Woman-led

KC’s PlaBook, Erkios selected for coveted $50K Arch Grants, boosting St. Louis startup scene

By Tommy Felts / October 5, 2021

Two Kansas City companies are expected to be part of Arch Grants’ largest-ever selection of startups, earning spots in the highly competitive St. Louis grant program’s 35-member, nearly $2 million 2021 cohort. PlaBook, an edtech reading platform, and Erkios Systems, a cybersecurity hardware startup, were announced Oct. 1 as winning candidates for the program, which…

Read More >
Professor Ranan Aktas, Maltepe University

Ronawk using stem cell tech developed at Olathe lab to advance liver cancer research in Turkey

By Tommy Felts / October 5, 2021

A Kansas City-based biomanufacturing startup announced its first international customer Tuesday: a university team in Istanbul that was among the first to beta test Ronawk’s lauded T-Blocks. The maker of 3D cell culture products said the collaboration with Professor Ranan Aktas and the Cancer and Stem Cell Research Center at Maltepe University in Turkey will…

Read More >
TechAccel St. Louis offices and lab space at the Bio Research Development & Growth (BRDG) Park on the campus of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center

TechAccel expands in St. Louis with new facilities in ‘premier ag innovation ecosystem’

By Tommy Felts / October 4, 2021

A Kansas City-based tech and equity company investing in scientific breakthroughs to produce healthier plants, animals and foods is tapping into abundant lab space at the other end of I-70, announcing Monday new offices in St. Louis. “It’s only fitting that we locate our team in the heart of the nation’s largest concentration of plant…

Read More >
Heidi Lehmann, Kenzen

Plug and Play selects KC startup for Topeka accelerator; Top City beginning to believe in itself

By Tommy Felts / October 1, 2021

Startland News’ Startup Road Trip series explores innovative and uncommon ideas finding success in rural America and Midwestern startup hubs outside the Kansas City metro. This series is possible thanks to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, which leads a collaborative, nationwide effort to identify and remove large and small barriers to new business creation. Plug…

Read More >
Wendy Doyle, United WE

United WE powers forward with initiative to appoint women into government positions

By Tommy Felts / September 30, 2021

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly saluted United WE Wednesday as the women-focused nonprofit celebrated 30 years of change-making across the two-state region — from strengthening workplace benefits to empowering more women into civic leadership. “United WE is making a huge difference. Just this year, United WE partnered with my office to significantly expand parental leave benefits…

Read More >