News

KC angels pile in with $2.74M funding raise for Matt Watson’s Stackify

By Tommy Felts / January 23, 2019

A team of six local angel investors has pushed Kansas City-sourced Stackify past the $2 million mark in the company’s latest funding raise, Matt Watson announced Wednesday. “We are using the funds to continue our aggressive growth plans,” Watson, founder and CEO, said of the raise. Uploaded onto the startup scene in 2012, Stackify has…

Smart strategy generates wins for Evergy Ventures — KC’s quiet investment powerhouse

By Tommy Felts / January 22, 2019

Editor’s note: The following content is sponsored by Evergy Ventures but independently produced by Startland News. As two long-standing utility companies merge, they’re creating a new kind of energy for GXP Investments — now known as Evergy Ventures — said Dennis Odell, announcing a rebrand of the investment firm. “GXP Investments — GXP — it…

Predicting sick days: Sickweather showers HR with data on illness mapping, trends

By Tommy Felts / January 22, 2019

It’s a partnership more than a year in the making, said Graham Dodge, announcing Sickweather’s deal to help a leading employee benefits company predict workers’ sick days. The Kansas City-based startup is piloting a program among the more than 10,000 employees at Unum Group to give managers more data and insights to plan for absenteeism.…

Vintage WiFi mashup: Designer converts old items into bluetooth speakers at Troost T-shirt shop

By Tommy Felts / January 22, 2019

Rick Kloog’s T-shirt shop on Troost resonates with the sound of side hustles — combining the former music producer’s previously untapped talents for a Vintage WiFi effect. The “funky little vintage store” blends original Kansas City-designed shirts, and miscellaneous items — most of which Kloog converts into bluetooth speakers — as well as other original…

Firebrand Fein: KC needs more audacious startups, ‘crazy ideas’ to attract investors

By Tommy Felts / January 19, 2019

Kansas City companies need to buck the Midwestern, risk-averse mindset and sell audacious plans to investors, said John Fein. “I would just love to see more crazy ideas, more big game type ideas,” said Fein, founder and managing partner at Firebrand Ventures. “We invest when [the startup] starts to generate revenue, so they have to…