All Stories

$300K Kauffman grant will keep no-cost LaunchCode coding classes in KC another two years

By Tommy Felts / February 22, 2019

Sourced in community building through enhanced access to resources, a grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation will allow LaunchCode Kansas City to continue its training program for at least two additional years, the program announced Thursday. “It’s very exciting. We know that it’s, in part, through the vision of the Kauffman Foundation that LaunchCode…

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New Kauffman indicators point to more fertile ground for startups on Missouri side of state line

By Tommy Felts / February 22, 2019

A new analysis of early-stage entrepreneurship over the past 20 years indicates a more welcoming environment for fostering startups has developed in the Show Me State. In a state-by-state breakdown released Thursday by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Missouri outperformed Kansas across the board. Overall, Missouri’s scores showed climbing measures of entrepreneurship, while Kansas saw…

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Brandon O’Dell, Friend That Cooks

Friend That Cooks in-home personal chefs bake healthful cooking into families’ diets

By Tommy Felts / February 21, 2019

Champagne wishes and caviar dreams be damned, Brandon O’Dell quipped. Personal chefs are no longer a luxurious perk of the nation’s one-percent — all thanks to Kansas City-served startup Friend That Cooks. And as the market grows, so too does the repertoire of chefs at O’Dell’s startup, a weekly in-home meal prep service now operating…

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Spicy Broccoli and Chicken Stir-Fry with Jasmine Rice, Happy Food Co.

Happy Food Co. modifies meal kit options to fit paleo, keto, Whole 30, vegan lifestyles

By Tommy Felts / February 21, 2019

If a company wants to create change, its leaders have to be unafraid of emerging trends, Jen Trompeter said as Happy Food Co. serves up a strategy that could help the company cook up new business with modified meal kits. “People are doing keto or they’re doing Whole 30,” Trompeter, said. “We have some [meal…

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Meg Tomlinson, Nick Wehrle and Greg Blome, Omega Power Creamer

Omega Power Creamer founders turn keto craze into a million-dollar idea

By Tommy Felts / February 21, 2019

If it weren’t for the failure of a St. Louis tech startup where two friends found themselves working after college, their Kansas City-headquartered company might not exist today, pondered Greg Blome. “It kind of fell through and we were looking at [our idea] … we were trying for a long time to figure out a…

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Sporting KC, FanThreeSixty

Sporting KC teams with FanThreeSixty on new app for enhanced matchday experiences

By Tommy Felts / February 20, 2019

Kansas City’s vaunted MLS club scored a win even before its season begins Thursday, Sporting KC said, announcing this week a new official team app that taps the tech expertise of KC-based FanThreeSixty. Available now in the App Store and on Google Play, the platform leverages FanThreeSixty’s fan engagement software and analytics processes to offer…

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InvestMidwest

Only five of 40 KC startups make the cut for InvestMidwest VC pitch forum

By Tommy Felts / February 20, 2019

InvestMidwest has whittled down the applicants for next month’s venture capital forum, announcing five Kansas City area companies will take the stage at the premier pitch event. Thirty-six fast-growing startups overall — representing 15 Midwest, East Coast and Southern states — are expected to present to venture capitalists, corporate investors, private investors and other key…

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TrueAccord San Francisco team

San Francisco FinTech firm bringing 150 new jobs to KC; TrueAccord invests $1.34M

By Tommy Felts / February 20, 2019

A Silicon Valley startup founded by tech veterans announced today a new 12,000-square-foot shared services operation in Lenexa, pledging 150 new jobs as part of the $1.34 million TrueAccord investment. Selecting the Kansas City metro for the project followed a thorough nationwide search, said Sheila Monroe, chief operating officer of TrueAccord, an automated debt recovery platform…

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Shawnee Mission brain

Young brains rewired by non-stop screen time in classrooms, neurotherapist tells district

By Tommy Felts / February 19, 2019

[Editor’s note: The following is part of a limited Startland series, exploring parent advocates’ objections to 1:1 technology initiatives, which typically put a tablet device in the hands of each student and are popularly used as classroom innovation models across Kansas City and the nation.] A rise in ADHD diagnosis and increased risk of suicide…

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Photo courtesy of Melanie Haas

Mother stresses lack of parental consent for school devices amid privacy, development worries

By Tommy Felts / February 19, 2019

[Editor’s note: The following is part of a limited Startland series, exploring parent advocates’ objections to 1:1 technology initiatives, which typically put a tablet device in the hands of each student and are popularly used as classroom innovation models across Kansas City and the nation.] Digital dangers are lurking in Shawnee Mission classrooms, as schools…

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