Funding
Techstars KC alum Grit Virtual posts $840K oversubscribed seed round
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…
Mycroft hits crowdfunding goal in hours, raises $400K for Mark II
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”…
Techstars’ Lesa Mitchell: Non-sexy sectors are ripe for disruption
Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone. 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 in…
AltCap banks $55M in tax credits to bolster KC’s underserved entrepreneurs
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…
Sickweather storms market with overfunded $1M crowdfunding campaign amid flu season
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…
