Startups

Pepper cyber security report

Insecure phones, devices creating largest-ever sensor grid (for China) in US homes, says Pepper cyber security report

By Tommy Felts / February 25, 2019

As an industry, the state of cyber security is a “hot mess,” Scott Ford said candidly. “Frankly, its at a point where it ought to be concerning to everybody,” Ford, CEO of Pepper IoT, said in response to a new report that examines the state of the IoT space and released as part of a…

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Brandon O’Dell, Friend That Cooks

Friend That Cooks in-home personal chefs bake healthful cooking into families’ diets

By Tommy Felts / February 21, 2019

Champagne wishes and caviar dreams be damned, Brandon O’Dell quipped. Personal chefs are no longer a luxurious perk of the nation’s one-percent — all thanks to Kansas City-served startup Friend That Cooks. And as the market grows, so too does the repertoire of chefs at O’Dell’s startup, a weekly in-home meal prep service now operating…

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Spicy Broccoli and Chicken Stir-Fry with Jasmine Rice, Happy Food Co.

Happy Food Co. modifies meal kit options to fit paleo, keto, Whole 30, vegan lifestyles

By Tommy Felts / February 21, 2019

If a company wants to create change, its leaders have to be unafraid of emerging trends, Jen Trompeter said as Happy Food Co. serves up a strategy that could help the company cook up new business with modified meal kits. “People are doing keto or they’re doing Whole 30,” Trompeter, said. “We have some [meal…

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Meg Tomlinson, Nick Wehrle and Greg Blome, Omega Power Creamer

Omega Power Creamer founders turn keto craze into a million-dollar idea

By Tommy Felts / February 21, 2019

If it weren’t for the failure of a St. Louis tech startup where two friends found themselves working after college, their Kansas City-headquartered company might not exist today, pondered Greg Blome. “It kind of fell through and we were looking at [our idea] … we were trying for a long time to figure out a…

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Sporting KC, FanThreeSixty

Sporting KC teams with FanThreeSixty on new app for enhanced matchday experiences

By Tommy Felts / February 20, 2019

Kansas City’s vaunted MLS club scored a win even before its season begins Thursday, Sporting KC said, announcing this week a new official team app that taps the tech expertise of KC-based FanThreeSixty. Available now in the App Store and on Google Play, the platform leverages FanThreeSixty’s fan engagement software and analytics processes to offer…

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