Startups

Eric Goeken, CTO, and Laura Steward, founder and CEO, VideoFizz

Startup’s tech hits Hallmark shelves with video greeting cards; partnership ‘worth the wait’

By Tommy Felts / November 4, 2021

Kansas City creative giant Hallmark’s newly announced line of video greeting cards is more than a one-of-a-kind product innovation — it’s the outcome of an extended startup partnership that was years in the making, Laura Steward said. “In 2015, we won a Launch KC grant,” recalled Steward, founder and CEO of Kearney, Missouri-based VideoFizz, describing the…

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Sharmil Desai, Menufy

Menufy sale scales HungerRush to more than 500 workers, 20,000 restaurants, KC co-founder says

By Tommy Felts / October 27, 2021

Growth isn’t new to the menu for Menufy’s Leawood based team, said Sharmil Desai, noting the online platform for restaurants had grown to 140 employees before its freshly announced acquisition by HungerRush. “I can’t think of any point when Menufy has not been adding and expanding,” Desai, co-founder and CEO of Menufy, told Startland News.…

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Leawood-based online restaurant platform Menufy acquired by hungry Houston cloud company

By Tommy Felts / October 26, 2021

A rapidly scaling Leawood tech company that helped dozens of Kansas City restaurants, as well as eateries across 3,000 other cities, survive the pandemic has sold to a Houston-based cloud software provider for the restaurant industry. Menufy’s vast online food ordering platform and network is expected to be incorporated into the HungerRush 360 cloud POS…

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Kansas City-made fitness apps flex tactics to monetize training’s trend toward tech

By Tommy Felts / October 26, 2021

Jake Heyen’s Fitic exercises its potential at the intersection of pandemic-pumped fitness and influencer marketing industries, the Kansas City founder said, detailing the intertwined world of fitness-minded consumers and content creators. “We love the fact that we sit within two industries that are poised for explosive growth going forward,” said Heyen, who also serves as…

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Hunter Browning and Ben Schultz, LaborChart

Exit to watch: Top startup LaborChart sells in a deal under construction for generations

By Tommy Felts / October 22, 2021

LaborChart, one of Kansas City’s leading startups, has sold to a California-based giant in construction management — a deal that proves hard work and determination pay off, its founder said.  The startup was sold to Procore Technologies, the companies announced Friday, noting in a release the deal is expected to further innovate the world of construction…

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