Meet 10 finalists for AltCap Your Biz pitch payout; competition returns during GEW KC
October 19, 2021 | Startland News Staff
A diverse group of nearly a dozen small businesses are advancing to the next round of the annual AltCap Your Biz: Pitch Competition with finalists ranging from a mobile vegan soul food service to a Northland selfie experience.
The “Closing the Deal” live pitch event showcases the 10 best concepts from a pool of 43 submissions, according to AltCap, which is presenting the competition alongside UMB Bank.
Each of the finalists will give a five-minute pitch to a panel of judges on the vision, tactical approach, and needs of their businesses. The winner is expected to receive a $20,000 cash prize and access to AltCap business advisory resources like NeXt Stage KC.
The live event is set to run noon to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 10 during Global Entrepreneurship Week Kansas City at Plexpod Westport Commons. Winners are expected to be announced at the close of the day’s activities.
Click here to check out all the events planned for GEW KC.
AltCap Your Biz finalists are also competing for the Fan Favorite award. An online audience is encouraged to view the Top 10 pitch videos on the AltCap website and share their votes through the comments section on related AltCap Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter posts. Votes will be accepted until 5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 26.
The finalists (and links to their pitch videos) include:
• Bizzy Babies, Diamond Fuse — Soft playground and bounce house company.
• Cafe Cà Phê, Jackie Nguyen — Kansas City’s first Vietnamese coffee shop.
• Fresh Factory KC, India Wells-Carter — Selfie studio and event space in Zona Rosa.
• Heart and Seoul, Rachel Cayetano — Hand-dyed yarn maker offering products with unique colors and names.
• Legacy Asset Group, Terrell Jolly — Incremental development company focusing on affordable housing solutions.
• MJ Fitness, Shelley Ortiz — Personal training and health coaching gym with an emphasis on mental and physical health journeys.
• Ophelia’s Blue Vine Farm, Mike Rollen — Family-run urban farm in the heart of Kansas City.
• Peak Roofing – Mechanical, Jade Teixeira — Minority-owned, father-daughter-run heating and cooling business servicing residential and commercial HVAC systems.
• Queen’s Kitchen, Allyscia Burton — Mobile food business serving a vegan and pescatarian soul food menu.
• The Ripple, Keith Custer — Online marketplace for buying and selling goods and services where proceeds from transactions go to charities.
AltCap Your Biz is made possible with the support of UMB Bank, Bank of Labor, Insperity, PNC Bank, Kansas City Kansas Hispanic Chamber, and the Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City.
Past competition winners include AccessAble Living, 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
2021 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
AI-generated bedtime stories are just the first chapter in JQ Sirls epic venture to make the publishing industry more inclusive
Every great children’s story deserves the opportunity to be published, JQ Sirls said, adding his own footnote that more people are qualified than they think to create them. “I could put 1,000 people in one room and tell them all to write a short story about their childhood. While many of them may have a…
‘When puppets talk people listen’: It’s not just storytelling anymore for one of KC’s most beloved children’s theaters
A Kansas City arts institution known for years as the Mesner Puppet Theater is animated with new life, said Meghann Henry, detailing a mission pivot for the freshly sewn and rebranded What If Puppets. Evolution at the nonprofit has taken a turn toward early childhood education since the retirement of Paul Mesner in 2016 —…
M25 drops Midwest Madness bracket for best startup hub: 4-seed KC faces up-hill battle (Here’s how to vote)
Bracket update: Since this story’s original publication, Kansas City has advanced to the Midwest Madness bracket’s Round of 32. Voting on Kansas City’s next match-up — against 5-seed Lafayette, Indiana — begins Tuesday, March 21. As sports fans fill out March Madness brackets this week, a Chicago-based venture capital firm is encouraging Midwestern founders, investors…
Startups, investors on ‘red alert’ as Silicon Valley Bank collapse ripples into new tech downturn fears
Editor’s note: This story was originally published by Missouri Business Alert, a member of the KC Media Collective, which also includes Startland News, KCUR 89.3, American Public Square, Kansas City PBS/Flatland, and The Kansas City Beacon. Click here to read the original story. Silicon Valley Bank collapsed in rapid fashion on Friday to become the second-largest bank…