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Company boosted by Topeka becomes capital city’s latest Plug and Play corporate partner

By Tommy Felts / April 24, 2023

Startland News’ Startup Road Trip series explores innovative and uncommon ideas finding success in rural America and Midwestern startup hubs outside the Kansas City metro.  TOPEKA — Plug and Play Topeka announced this week the addition of Bimini Pet Health as a new corporate partner of the Topeka-based animal health accelerator — a move expected…

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Cori Smith, BLK + BRWN

BLK + BRWN debuts KC’s first smart bookstore with a twist: ‘I wanted to be as Black as possible’

By Tommy Felts / August 5, 2021

Kansas City’s newest Black woman-owned, brick-and-mortar bookstore in Midtown has opened its doors, but customers shouldn’t judge the operation by its cover, owner Cori Smith said, revealing an additional first for the metro that has heads and pages turning.   “There’s a technological aspect paired with each book,” explained Smith, owner of BLK + BRWN — Kansas…

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Nathan Kurtz, Brush Creek Partners

LaunchKC-backed insurtech accelerator hopes to claim new cohort by Aug. 22

By Tommy Felts / August 3, 2021

Brush Creek Partners and LaunchKC are again eyeing startups ready to accelerate their go-to-market plans, the partners announced Tuesday.  The application period for the LaunchKC-backed bcp tech InsurTech accelerator has officially opened, Nathan Kurtz, COO of Brush Creek Partners (bcp), said in a release, marking the program’s second run.  “When you have an insurtech product…

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Sean Null, Erkios Systems, right, with Austin Barnes, Startland News, and Carlanda McKinney, Raaxo; Global Entrepreneurship Week Kansas City 2018

GEW event series set for 7-day, hybrid return; now accepting presenter submissions 

By Tommy Felts / July 19, 2021

Global Entrepreneurship Week Kansas City, the metro’s largest annual celebration of entrepreneurship, is seeking event submissions from the community to help aspiring entrepreneurs and existing small business owners build their operations and be more resilient for the future. “Even though pandemic restrictions are over, we know the struggle to keep doors open is very real,…

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Katie Mabry van Dieren, Shop Local KC

How Shop Local KC’s new Main Street storefront crafts opportunity for makers, Midtown

By Tommy Felts / June 25, 2021

Main Street isn’t just a bridge connecting the Country Club Plaza to downtown Kansas City, Katie Mabry van Dieren said, detailing how she hopes her new retail gift and flower shop in Midtown will shatter stereotypes — along with showcasing makers. “Midtown has really been divested,” Mabry van Dieren said Wednesday afternoon from the Shop Local…

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