Digital Sandbox charges three new startups with its proof-of-concept challenge

An effort to elevate Kansas City’s creative minds, Digital Sandbox KC is digging deeper in its sixth year of acceleration — adding three new startups to its portfolio, the proof-of-concept program announced this week.

Jeff Shackelford, Digital Sandbox

“Our initial goal was to find 10 early-stage concepts that had high-growth potential and help them secure follow-on funding,” said Jeff Shackelford, executive director. “We’ve now had 76 sandbox companies secure over $68 million in funding and have created more than 600 area jobs.”

Companies joining the Digital Sandbox fold in 2019 include; data theft thwarting tech, Erkios Systems; digital assistant platform, Üdo; and artificial intelligence enabled, water management platform, Blockchain Water.

“The range of concepts we continue to see presented to the Sandbox is incredible,” Shackelford said of the companies chosen to take part in the program.

Already having gained traction in the Kansas City startup space is Erkios Systems, one of eight $50,000 winners in the 2018 LaunchKC grants competition.

Click here to read more about Erkios.

“This Digital Sandbox KC award is a major benefit, not just for Erkios Systems, but for the world,” said Ryan Sylvia, CTO, Erkios Systems. “This will facilitate Erkios Systems to enhance and streamline its product offering to secure the Internet of Things devices that, until now, had no viable solutions.”

Read about Erkios Systems winning appearance at LaunchKC 2018 here.

In its first five years, Digital Sandbox created job opportunities that infused more than $14 million into the pockets of Kansas Citians, bolstering the local economy, the company said.

“Digital Sandbox KC funding is a very important validation and will help us move our platform to market at much faster rate,” said  Elangovan Thevar, Blockchain Water founder. “Digital Sandbox KC provides great local support and other resources to propel our venture to the next stage and reach our goals. We are very excited to start our entrepreneurial journey.”