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LaunchKC, the hotly anticipated annual pitch contest, capped Techweek Kansas City Friday by awarding a half-million dollars in non-dilutive grant funds to nine winning startups from among 20 finalists. An Atlanta company earned the day’s top prize. The finalist competitors — who beat out more than 586 applicants for a spot on this year’s stage —…
Local government has the most impact on people’s lives, said Ryley Iverson, co-founder and CEO of Townfolio, a Canada-based firm providing city data as a service that was among the 2018 Techstars Kansas City cohort. Townfolio announced a partnership with the Kansas City Area Development Council Thursday during the accelerator’s Demo Day: fuel the international firm…
A quick-paced pitch competition Wednesday saw big wins for political tracking startup FastDemocracy and child therapy resource TheraWe Connect, with more than $1 million in prizes awarded between 10 young companies. “Our sponsors felt a funding head-rush like a speeding train — throwing money everywhere,” said Michael Williamson, an IP attorney for Polsinelli, one of…
Building an inclusive startup community begins with being unafraid to directly state the problem — a diversity gap — free of coded language related to race and gender, said Rodney Sampson. “I am unapologetically about being ‘color-brave’ and ‘race-brave’ — rather than being ‘color blind’ — because when you say ‘color blind,’ you’re saying you…
Imagining overnight startup success is as unrealistic as wanting to become a winning athlete or megastar musician overnight — it all takes time and practice, said Juan Campos. “If you actually have the ambition to create a multimillion dollar company, then the people that are the most successful at that didn’t just wake up one…