News

MADE MOBB remix: How the KC streetwear kings’ Chiefs collab takes their grind to the gridiron

By Tommy Felts / January 13, 2022

The postseason pairing of Kansas City’s premier streetwear brand and its most celebrated sports franchise is a dream come true — one years in the making for longtime fans and co-founders Vu Radley and Mark Launiu. “I’m glad it happened now, because after nine years of doing this, we are ready,” said Radley, describing MADE…

HomeRoom closes $1M pre-seed, joining Y Combinator’s latest batch of funded startups 

By Tommy Felts / January 12, 2022

A Kansas City proptech startup that matches roommates with affordable coliving opportunities is reporting record growth, along with a newly announced million-dollar pre-seed funding round led by a leading early stage investor. The investment from Y Combinator, The Uplift Syndicate and The HO0 Fund is expected to help HomeRoom — a residential real estate marketplace that…

Winning alumni revive Columbia Startup Weekend to unlock Midwest talent, find the next billion-dollar startup

By Tommy Felts / January 12, 2022

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 the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, which leads a collaborative, nationwide effort to identify and remove large and small barriers to new business creation. Techstars…

‘People eat with their eyes first’: Why pop-ups were just a sample of this new bakery’s appeal

By Tommy Felts / January 12, 2022

Brown Suga Bakes began modestly — selling cookies out of lunch bags mid-pandemic, said Ebony Paul-Harris, detailing a strategy of starting small to achieve big results. In her case: opening the oven to a brick-and-mortar bakery and storefront in Olathe. “In the beginning, we used to make really small cookies. We also had a sample…

Bluetooth your burnt ends: BBQ tech startup fires up new way to keep tabs on those slabs

By Tommy Felts / January 12, 2022

FireBoard is smoking toward its seventh office in seven years as hiring and product development heat up for the ever-expanding Kansas City-based maker of cloud-connected digital thermometers — a staple tool of many BBQ enthusiasts and restauranteurs. It’s latest addition: the FireBoard Spark, an entry-level meat thermometer with a lower price point than previous models,…