News Stories

Kayla McClellan and co-founder Olivia DeRusse Charlesworth Queen, Vibes KC

Overwhelmed, but not alone: How a KC serial entrepreneur helps Black founders move beyond side hustles and daydreaming

As Kira Cheree drove down I-70, headed west from Kansas City to Manhattan, Kansas, she recalled the years of work that put her in the driver’s seat and behind the wheel at that particular moment.  “I started to notice this trend,” said Cheree, a serial entrepreneur, looking back on consulting work she’d done with Black…

Gabby Lickteig, Indian Hills Middle School

Generation Changemakers: 5 ‘Next Great Idea’ pitches funded at Shawnee Mission contest

Editor’s note: Startland is the parent organization of Startland News, though this report was produced independently by Startland News’ non-profit newsroom. Click here to read more about Startland’s education and real-world learning work. Gabby Lickteig didn’t initially think of herself as an entrepreneur, she said, though the seventh grader knew she had the potential — if…

Nolan McMichael, Brad Starnes, and Joe Allen, Splitsy

Splitsy takes top prize in Regnier challenge, adding to emerging fintech startup’s spring bump

The Regnier Venture Creation Challenge doled out more than $65,000 in cash prizes to emerging startups this spring, culminating in Friday’s big win for an up-and-coming fintech app.  “We had a great competition,” Bryan Boots, managing director of venture creation and assistant teaching professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, told Startland News.  The annual…

Missouri Chamber

Missouri House advances pro-entrepreneur bill that would lower taxes on self-starters

A vision to make Missouri more entrepreneur-friendly moved closer to reality Monday as state legislators passed a first-in-the-nation Right To Start Act, advancing the bill to the Senate on an 85-69 vote. “We made progress today to make Missouri a state that welcomes risk takers, the crazy ones, who want to build the next generation…

John Blake, CFO, and Luke Anear, CEO, SafetyCulture

SafetyCulture rides deeper into unicorn club with $73M round, reaching $1.6B valuation

The evolution from a checklist app into an operations platform for working teams is paying off for SafetyCulture, which Monday announced a massive funding round from the East Coast — pushing the unicorn company even deeper into the realm of startups valued at more than a billion dollars. Led by New York-based Insight Partners, the…