Latest Stories

17 KC entrepreneurs selected to ‘ScaleUP!’

A KCSourceLink program that connects high-achieving entrepreneurs with mentors and resources announced its latest brood of businesspeople. ScaleUp! KC revealed Wednesday a group of 17 Kansas City-area entrepreneurs that hope to kick their businesses into higher gear. The diverse group includes entrepreneurs in such fields as software, transportation, fitness, food and more. It is the…

Kauffman Foundation

Kauffman Foundation dishing $2M to programs for entrepreneurs

With a new CEO and revamped strategic plan, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is bolstering its support of U.S. programs aimed at helping entrepreneurs. The Kansas City-based foundation is allocating about $2 million in grants to tax-exempt organizations expanding programs that are successful in supporting U.S. entrepreneurs. The grants, which will range between $250,000 and…

Mentorship opportunities abound in KC

Those hoping to further their businesses with the help of seasoned professionals need not look far. An array of opportunities await professionals seeking help to find their way through the foggy labyrinth of creating a business. Organizations such as KCSourceLink, which helps startups and small businesses find resources to grow, work to connect entrepreneurs with…

Schukman: 5 ways social entrepreneurs inspire teamwork

Social entrepreneurs are excellent at rallying people around a mission. For example, Life Equals is a Kansas City-based company that energizes its employees around the idea of bringing nutrition to malnourished children all over the world.  It does something powerful to people when they know they are working for a cause greater than themselves, and…

KC learning, sharing stories at TECHNA conference

Dozens of leaders in North American technology will be arriving in Kansas City this week to learn about area successes like Google Fiber and the Cisco Smart City project. Set for Wednesday through Friday, the annual Technology Councils of North America (TECHNA) conference will host about 60 cities’ technology councils from the U.S. and Canada….

SpiderOak nabs $3.5M for ‘Zero Knowledge’ software

SpiderOak recently closed a multi-million dollar round that will grow its team and boost development of its privacy cloud software. The company, which creates software that encrypts data without ever learning its actual contents, raised a $3.5 million Series A round that also will help fund its transition from Chicago to Kansas City. Chicago-based OCA…

Google lauds Kansas City tech in congressional hearing

Dirt off your shoulder, Kansas City. Search engine giant Google added a proverbial feather to Kansas City’s tech hat Thursday while testifying in a U.S. Congressional hearing. In a hearing with the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, the tech titan said Kansas City has been transformed as a result of Google Fiber’s…

Events Preview: Athena League, investor pitch

There are a boatload of entrepreneurial events hosted in Kansas City on a weekly basis. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, investor, supporter, or curious Kansas Citian, we’d recommend these upcoming events for you. WEEKLY EVENT PREVIEW Don’t miss out tonight Athena League July VOX When: July 23 @ 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm Where: Village Square Coworking Studio…

Sharing economy hits agriculture with FarmLink service

A new-age economic model is entering the world’s oldest industry. Kansas City-based FarmLink introduced this week its Web-based farm equipment sharing community MachineryLink Sharing, which the company says will enable farmers to save money and generate revenue. “Agriculture is in the midst of its next big transformation, where new thinking and business models that have revolutionized…

Metactive lands $224K for nonclinical studies

Olathe-based Metactive Medical recently secured a grant that will continue the development of its embolization device that fights cancer. The National Institutes of Health awarded Metactive $224,000 that will fund nonclinical studies on the performance of the company’s Blockstent Microcatheter embolic devices for the occlusion — or blockage — of peripheral arteries and veins. “We believe…