KC newbie Rex tops $1M in revenue, kicks off hiring

Surging growth at one of Kansas City’s newest startups is leading it to hire a staff six times its current size.

Rex CEO Amado Guloy

Rex, an animal health tech company that recently graduated from the Techstars-led Sprint Accelerator, is hoping to quickly boost its headcount from two to 12. In the days following a pitch at the accelerator’s demo day event, Rex CEO Amado Guloy said the company’s received significant interest.

“In the two weeks since demo day, we hit $1 million in revenue,” Guloy said at a 1 Million Cups presentation Wednesday. “We’re a bit more comfortable hiring now. … We’re hiring like crazy right now.”

Rex, which relocated its operations from Houston to Kansas City after the Sprint Accelerator program, created a population health and bioinformatics platform focused on animal health. Now that the company’s surpassed $1 million in revenue, Guloy said he’s looking for sales, tech and business development employees.

Guloy said that the company’s business model has drastically changed as a result of the Sprint Accelerator program. Instead of connecting vets and pets owners, the company now provides real-time data on animal health maladies that can quickly spread around the globe.

The move proved to be beneficial — both in financial returns and for the team itself.

“This suits us better,” Guloy said. “We’ve morphed. … During the course of mentor madness (at the Sprint Accelerator) we realized that we were having trouble with growth and we knew this was a reflection of pet owners not really taking their pets to the vet regularly. … (Eventually) we found there was a really big need for (animal disease tracking) in the animal health industry.”

Guloy said that the company has received a warm reception to Kansas City. Furthermore, the area’s collaborative spirit has helped it foster new growth opportunities.

“It’s been awesome — that’s why we wanted to stay. The animal health corridor has been very supportive. … CEO Craig Wallace (CEO of Kansas City-based Ceva Animal Health) has been a mentor for us. He’s been a great mentor and incredibly supportive.”