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An effort to elevate Kansas City’s creative minds, Digital Sandbox KC is digging deeper in its sixth year of acceleration — adding three new startups to its portfolio, the proof-of-concept program announced this week. “Our initial goal was to find 10 early-stage concepts that had high-growth potential and help them secure follow-on funding,” said Jeff Shackelford,…
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Editor’s note: KCultivators is a lighthearted profile series to highlight people who are meaningfully enriching Kansas City’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Founders should rally around Kansas City’s startup ecosystem like fans rallied around the Chiefs, said Donald Hawkins. “If you look at a lot of the companies that have scaled — there’s a huge connection gap between…
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A new licensing deal with Simini Technologies has unleashed disruptive potential for Lawrence-built Motega Health, the company announced Thursday. “We are very pleased to be partnering with Simini and their team and are excited by the energy and creative thinking they are bringing to the commercial process in veterinary medicine,” said Dr. Blake Hawley, founder…
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Kansas City has been “punching above its weight” since the days of covered wagons, said Ryan Weber, noting the tech industry specifically has an impact of almost $11 billion a year on KC’s local economy. “Nationally, our profile has risen so much,” said Weber, president of the KC Tech Council which works to support the…
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A team of six local angel investors has pushed Kansas City-sourced Stackify past the $2 million mark in the company’s latest funding raise, Matt Watson announced Wednesday. “We are using the funds to continue our aggressive growth plans,” Watson, founder and CEO, said of the raise. Uploaded onto the startup scene in 2012, Stackify has…
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Editor’s note: The following content is sponsored by Evergy Ventures but independently produced by Startland News. As two long-standing utility companies merge, they’re creating a new kind of energy for GXP Investments — now known as Evergy Ventures — said Dennis Odell, announcing a rebrand of the investment firm. “GXP Investments — GXP — it…
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It’s a partnership more than a year in the making, said Graham Dodge, announcing Sickweather’s deal to help a leading employee benefits company predict workers’ sick days. The Kansas City-based startup is piloting a program among the more than 10,000 employees at Unum Group to give managers more data and insights to plan for absenteeism.…
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Rick Kloog’s T-shirt shop on Troost resonates with the sound of side hustles — combining the former music producer’s previously untapped talents for a Vintage WiFi effect. The “funky little vintage store” blends original Kansas City-designed shirts, and miscellaneous items — most of which Kloog converts into bluetooth speakers — as well as other original…
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Kansas City companies need to buck the Midwestern, risk-averse mindset and sell audacious plans to investors, said John Fein. “I would just love to see more crazy ideas, more big game type ideas,” said Fein, founder and managing partner at Firebrand Ventures. “We invest when [the startup] starts to generate revenue, so they have to…
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