Startups

‘Hardest deal is always the first one’ — Partnership adapts Motega Health tech for animal use

By Tommy Felts / January 25, 2019

A new licensing deal with Simini Technologies has unleashed disruptive potential for Lawrence-built Motega Health, the company announced Thursday. “We are very pleased to be partnering with Simini and their team and are excited by the energy and creative thinking they are bringing to the commercial process in veterinary medicine,” said Dr. Blake Hawley, founder…

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Ryan Weber, KC Tech Council

KC Tech Council: ‘No Coast’ aims to prove landlocked doesn’t mean limited for local tech industry

By Tommy Felts / January 24, 2019

Kansas City has been “punching above its weight” since the days of covered wagons, said Ryan Weber, noting the tech industry specifically has an impact of almost $11 billion a year on KC’s local economy. “Nationally, our profile has risen so much,” said Weber, president of the KC Tech Council which works to support the…

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Matt Watson, Stackify

KC angels pile in with $2.74M funding raise for Matt Watson’s Stackify

By Tommy Felts / January 23, 2019

A team of six local angel investors has pushed Kansas City-sourced Stackify past the $2 million mark in the company’s latest funding raise, Matt Watson announced Wednesday. “We are using the funds to continue our aggressive growth plans,” Watson, founder and CEO, said of the raise. Uploaded onto the startup scene in 2012, Stackify has…

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Cough Detection

Predicting sick days: Sickweather showers HR with data on illness mapping, trends

By Tommy Felts / January 22, 2019

It’s a partnership more than a year in the making, said Graham Dodge, announcing Sickweather’s deal to help a leading employee benefits company predict workers’ sick days. The Kansas City-based startup is piloting a program among the more than 10,000 employees at Unum Group to give managers more data and insights to plan for absenteeism.…

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Rick Kloog, Vintage WiFi

Vintage WiFi mashup: Designer converts old items into bluetooth speakers at Troost T-shirt shop

By Tommy Felts / January 22, 2019

Rick Kloog’s T-shirt shop on Troost resonates with the sound of side hustles — combining the former music producer’s previously untapped talents for a Vintage WiFi effect. The “funky little vintage store” blends original Kansas City-designed shirts, and miscellaneous items — most of which Kloog converts into bluetooth speakers — as well as other original…

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