Funding

Grit Virtual

Techstars KC alum Grit Virtual posts $840K oversubscribed seed round

By Tommy Felts / February 28, 2018

Reality is starting to sink in for Grit Virtual, said co-founder Chris Callen. “It’s exciting to finally be able to talk about our funding rounds and the successes we have had,” Callen said. “It’s been an exciting ride so far, and we’re kind of gearing up to make it a real company, not just an R&D…

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Mycroft Mark II

Mycroft hits crowdfunding goal in hours, raises $400K for Mark II

By Tommy Felts / February 27, 2018

Mycroft’s Mark II crowdfunding campaign raised eight times its goal — and the tech firm is still counting. The Kansas City-based startup set out to raise $50,000 on Kickstarter and garner support from early adopters for its voice assistant product Mark II — similar to Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri or Microsoft’s Cortana. Mycroft “blew through”…

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Lesa Mitchell, Techstars Kansas City

Techstars’ Lesa Mitchell: Non-sexy sectors are ripe for disruption

By Tommy Felts / February 19, 2018

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone. [divide] In the process of looking for a new crop of companies to invest in on behalf of Techstars Kansas City, I thought I should highlight the type of companies I think are undervalued and critical to our economy. In 2017 we invested…

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AltCap banks $55M in tax credits to bolster KC’s underserved entrepreneurs

By Tommy Felts / February 15, 2018

A huge award will enable AltCap to make a broader entrepreneurial impact in low- to moderate-income communities throughout Kansas City. AltCap — a Kansas City-based community development financial institution that focuses on underserved populations — has received a $55 million new markets tax credit award from the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The award enables…

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Sickweather

Sickweather storms market with overfunded $1M crowdfunding campaign amid flu season

By Tommy Felts / February 12, 2018

An illness forecaster is never more valuable than when the threat of a widespread virus is high. This year’s severe flu season, however, is only one of the leading contributors to Sickweather’s uptick in interest — and its recent oversubscribed $1 million crowdfunding campaign, said founder Graham Dodge. “We learn a lot every cold and…

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