PayIt forward: Kansas renews contract with KC tech company that took DMV headaches off the road
December 7, 2023 | Startland News Staff
For the more than 1 million Kansans who’ve already avoided long lines at the DMV thanks to PayIt’s award-winning digital payments platform, that experience — and others — will only get more convenient with the mobile-first technology’s Sunflower State renewal through at least 2026.
PayIt this week announced a new deal with the State of Kansas to continue using iKan, PayIt’s resident-facing platform for renewing driver’s licenses, ID cards, and vehicle registrations, ordering birth, death, and marriage certificates, and purchasing annual park passes.
First introduced in 2018, iKan was a foundational product offering for Kansas City-based PayIt, which has since expanded internationally — scaling not only its footprint but services.
“We’ve seen a lot of evolution,” a spokesperson from the scaling company told Startland News. “PayIt has added the ability to buy park passes, leading to a 50 percent increase in purchases across the state. Residents can now securely submit eye doctor information online. We enabled legislation (through multi-agency cooperation) to make this happen. PayIt has also added full Spanish translation across the platform to make government services more accessible to all Kansas residents. We continue to enhance the platform to stay at the cutting edge of fraud, security, and ADA accessibility compliance.”
Nearly 1 in 2 Kansas residents have registered with iKan, and the platform has processed over 4.5 million transactions, representing nearly $1 billion in revenue collected for the state, according to PayIt.
The company currently has more than 225 employees distributed across North America, with its headquarters in downtown Kansas City, as well as offices in Nashville and Toronto.
Click here to learn more about PayIt.
“Since launching iKan, we’ve been pleased to see how the platform has been able to save time, money, and stress for our residents and government staff,” said David Harper, director of property valuation and vehicles divisions for the Kansas Department of Revenue. “We’re happy to continue our relationship with PayIt, ensuring Kansans have access to all the ease and convenience they have come to expect from transactions with their government.”
In addition to the state, counties and cities throughout Kansas are able to adopt iKan as their official payments platform, creating an integrated digital government experience for Kansas residents. The renewal through 2026 also allows local agencies at the city and county level currently leveraging iKan to continue doing so, ensuring a seamless experience for residents and agency staff, according to PayIt.
In Wyandotte County, PayIt’s iKan integrates with the local myWyco app.
“The iKan platform has provided a lot of value to our residents and county staff, and the PayIt team has worked side-by-side with our team to ensure smooth implementation and widespread resident adoption,” said by Andrea Vinyard, deputy treasurer of Unified Government of Wyandotte County, Kansas City, Kansas. “We’re delighted to continue working with PayIt, and I look forward to serving even more of our residents with a modern digital experience.”
John Thomson, PayIt, speaks during a fireside chat as part of the 2022 kickoff of Global Entrepreneurship Week Kansas City; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News
iKan is designed to shift residents to digital channels, offering users the ability to make payments and securely store payment methods, documents, and receipts, the company said. Government agencies in Kansas increase their operational efficiency, reduce support costs, and garner payment insights from the platform. PayIt’s turnkey process and ability to integrate with any legacy back-office systems enable government agencies to go live with the offering in as little as 90 days, delivering the value back to employees and residents quickly and effectively.
“Through our growing partnership with the teams in Kansas, both at the state and local level, we’ve been impressed with the culture of innovation and dedication to providing their residents with a world-class experience,” said John Thomson, founder and CEO of PayIt. “We’re proud to be re-selected and look forward to building on the success of the iKan platform and continuing to support Kansas as it advances its modernization goals.”
RELATED: PayIt appoints new president and COO as fast-scaling KC govtech company hits pivotal moment
2023 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Kauffman Foundation rolls out $1.2M microlending program to help underserved entrepreneurs
Amid a swarm of 160 events as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation announced a new microlending program to spur investment in underserved entrepreneurs. In partnership with four microfinance lenders, the foundation issued a series of grants totaling $1.2 million that a will change the way the nonprofit microlenders capitalize their…
Scared away from networking events? Anti-social introverts can turn to tech
Networking strength comes in numbers — even for anti-social introverts, Jeremy A. Smith told a crowd Tuesday at Global Entrepreneurship Week. “Anti-social people, myself included, hate events,” he said. But like all other entrepreneurs, such introverts still must build and maintain actionable professional networks from which they can request and receive value, Smith said. In-person networking…
Longfellow Farm coworking the soil amid KC’s urban food desert
In a city ripe with coworking office spaces, there’s a hunger for similar environments outdoors, Ami Freeberg said. As with maintaining individual workplaces, traditional urban farming also can be isolating and expensive, the Longfellow Farm manager said. By working together, however, the collaborative process allows for shared resources, greater human expertise and, of course, more…
Procrastinating? Eat the frog, don’t chase the squirrels
On the metal wall in front of my desk, I’ve magnetically fastened a famous recommendation from Mark Twain. “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day,” the humorist from Missouri wrote. Though it can become an aspiration rather than a rule,…