News

KC mom’s humble entrepreneurial journey draws on healing power of creativity

By Tommy Felts / December 11, 2017

Huddled in her parents’ basement, between the cribs of her crying twin babies, Keliah Smith began to draw. She was unemployed and feeling emotionally drained. The relationship with her children’s father had soured. Her escape: the stylus and smartphone in her hands. The Kansas City mother drew what she didn’t see in the mirror, she…

Harvard University recognizes KCMO digital inclusion map

By Tommy Felts / December 11, 2017

Kansas City’s geographic work to illustrate the area’s digital divide earned high praise from a prestigious university. Harvard University recently highlighted the City of Kansas City, Missouri’s Digital Inclusion map, a tool that — at a block-by-block scale — detail residents’ access to internet connectivity overlaid with poverty levels. “This visualization was chosen as Harvard’s…

Study: Women angel investors more likely to give back to female-led startups

By Tommy Felts / December 8, 2017

Women support women, a new study of 13,000 North American angel investors says. As more female entrepreneurs have entered the business field in the past few decades, women have begun to reshape the nature of angel investing, according to a report by the Overland Park-based Angel Capital Association. “Being an entrepreneur is one of the…

Bilingual startup Tico Productions brings energy to Chiefs’ Spanish broadcast

By Tommy Felts / December 7, 2017

When the Chiefs and Raiders meet Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium, more than the usual KC-versus-Oakland rivalry will be at play. The game also puts Kansas City-based Tico Sports’ two Spanish-language broadcast teams head-to-head for the first time. It’s not a competition, said CiCi Rojas, partner and president of Tico Productions, the company behind Tico Sports…

California retail tech firm opens Crossroads office, hiring 20

By Tommy Felts / December 7, 2017

Retail technology firm  PriceSpider is citing the area’s vibrant tech community as the reason behind rooting a new office in Kansas City’s Crossroads Arts District. Headquartered in Irvine, California, PriceSpider said the burgeoning startup community, deep pool of tech talent and Google Fiber’s arrival in 2012 helped push the company to choose the City of Fountains.…