Just funded: Digital Sandbox KC ‘fuels innovation’ for five emerging tech startups

Scaling past the proof-of-concept stage is key for young startups, so making them fundable by the time their product is built can mean the difference between success and stagnation, said Jill Meyer, announcing the latest round of companies backed by Digital Sandbox KC.

The five startups receiving up to $20,000 each include ventures focused on augmented reality; digital solutions around help for disadvantaged youth; emergency medical services response; women’s nutrition during fertility, pregnancy and postpartum; and wealth-building through attainable homeownership.

Jill Meyer, UMKC Innovation Center

“Early-stage funding is rare in Kansas City, so Digital Sandbox KC is proud to be one of the few to provide vital support to prime the pump and fuel innovations now so they can accelerate with additional funding later,” added Meyer, senior director of Technology Venture Studio, which houses Digital Sandbox KC and sister programs Whiteboard 2 Boardroom, KCInvestED and Comeback KC Ventures.

Past Sandbox companies have gone on to collectively raise nearly $200 million in follow-on funding.

In addition to financial awards — more than $3 million total in proof-of-concept project funding to support 181 Kansas City-area startups — the Sandbox helps founders “connect with investors, experts and more help in KC’s robust tech pipeline.”

Click here to learn more about submitting an idea for Digital Sandbox KC’s next grant cycle.

The latest awardees include:

• Diced Digital (Andray Napolez), Kansas City, Missouri — Diced Digital is developing a Web3-focused learn-to-earn experience that transforms disadvantaged 7th to 12th graders through fractional asset ownership. The company’s mission is to empower at-risk students by bridging trauma-informed, practical financial literacy and future-focused Web3 protocols with often-overlooked mindset and belief system awareness.

• Folks Capital (David Rowe and Evan Absher), Kansas City, Missouri — Folks Capital is an investment platform that delivers risk-adjusted returns for investors, builds wealth for people and provides sustainable impact for civic institutions. The company has a rare combination of institutional knowledge and practical experience with decades of experience in public policy, philanthropic program management, entrepreneurship, urban innovation, research and technology. By innovating upon traditional models, Folks Capital aligns the interests of all stakeholders toward mutually beneficial outcomes. The startup’s solutions unlock sustainable value through shared prosperity.

• Glownar (Dani Hatch), Kansas City, Missouri — Glownar is a hardware and software product that will revolutionize how emergency medical services function. With Glownar’s hardware, EMS will be guided to your doorstep by light, and the software will ensure EMS receives pertinent information about you and your loved ones. With Glownar, families will be able to add information ahead of time to help EMS respond quicker, more efficiently and with personalized knowledge of the patient before arriving on scene. This will result in shorter response times, better scene safety and will help eliminate the errors and lack of information from a caller who is panicked or incapable of communicating.

• Marma Nutrition (Meredith Evans McAllister, Lauren Vossen, and Victoria Weber), Kansas City, Missouri — Marma is a platform that empowers women with personalized nutrition guidance during fertility, pregnancy and postpartum. The majority of pregnant people are nutritionally deficient, despite taking prenatal supplements. Marma nourishes birthing bodies with the evidence-based information they seek, all in one convenient mobile app.

• Techne360, Leawood, Kansas — Techne360 LLC intends to harness the rapidly growing digital transformation that companies are undertaking by constructing “digital twins” of physical environments. The startup does this by using cutting-edge technology utilizing the company’s proprietary high-definition virtual-reality platform, which enables simultaneous workflow collaboration across global geographies in support of business-planning processes. Techne360 will also create an augmented-reality application allowing users to view and experience digital objects in real-life settings to bridge the gap between the real and the digital world. The company’s VR and AR platforms will also support integrated dynamic data analytics enabled by artificial intelligence, giving users the ability to visualize data in real-time.

Techne360, the founding team for which was not disclosed by Digital Sandbox KC, is also working on projects as a fellow through Comeback KC Ventures, an EDA-funded partnership between the Technology Venture Studio (of which Digital Sandbox KC is a program) and Kansas City Digital Drive.

Financial support from Digital Sandbox KC will be an essential component of the startup’s early-development process, the startup’s leadership said, noting funding will enable Techne360 to design and build a minimum viable product to serve as a technology demonstrator for its solution.

In addition to funding, the Sandbox supports early-stage startups with panels of experts during Summer in the Sand, as well as founder roundtables, where entrepreneurs are introduced to peer networks of support; referrals to other transformation funding and programs, like Comeback KC, Launch KC, Pure Pitch Rally, Pipeline and others; intentional connections to regional and national angels and venture capitalists for follow-on funding; and exposure to cutting-edge technologies emerging from partner research institutions in the region.