12 Kansas City Startups to Watch in 2019

They aren’t in it for the headlines.

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Join Startland and H&R Block in celebrating Kansas City’s Startups to Watch in 2019 with a special event 5 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 31 at the Copaken Stage (Kansas City Repertory Theatre).

Click here to RSVP for the Startups to Watch event, which is set to feature Q&A with startup founders, as well as jazz, drinks, and hors-d’oeuvres.

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The companies on Startland’s list of Kansas City Startups to Watch in 2019 are challenging themselves. They’re disrupting industries. They’re seeking a payoff, sure, but ultimately are driven by a desire to be masters of their own destinations.

These are success stories in the works. And we think they’ll be among the top newsmakers over the next 12 months.

To determine the Startups to Watch list, Startland’s editors and a selection committee pulled about 150 semi-finalists from nearly 250 public nominations, narrowed that list to 80, then 35, 20, and finally 12. It was a highly competitive process that delved into companies’ leadership, disruptiveness, traction and likelihood of major news in 2019.

While Startland’s team invested more than 30 hours in finalizing the Startups to Watch list, this obviously isn’t an exact science. We’re relying largely on the honesty and openness of founders, as well as the insight of our editors, investors and startup community leaders involved in making this project possible.

Our track record is solid. Click here to check out how Startland’s picks for 2018 performed. And take a look all the way back at our original predictions for Startups to Watch in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

The 12 startups featured in the expanded list below are poised for an impressive year in 2019. They range in age, investment level, job creation and mission, but are united by strong, healthy momentum.

And they’re only a fraction of what Kansas City’s entrepreneurial ecosystem has to offer.

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1) Bungii

Founders: Ben Jackson, Harrison Proffitt
Founding year: 2015
Amount raised to date: $4 million
Noteworthy investors: Perceptive Equity, Platform Ventures, Sandy Kemper, Kevin Winkley
Current employee count: 18

Click here to read about what’s keeping Bungii moving forward.

Bungii

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2) ShotTracker

Founders: Davyeon Ross and Bruce Ianni
Founding year: 2013
Amount raised to date: $26.5 million
Noteworthy investor: Magic Johnson, David Stern, Ryan Howard, Seventy-Six Capital, The L.A. Dodgers, KCRise Fund
Programs completed: Dodgers Accelerator Program
Current employee count: 30

Click here to learn more about ShotTracker’s plans to score a court-clearing 2019.

Shottracker

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3) RiskGenius

Founders: Chris Cheatham, Doug Reiser
Founding year: 2012
Amount raised to date: $5 million
Noteworthy investors: Flyover Capital, QBE Ventures, Mid America Angels
Programs completed: Pipeline, Plug and Play
Current employee count: 19

Click here to see how RiskGenius is making insurance policies easier to understand.  

Risk Genius

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4) Metactive

Founders: Dr. Nicholas Franano, William Whitaker
Founding year: 2014
Amount raised to date: $11.5 million
Noteworthy investors: Open Prairie Ventures II, former Kansas Bioscience Authority, Mid-America Angels, Women’s Capital Connection
Current employee count: 6 full-time, 3 consultants

Click here to see how patience is paying off for Metactive’s new medical device.

Dr. Nicholas Franano, Metactive

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5) Pepper IoT

Founders: Steve Bosch, David Bottoms, Scott Ford
Founding year: 2014
Amount raised to date: $15 million
Noteworthy investors: KCRise Fund, Leawood Ventures, GXPI (Evergy), Royal Street Ventures, OpenAir Equity Partners
Current employee count: 22

Click here to learn more about how KC tech firm Pepper is securing devices from invasive threats.

Pepper

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6) Signal Kit

Founding Team: Brady Simmons, Matt Miquelon, Tom Zagorski, Todd Jolly
Founding year: 2015
Amount raised to date: $4.5 million
Noteworthy investors: Simmons Family, Domenari EdTech Fund
Current employee count: 7

Click here to discover how a Kansas City company’s success in California could help schools across the U.S.

Matt Miquelon, Brady Simmons, Tom Zagorski, and Todd Jolly, Signal Kit

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7) Life Equals

Founders: Kyle FitzGerald, Chris Thowe
Founding year: 2011 (2016 brand launch as The Superfood Shot)
Amount raised to date: $1 million
Noteworthy investors: Luiz Edmond, former CEO Anheuser-Busch, CSO Anheuser-Busch InBev; John Guerra, former CFO Anheuser-Busch InBev; Scott Henderson, former COO and President, 5-Hour Energy; M3 Ventures; Square Deal Ventures; Mid-America Angels; Arch Angels; Gopher Angels; Nebraska Angels; KCRise Fund
Programs completed: SparkLab KC
Current employee count: 10

Click here to see how Life Equals is shaking up the wellness industry.

Chris Thowe and Kyle FitzGerald, Life Equals

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8) Bellwethr

Founders: Matt Moody, Darron Jamison
Founding year: 2016
Amount raised to date: $120,000
Noteworthy investors: Not disclosed
Programs completed: Techstars Kansas City
Current employee count: 4

Click here to learn how Bellwethr is freeing complex machine learning and AI power from expert-only hands.

Matt Moody, Bellwethr

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9) Homebase.ai

Founder: Blake Miller
Founding year: 2016
Amount raised to date: $2 million
Noteworthy investors: JE Dunn, Sunflower Development, The Brain Family
Programs completed: Kansas City Innovation Partnership Program
Current employee count: 22

Click here to see how Homebase is building smarter smart cities.

Homebase

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10) Tea-Biotics Kombucha

Founders: Lisa Bledsoe (investor/partner Rich Downs)
Founding year: 2015
Amount raised to date: $700,000
Noteworthy investor: KC Equity Advisors
Current employee count: 18

Click here to discover what’s brewing at Tea-Biotics Kombucha.

Lisa Bledsoe, Tea-Biotics Kombucha

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11) SquareOffs

Founder: Jeff Rohr
Founding year: 2012
Amount raised to date: $1 million-plus
Noteworthy investor: Howard Tullman (G2T3V), Leawood Venture Capital, Greenway Capital, KCRise Fund, Missouri Technology Corporation, BMD Partners
Programs completed: Pipeline Entrepreneurs, LaunchKC
Current employee count: 6

Click here to see how SquareOffs polls are transforming the market of opinion ideas.

Rachel Smith and Jeff Rohr, SquareOffs

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12) Zohr

Founders: Komal Choong, Anoop Choong
Founding year: 2015
Amount raised to date: Not disclosed
Noteworthy investors: Firebrand Ventures, M25 Group, Techstars
Programs completed: Y Combinator Fellowship, Techstars Mobility
Current employee count: 8 full-time, 4 contracted

Click here to take ride with Zohr as the KC startup rolls into new markets.

Komal Choong and Anoop Choong, ZOHR

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Take a look back at Startland’s  predictions for Startups to Watch in 2016, 2017 and 2018.