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
CB Insights calls KCRise most active VC in Kansas; Fund credits work of small team, innovative portfolio startups
Kansans don’t fear hard work, said Darcy Howe. An investment in such a mindset has come with big returns for the KCRise Fund, newly proclaimed the most active venture capital fund in the Sunflower State, according to CB Insights. “Perhaps overused but Margaret Mead’s quote, ‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens…
Overland Park-based CAPS education network launching cross-cultural program in India
The Center for Advanced Professional Studies’ (CAPS) first international affiliate program in India has the potential to break down geographic barriers to provide students with exposure to real workplace experiences on a global stage, said Corey Mohn. “I think [the American School of Bombay] is really the perfect partner to get started with,” said Mohn,…
New $750K investment round for Lula comes with partner in apartment management
Closing a $750,000 seed round is even more impactful with a strategic partner like Worcester Investments, said Lula founder Bo Lais. “We did have three other private investors, that were minority investors with two of them local, but it’s [become] more than just investment with [with Worcester],” said Lais, CEO of the Overland Park-based home…
Chronic Cow uses big data to attack pain: ‘I can still live a good life,’ founder with MS says
Half of all Americans have a chronic illness, said former TeraCrunch co-founder Dr. Kevin Payne. That somber reality, paired with uninvolved physicians, makes quality of life difficult for patients and the focus of Payne’s new venture, Chronic Cow, he said. “From a medical perspective, all I can do as a patient is what my physicians…