Startups

ChessUp board by Bryght Labs

$1.7M+ crowdfunding haul puts ChessUp in attack position for production, hiring top talent

By Tommy Felts / May 6, 2021

The makers of ChessUp are at a million-dollar advantage after the close of their first crowdfunding campaign.   “It’s what we dreamed about and hoped for,” Jeff Wigh, CEO and one of three co-founders behind Bryght Labs, maker of ChessUp, said of the company’s first Kickstarter campaign and its $1.703 million close late last month.  Becoming…

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Kayla McClellan and co-founder Olivia DeRusse Charlesworth Queen, Vibes KC

Overwhelmed, but not alone: How a KC serial entrepreneur helps Black founders move beyond side hustles and daydreaming

By Tommy Felts / May 5, 2021

As Kira Cheree drove down I-70, headed west from Kansas City to Manhattan, Kansas, she recalled the years of work that put her in the driver’s seat and behind the wheel at that particular moment.  “I started to notice this trend,” said Cheree, a serial entrepreneur, looking back on consulting work she’d done with Black…

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Nolan McMichael, Brad Starnes, and Joe Allen, Splitsy

Splitsy takes top prize in Regnier challenge, adding to emerging fintech startup’s spring bump

By Tommy Felts / May 4, 2021

The Regnier Venture Creation Challenge doled out more than $65,000 in cash prizes to emerging startups this spring, culminating in Friday’s big win for an up-and-coming fintech app.  “We had a great competition,” Bryan Boots, managing director of venture creation and assistant teaching professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, told Startland News.  The annual…

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John Blake, CFO, and Luke Anear, CEO, SafetyCulture

SafetyCulture rides deeper into unicorn club with $73M round, reaching $1.6B valuation

By Tommy Felts / May 3, 2021

The evolution from a checklist app into an operations platform for working teams is paying off for SafetyCulture, which Monday announced a massive funding round from the East Coast — pushing the unicorn company even deeper into the realm of startups valued at more than a billion dollars. Led by New York-based Insight Partners, the…

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Penn 1 at The District in Lenexa City Center

Made in KC goes West: Why the local-first retailer is opening a marketplace (with shuffleboard) in Lenexa

By Tommy Felts / May 1, 2021

A newly announced Made in KC Marketplace at Lenexa City Center will make local goods — and the makers behind them — more accessible to a fast-developing piece of Kansas City, said Keith Bradley. “Part of our mission as a company is to make shopping local a habit,” said Bradley, co-owner of Made in KC, a…

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