News

Primed for HQ2? Gardner area was made for Amazon, Kansas legislator says

By Tommy Felts / October 30, 2017

Plans for bringing Amazon’s HQ2 to Southwestern Johnson County were laid in the 1800s, Bill Sutton said. “As soon as the (Santa Fe, Oregon, and California) trails divided here, all of this was in the cards,” said Sutton, a Kansas state representative whose district encompasses Gardner and Edgerton. “If the trails divided here, then guess…

Ag tech startup Farmobile raises $18M round for global expansion

By Tommy Felts / October 27, 2017

Ag tech company Farmobile has reaped a substantial Series B funding round that positions the firm to rapidly accelerate across the world. The Overland Park-based company announced Friday that it raised $18.1 million to expand its data platform to help farmers mitigate risks and generate a revenue from the data they own. The round includes…

10-year-old Leawood inventor in the running for $250K

By Tommy Felts / October 27, 2017

Kansas City entrepreneurs are known for their Midwestern hospitality, collaborative nature and humility. And each of those traits are expressed by 10-year-old inventor Julia Luetje of Leawood, whose entrepreneurial spirit is now on the national stage as part of a Frito-Lay’s Dreamvention competition. “I invented the Storm Sleeper because I used to be afraid of…

Face it: Zoloz tech lets you to pay with a smile

By Tommy Felts / October 27, 2017

With a recently revealed new brand and broader strategic focus, Kansas City-based Zoloz is expanding its biometrics security offerings to include another unique human attribute: a user’s face. Formerly known as EyeVerify, Zoloz unveiled three new products — Zoloz Connect, Real ID and Smile — that CEO Toby Rush said will ensure trust and security…

Minddrive fuels youth development through hands-on STEM

By Tommy Felts / October 27, 2017

Carlos Alonzo, a 15-year-old engineer at Minddrive, was always good at math. In the seventh grade, Alonzo’s teachers gave him the opportunity to skip ahead and take algebra. Although he enjoyed it and did well in the class, he ran into a problem: His school didn’t offer him an advanced class for eighth grade. That one-year…