Startups

Daniel Smith and Charon Thompson, Black Drip Coffee, The Porter House KC

Coffee for the culture: Porter House KC founders partner with Messenger to craft Black-owned coffee brand

By Tommy Felts / April 30, 2021

Black Drip Coffee brewed from within a desire to bring coffee culture to historically disenfranchised and underserved communities, said Charon Thompson and Daniel Smith.  “It’s more than coffee,” noted Smith, who co-founded the brand, Black Drip Coffee, as well as the Porter House KC with Thompson. “We always talk about breaking down barriers and creating…

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Scott Hansen, LeadSigma

Founded to sell: Emerging KC tech firm led by startup veterans announces $725K funding round

By Tommy Felts / April 30, 2021

A Kansas City startup’s initial funding round is expected to help small businesses close more deals, faster, said Scott Hansen. LeadSigma, a powerful and easy-to-use sales engagement platform, has raised a $725,000 family and friends round, Hansen, co-founder of LeadSigma, announced Friday. The round included prominent opinion leaders and agency owners in targeted SMB verticals,…

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Sarah and Spencer Martin, VanLifeKC

KCK couple fuels road adventures as camper van rentals speed up, interest in RV life surges

By Tommy Felts / April 29, 2021

Adventurers Spencer and Sarah Martin dreamed of owning a camper van for several years, they shared, but expenses and full-time jobs came as roadblocks. “I’m a science educator, and she’s a school nurse,” noted Spencer Martin. “Camper vans are expensive and then sit unused for a majority of the year, so it had always been…

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Dr. F. Nicholas Franano, Artio Medical; photo courtesy of Max McBride

$12M capital infusion pumps Prairie Village-based Artio Medical to $46M in funding

By Tommy Felts / April 29, 2021

A Johnson County medical device company announced Thursday the closing of an additional $12 million tranche of Series A financing — advancing the startup’s tech toward clinical study and commercialization with the backing of a leading Kansas City real estate developer. “We are thrilled to close this round of financing with strong support from existing investors…

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Photo courtesy of Healium

US Air Force contracts Healium for ‘drugless’ therapy amid military suicide epidemic

By Tommy Felts / April 27, 2021

As suicide rates among U.S. military service members continue to rise, Columbia-based Healium is doubling down on its mission to make mental fitness tools more accessible.  “It’s an honor to serve these service members and their families who’ve sacrificed in ways we cannot imagine,” Sarah Hill, founder and CEO, told Startland News in announcing a…

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