NXTUS expands enterprise-focused program beyond Kansas; four KC-area startups selected
August 13, 2025 | Startland News Staff
WICHITA, Kan. — An ongoing initiative to demystify the relationship-building process between emerging entrepreneurs and potential enterprise partners just expanded deeper into the Midwest, welcoming 20 growth-minded innovators from Wichita to St. Louis.
Mary Beth Jarvis, president and CEO of NXTUS, speaks in March during the Gamechangers & Champions summit in Wichita; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News
“For entrepreneurs whose success depends on forging relationships with ‘the big guys,’ this unique program is so valuable,” said Mary Beth Jarvis, president and CEO of NXTUS, which organizes the NXTSTAGE Enterprise Engagement Series. “The entrepreneurs build their knowledge and confidence to more effectively approach large organizations. And the enterprise partners benefit from getting to know these startups as potential suppliers and collaborators, helping advance the ‘grow our own’ economic development efforts that are crucial to keep our region moving forward.”
Advancing in program, four Kansas City-area businesses — Archia, Overland Park, Kansas; OnSight, Spring Hill, Kansas; ROZ, Olathe, Kansas; and ULOM, Kansas City, Missouri — are set to meet weekly with the cohort through the end of September, gaining the tools and insights needed to build meaningful partnerships with the medium-to-large enterprises they hope to collaborate with and sell to in order to grow.
New this year, the program expanded its reach by welcoming startup applications from across the Midwest, moving beyond Kansas for the first time.
Through a curated selection process, NXTUS accepted startup founders from across a wide-range of industries, from advanced cybersecurity and AI-driven health and wellness platforms to inclusive workforce integration, transformative HR services, and specialized professional support that spans logistics, compliance, creative marketing, and more.
Members of the NXTSTAGE Enterprise Engagement Series cohort; photo courtesy of NXTUS
The just-announced cohort includes:
- Accelerate Physical Therapy and Performance (Ashton Reichmann), Wichita, Kansas
- Adelitas Coffee Co. (Oscar Pineda), Wichita, Kansas
- Archia (Gharib Gharibi), Overland Park, Kansas
- Capacity (Janice Perkins), Wichita, Kansas
- Eck Fabrication (Ethan Eck), Kingman, Kansas
- Good Works Talent (Rachel Biggs), Wichita, Kansas
- Kwema (Ali Jabry), St. Louis, Missouri
- Logical A (Chris Weakly), Wichita, Kansas
- Malibu Creative (Austin Calam), Wichita, Kansas
- Mid-American Language Services (Maya Navarro Williams), Wichita, Kansas
- MMNT (Miguel Johns), Wichita, Kansas
- Moonbase (Nic Wentling, Christian Taylor), Wichita, Kansas
- OnSight (Errick Quartucci, Alex Snook, Hunter Haufler), Spring Hill, Kansas
- Phy-Cy.X Security Group (Clint Stevens), Wichita, Kansas
- POURPIS (Vanessa Tillemans), Wichita, Kansas
- Primor Fitness (Deb Whitney-Johnson), Kechi, Kansas
- ROZ (Donnie Hampton), Olathe, Kansas
- State of Becoming (Candice Smith), Wichita, Kansas
- Tranbarger AgriVision (Ty Tranbarger), Hutchinson, Kansas
- ULOM (Zik Nwanganga, Bing Low), Kansas City, Missouri
The 2025 program is expected to culminate with live pitches Sept. 29 at Cargill Protein Headquarters during the Startup-Enterprise Summit, the kickoff event of Launch Week, formerly known as Wichita Startup Week.
Now in its fourth year, the NXTSTAGE Enterprise Engagement Series has graduated 60 startups across 15 counties in Kansas. Collectively, these entrepreneurs have generated more than $44 million in lifetime revenue and created or retained 125 jobs since 2022.
Enterprise partners for 2025 include:
- Berry Companies
- Cargill
- City of Wichita
- Equity Bank
- Evergy
- Kansas Department of Commerce
- Koch Supplier Strategies
- LANGE Companies
- iSi Environmental
- Sedgwick County
- Textron Aviation
- USD 259 Wichita Public Schools
- Village Travel
In addition, the 2025 NXTSTAGE Enterprise Engagement Series is made possible thanks to support from NetWork Kansas, the Greater Wichita Partnership with Opportunity Wichita affiliate, Fidelity Bank, and Forvis Mazars.
2025 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Cafe Cà Phê returns to the West Bottoms with second location for KC’s popular Vietnamese coffee shop
A Cafe Cà Phê satellite location inside 12th Street Post in the West Bottoms is the perfect step for continuing the mission of Kansas City’s only Vietnamese coffee shop, shared founder Jackie Nguyen. Just shy of the one year anniversary of its Columbus Park space, Cafe Cà Phê celebrated the grand opening of its new…
She wanted to bring her favorite foodie magazine to KC; her mother’s sudden death put this publisher’s plans on the back burner
Lauren Cook’s passion for Edible Communities magazine drove her appetite to revive it in Kansas City, she shared, but an unexpected life change has her hoping to hand the publisher’s apron to someone else. Cook purchased the license to publish the city-specific food magazine — each independently run by publishers in metros across the country…
Her red sauce is dynamite but Ragazza’s owner gives the chef title to her Italian heritage
Family is baked into the core of Laura Norris’ restaurants, she shared, from the Italian recipes served at Ragazza in Westport to the brother-sister duo running the new Enzo Wine Bar and Bistro together in the River Market. She opened Ragazza, which now sits at the corner of 43rd and Main streets, in 2013 and…
Former Independence mayor named interim executive director for LGBT Chamber
An interim leader was announced Thursday as the Mid-America LGBT Chamber of Commerce forms a search committee tasked with identifying the next full-time executive director for the Kansas City-based business advocacy group. Eileen Weir, who served as mayor of Independence, Missouri, from 2014 to 2022, takes on the interim role July 11 after the announcement…