News

Just funded: Four new Digital Sandbox KC companies scaling products beyond survival mode

By Tommy Felts / March 30, 2023

Freshly announced funding from Digital Sandbox KC is expected to help four Kansas City startups scale their innovations to market with additional access to investors, resources and a growing network of fellow entrepreneurs. Among the first-quarter Sandbox recipients, Basehor-based Mpruv Sports plans to use the new backing as it releases a series of peer-to-peer, on-demand,…

UMKC pitch contest returning with $90K in prizes; spots remain for emerging startups

By Tommy Felts / March 29, 2023

The 2023 edition of the Regnier Venture Creation Challenge (RVCC), an annual pitch competition hosted by UMKC, is expected to award $90,000 in equity-free funding to student entrepreneurs and Kansas City businesses. Ben Williams, managing director at the Regnier Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, shared his excitement for this year’s event — set for April…

He’s building a more welcoming (and eco-friendly) KC, but this entrepreneur’s vision comes with a catch: It isn’t a one-man job 

By Tommy Felts / March 29, 2023

Reda Ibrahim’s home is open to everyone, he shared, especially for those who feel like they don’t belong anywhere.  “I have a big magnet toward everyone who doesn’t fit in. I faced a lot of racism; I have faced the struggle to be accepted. [When I came to the United States] seven, eight years ago,…

Art Junkez put Chicano custom culture on canvas with a colorful salute to family roots

By Tommy Felts / March 29, 2023

The Art Junkez — a venture crafted by a Westside-raised brother and sister and their spouses — set out to create “something out of nothing” in celebration of their Mexican-American heritage, Selena Moran and Jaime Calderon shared. Growing up, it wasn’t easy to find gifts that reflected their culture — like something for their grandma…

How ‘raving fans’ in small town Kansas built this govtech startup’s sales funnel

By Tommy Felts / March 28, 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. This series is possible thanks to Entrepreneurial Growth Ventures (EGV), a business unit of NetWork Kansas supporting innovative, high-growth entrepreneurs in the State of Kansas. MANHATTAN, Kansas — A trio of govtech…