Startups

Sarah-Allen Preston, afloat

2022 Startups to Watch: afloat makes same-day gifting from local stores easy with soon-to-launch app

By Tommy Felts / December 15, 2021

Editor’s note: Startland News selected 10 Kansas City firms to spotlight for its annual Startups to Watch list, now in its seventh year recognizing founders and startups that editors believe will make some of the biggest news in the coming 12 months. The following is one of 2022’s companies. Click here to view the full…

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Idle Smart team: Kaley Lester, Brayden Jensen and Andrew Smith

How a KC partnership helped Idle Smart avoid a cold start that could’ve stalled its recovery

By Tommy Felts / December 14, 2021

Editor’s note: The following story is sponsored by Academy Bank, a Kansas City based community bank, and is part of a series of features spotlighting some of the bank’s startup and small business partners. Wasted time is wasted money — a notion at the forefront of Idle Smart, a Kansas City IoT tech company built…

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Amos King, Binary Noggin

KC software team of three builds $3.5M insurance risk management app from scratch

By Tommy Felts / December 9, 2021

A New York-based insurance management startup recently closed a $3.5 million funding round for its new end-to-end platform — an application built entirely by Kansas City software developer Binary Noggin. billy, a construction-specific insurance management and tracking application headquartered in Brooklyn, sought out Binary Noggin’s services early this year for developing its software. The startup…

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Brian McClendon

Former Google, Uber exec joins maker of Pokémon Go — and he’s building a team of developers in Lawrence

By Tommy Felts / December 7, 2021

Startland News’ Startup Road Trip series explores innovative and uncommon ideas finding success in rural America and Midwestern startup hubs outside the Kansas City metro. This series is possible thanks to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, which leads a collaborative, nationwide effort to identify and remove large and small barriers to new business creation. Brian…

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Hometown startups want their due; sister-led QuickHire’s $1.4M round could be just the start

By Tommy Felts / December 6, 2021

QuickHire’s potential for success is enhanced — not limited — by the young tech startup’s south-central Kansas geography, said Deborah Gladney, one half of a sister-led Wichita venture that recently announced its $1.4 million round boosted by a leading Kansas City fund. “Being from Wichita, we’ve come to know and appreciate everything this city has to…

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