Startups

Midwest-focused M25 rolls out new venture partners across region, adding high-profile STL founder

By Tommy Felts / March 13, 2025

CHICAGO — An influential venture capital firm with portfolio companies in Kansas City and across the region on Thursday announced a St. Louis serial entrepreneur as the latest venture partner joining its mission to back a new generation of Midwest unicorns. Guy Friedman, co-founder and CEO of SteadyMD, brings an invaluable founder’s perspective — plus a…

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Roster filled: 32 Kansas startups march into Round 2 of tourney-style pitch competition

By Tommy Felts / March 12, 2025

WICHITA — Nearly three dozen Sunflower State startups are vying for $20,000 in prize money — and courting the attention of investors — as they advance to the second round of an innovative, state-backed pitch competition set amid the excitement of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. NXTUS on Tuesday announced the initial 32 companies advancing…

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Randy Wasinger wanted the 1952 Topps of NFTs; so the lifelong baseball card collector started coding (and Mark Cuban came calling)

By Tommy Felts / March 11, 2025

Editor’s note: The following includes excerpts from “The Corporate Couch” podcast as part of a collaboration between host Jeff Pelaccio and Startland News to highlight Web3 companies and founders in the space. [divide] The 15-year-old boy within Randy Wasinger — so obsessed with baseball cards that he opened a card shop in downtown Russell, Kansas, to…

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Transportant picked a lane; now the Lenexa bus tech startup wants to conquer even more of the road

By Tommy Felts / March 11, 2025

From the driver’s seat, Martin Staples is steering Lenexa-based Transportant toward rapid growth with its real-time, tech-driven approach, he said, bringing greater safety, communication, and efficiency to school buses and expanding the startup’s reach beyond its Midwest home region. Fueling Transportant’s plans to leave coast-to-coast tracks — and beyond — will be key, said Staples, who…

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Daupler closes $15M Series B to boost real-time responses to energy, water emergencies

By Tommy Felts / March 6, 2025

A Kansas City company’s latest funding round will help the startup manage critical infrastructure provided by utilities and municipalities — driving its growth within the electric utility market and accelerating international expansion into utilities in the United Kingdom and European Union. Daupler on Thursday announced an oversubscribed $15 million Series B round led by Aqualateral,…

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