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Kansas City boasts a hearty roster of attractive early-stage investment opportunities. And that’s why two Midwestern venture capital firms with fresh funds are making the Kansas City area a key part of their investment strategies. Both Omaha-based Dundee Venture Capital and St. Louis-based Lewis & Clark Ventures are eyeing Kansas City-area startups for deals varying…
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Zinnia is not your mom-and-pop local florist — although the company did have a brief iteration as one lasting about a blink last year. It’s also not your big-box, online flower retailer — although their ecommerce site is a beautiful example of what a website focused on the customer experience can look like. The company…
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Kansas City’s popular grant competition, LaunchKC, will be doling out another $500,000 in 2016 to startups around the world. LaunchKC in April will open the application period for its international competition, which will issue ten $50,000 grants to winners during the second-annual Techweek Kansas City conference. Drew Solomon, vice president of business and job development…
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Editor’s note: The following letter was submitted to Startland News by Ben Williams, assistant director of the Regnier Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. The letter is in response to Startland Community Builder Adam Arredondo’s open letter to area universities on their engagement with the entrepreneurial community. Dear Adam, I’ve…
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I recently wrote a post about why I’m not setting a New Year’s resolution for 2016. In that post, I wondered if it’s time to try setting some real goals again after years of superficial goal setting and performance reviews left a bad taste in my mouth. I’ve been thinking a lot about how I…
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A Kansas lawmaker overseeing discussion on the future of the state’s angel investor tax credits is confident the program will be made a budgetary priority by his peers in legislature. Rep. Marvin Kleeb, R-Overland Park, said that he and fellow members of the Kansas Committee on Taxation listened to thorough testimony Wednesday during a hearing…
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Last week, Techstars managing director John Fein told us that one of the main complaints he hears from Kansas City investors is that there aren’t enough fundable startups. Investors may be right, but it’s not necessarily a lack of good ideas. Today, Kansas City investors are looking for more than the next big idea: they’re…
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There are a boatload of entrepreneurial events hosted in Kansas City on a weekly basis. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, investor, supporter or curious Kansas Citian, we’d recommend these upcoming events for you. WEEKLY EVENT PREVIEW SMCKC February Breakfast – Connected City When: February 5 @ 7:30 am – 9:00 am Where: Grand Street Cafe Learn how the…
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It appears area entrepreneurs and business leaders are unanimously agreed on at least one thing: Kansas’ Angel Investment Tax Credit program must endure. About a dozen people converged on Kansas Legislature Wednesday to voice unopposed support of the program, which has spurred significant growth in Kansas’ tech and bioscience sectors. The program — as represented…
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Access to the Internet is almost universally agreed to be a defining sign of progress in third-world countries. Yet millions of citizens across the U.S. still sit on the wrong side of the digital divide. The vast majority of these citizens have one thing in common: they live in low-income households, where cost outweighs the…
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