Funding

With fund now slashed, LaunchKC alumni say MTC vital to early success

By Tommy Felts / September 12, 2017

PopBookings probably wouldn’t be in business today without the early support — and more critically the investment dollars — of the Missouri Technology Corporation, Erika Klotz said. “It really allowed us to do more quicker,” the PopBookings co-founder and CEO said. “For any startup, speed is everything. It allowed us to get credibility right out…

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Greitens eyes private investment dollars to fill MTC budget gap

By Tommy Felts / September 12, 2017

A new, privately-managed innovation fund could replace a popular startup investment program that was dramatically slashed for 2018 amid Missouri’s budget crunch. The potential strategy change comes as a suggestion from the Hawthorn Foundation’s report to Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens, following the months-long work of an innovation task force charged with assessing the current state…

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ECJC boot camp arming startups for angel investment round

By Tommy Felts / August 29, 2017

Startups enlisted in the war for capital know the struggle: a perilous gap between seed and success. The Enterprise Center in Johnson County’s new investment boot camp aims to arm them for battle. The Pitch Perfect mini-accelerator program focuses on helping established startups advance to the next round of development by teaching such skills as…

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LaunchKC reveals 2017 finalists for $500K grant pool

By Tommy Felts / August 25, 2017

LaunchKC on Friday announced 20 finalists vying for $500,000 in grants. The popular grants contest will award eight startups each a $50,000 non-dilutive grant and one firm a grand prize of $100,000 after a live pitch competition at Techweek Kansas City on Sept. 15. Techweek Kansas City is scheduled from Sept. 11 to Sept. 15…

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SoftBank invests $4.4 billion in WeWork

By Tommy Felts / August 25, 2017

Global coworking giant WeWork recently raked in a massive investment from SoftBank. The Tokyo-based conglomerate and its $93-billion Vision Fund has injected $4.4 billion into WeWork, which has 23 coworking spaces in the United States — including a shared, 40,000- square-foot workspace in Kansas City in the Crossroads Arts District — and more than 27…

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