ 2020 list, or look back at our original predictions in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.
Founders: Riddhiman Das, Greg Storm
Founding year: 2019
Amount raised to date: Undisclosed
Noteworthy investors: Flyover Capital, KCRise Fund, Accenture Ventures, Purpose Built Ventures, Practical Venture Capital
Programs completed: Digital Sandbox KC
Current employee count: 16
Click here for a full profile on TripleBlind.
Riddhiman Das, TripleBlind
Founders: Ben Schultz, Hunter Browning
Founding year: 2015
Amount raised to date: $7.05M
Noteworthy investors: Five Elms Capital, Perceptive Equity
Programs completed: Pipeline Entrepreneurs, LaunchKC
Current Employee Count: 30
Click here for a full profile on LaborChart.
Hunter Browning and Ben Schultz, LaborChart
Founders: Leib Dodell, David Hensley
Founding year: 2016
Amount raised to date: $2M
Noteworthy investors: Purina
Programs completed: Pet Care Innovation Network | Powered by Purina
Current employee count: 80 (25 full-time, 55 part-time)
Click here for a full profile on Bar K.
David Hensley and Leib Dodell, Bar K
Founders: A.J. Mellott, Heather Decker
Founding year: 2019
Amount raised to date: $1.3M
Noteworthy investors: Undisclosed
Programs completed: NIGMS Sustainable Heartland Accelerator Regional Partnership Hub, Wichita State University Shockers Innovation Corps, UMKC E-Scholars, Digital Sandbox KC, Pipeline Entrepreneurs
Current employee count: 3 (2 FTE, and 1 part-time)
Click here for a full profile on Ronawk.
A.J. Mellott and Heather Decker, Ronawk
Founders: Dr. Shelley Cooper, Dr. Moe Hamid
Founding year: 2019
Amount raised to date: $60,500
Noteworthy investors: Digital Sandbox KC
Current employee count: 2
Click here for a full profile on SureShow.
Dr. Shelley Cooper, SureShow by Diversity Telehealth
Founders: John Bertrand, Ryan Rosenbaum
Founding year: 2017
Amount raised to date: $1.7M
Noteworthy investors: KCRise Fund, Techstars
Programs completed: Techstars 2018
Current employee count: 25
Click here for a full profile on Daupler.
John Bertrand, Daupler
Founders: Nomi Smith, Luke Landau
Founding year: 2019
Amount raised to date: $325,000
Noteworthy investors: Undisclosed
Programs completed: Pure Pitch Rally, Digital Sandbox KC
Current employee count: 7
Click here for a full profile on PMI Rate Pro.
Nomi Smith and Luke Landau, PMI Rate Pro
Founders: Sean Finley, Erik Anderson, Tanner Wiles
Founding year: 2015
Amount raised to date: Bootstrapped
Noteworthy investors: N/A
Current employee count: 6
Click here for a full profile on Scissors & Scotch.
Sean Finley, Tanner Wiles and Erik Anderson, Scissors & Scotch
Founders: Nick Bowden, Alexei Pozdnukhov, Brett Naul, Kael Greco
Founding year: 2019
Amount raised to date: $11M
Noteworthy investors: Innovation Endeavors, Firebrand, Rise of the Rest
Current employee count: 41
Click here for a full profile on Replica.
Nick Bowden, Replica
Founders: Jannae Gammage, Milad Ghasempour
Founding year: Late 2019
Amount raised to date: Bootstrapped
Noteworthy investors: N/A
Programs completed: Digital Sandbox KC
Current employee count: 5 employees, 13 contractors
Click here for a full profile on The Market Base.
Milad Ghasempour and Jannae Gammage, The Market Base
Check out previous lists of Kansas City Startups to Watch
Featured Business
2021 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Chatterbox speaks the language of reluctant learners: games featuring global cast of AI tutors
Startland News’ Startup Road Trip series explores innovative and uncommon ideas finding success in rural America and Midwestern startup hubs outside the Kansas City metro. WICHITA — A Kansas-built language-learning app takes a gamified approach to fluency — inspired by travel and the simple joys of players feel when competing in traditional board games, said…
Hella Good lunar launch party celebrates KC’s rising Asian culture, bringing ancestors to the night market
Béty Lê Shackelford hopes Hella Good Deeds — the nonprofit sister organization of the popular Vietnamese coffee shop Cafe Cà Phê — makes members of Kansas City’s Asian community feel held and hugged, she said. “Hella Good Deeds is here; we love you; and we’re really open to collaboration,” explained the founder and executive director…
Husband-wife culinary duo among 8 KC bars, restaurants named James Beard semifinalists
Editor’s note: The following story was published by KCUR, Kansas City’s NPR member station, and a fellow member of the KC Media Collective. Click here to read the original story or here to sign up for KCUR’s email newsletter. Many of Kansas City’s best-regarded culinary luminaries are represented in the nominations, including The Town Company and Chewology; But the list…
The Black Pantry’s new retail-coffee spot is far from copy and paste, owner says; offers fresh taste of Good Karma
A new store on Gillham Road fuses retail and coffee culture, creating what Brian Roberts calls an “elevated Black coffee space” that moves beyond the transactional nature of traditional coffee shops. “I like my store concepts to be a representation of me,” Roberts told Startland News. The shared space at 3134 Gillham Rd. blends The…