News Stories

Austin Wilcox and Wondabeka Ashenafi, SERV Nutrition

Major Kansas City grocery chains stock SERV Nutrition less than a year into business

Doing good is more than just a motto for SERV Nutrition — it’s the state of the startup’s operation seven months into business, Isaac Collins said as the company’s patented protein pods hit shelves at Price Chopper and Hen House stores across the metro.  “Online sales have been going well, but we saw a great…

Photo courtesy of United American Hemp

Two novice gardeners in an Olathe lab could harvest Kansas’ first legal hemp harvest

Potential for a high-yield payoff grows with each day as Michael Wilson and James DeWitt inch closer to their first hemp harvest — likely the first in the state in modern times, they said. “It’s the jumping off point to create a repeatable process,” said DeWitt, co-founder and CEO at United American Hemp. “We’ve learned…

Lisa Bledsoe, Tea-Biotics Kombucha

Tea-Biotics bottles $1.2M in quick funding round; taps into thirsty new markets for kombucha

From jar-lined countertops in her kitchen to a 13,000-square-foot facility brimming with brew tanks, Lisa Bledsoe’s mission to pour Kansas City a more refreshing bottle of “booch” is scaling fast, she explained over a freshly tapped glass of her “Beachlife”-flavored kombucha.  “I think it can be an inspiration for younger women or even other women…

Henry Kim, LG Electronics, Innovation Exchange

LG Electronics tech expert: Kansas City a smart home for corporate-startup collaboration (IXKC photos)

Tech industry giants see significant potential in the ideas being created in startup hubs like Kansas City, an LG Electronics leader told a crowd gathered this week at Homebase.  “A lot of startup companies can bring innovation to the front. Big companies like ours, sometimes we’re so busy that we lose track of that activity,”…