Funding

BacklotCars

Investors deal BacklotCars $8M; KC-based startup hitting the gas on disruption

By Tommy Felts / December 11, 2018

Disrupting the used car space has driven a Series A funding round to $8 million for Kansas City-based startup BacklotCars, the company announced Tuesday. “This investment comes at a great time. We are growing rapidly in our existing markets and expanding our national footprint. We expect to continue to add new features – to accompany…

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Ronnie Washington, Onward

Onward scores $1M grant from Chan Zuckerberg Initiative for payday loan end-run

By Tommy Felts / December 4, 2018

Everyone needs a financial cushion, said Ronnie Washington — even a fintech startup offering low- to moderate-income workers a path to avoid predatory lending practices, the Onward founder said. A member of KC-based Fountain City Fintech’s inaugural cohort, Onward is one of 10 companies from across the U.S. and Puerto Rico being awarded $1 million…

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Harris Park

Social entrepreneur’s Harris Park brings green and golf to blighted urban neighborhood

By Tommy Felts / November 30, 2018

A clean green park with an award-winning golf course not only raises the profile of the Ivanhoe neighborhood at 40th and Wayne — it changes the mindset of those who live there, said Chris Harris. The space — completed in August— was chosen by the American Society of Golf Course Architects for its Design Excellence…

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Mark Davis, RealQuantum, at LaunchKC

Curb appeal attracts investors to $850K round for real estate tech firm RealQuantum

By Tommy Felts / November 29, 2018

A year of steady growth will help Kansas City real estate tech firm RealQuantum end 2018 with the close of its first round of seed funding — securing $850,000 in investments, revealed Mark Davis. “We closed a couple of times actually — people just kept showing up at the last minute wanting in,” Davis, RealQuantum’s…

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AY Young, Battery Tour, sunshine boxes

Battery Tour energizes Sunshine Boxes with global vision to power developing economies through music

By Tommy Felts / November 27, 2018

AY Young’s recent Battery Tour generated enough money to send two of 17° 73° Innovation Co’s Sunshine Boxes to Haiti — the first step in a partnership between the two ventures with common goals, the energetic founder said. “[We] just realized that we were trying to kind of do the same thing as far as…

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