KC finance tech firm Lending Standard nabs nearly $500K

Kansas City-based Lending Standard recently raised nearly $500,000 to further develop its software and hire additional employees. The financial tech company snagged the funds from regional investors, and with it has hired two additional technical staff, bringing its total headcount to eight people. Lending Standard created a platform on which organizations can receive and collaborate…

Sprint Accelerator Demo Day preview (part II)

The second class of the Sprint Mobile Health Accelerator is gearing up for its much-anticipated Demo Day, which serves as a culminating event and is expected to draw a crowd of nearly 2,000 people. Led by Boulder-based Techstars, the Kansas City-based accelerator is now hosting 10 mobile health tech startups from around the world for its…

Study: Lack of funding curbs early-stage biz growth in Kansas City

The Kansas City metro area is losing out on millions of dollars in investment funding that could be helping to add jobs and grow businesses in the region, according to a new study. In recent years, area early-stage businesses’ progress has been stymied thanks to Kansas City’s lacking of microloans, seed capital and locally-based venture…

Sprint Accelerator Demo Day preview (part I)

The second class of the Sprint Mobile Health Accelerator is gearing up for its much-anticipated Demo Day, which serves as a culminating event and is expected to draw a crowd of nearly 2,000 people. Led by Boulder-based Techstars, the Kansas City-based accelerator is now hosting 10 mobile health tech startups from around the world for…

Mayor Sly James helps startup 1 Minute Candidate build, win competition

Kansas City Mayor Sly James stepped up this Sunday to help a team of entrepreneurs win a competition in which they built a business in 54 hours. James, a well-known cheerleader of Kansas City’s startup community, helped political-tech startup 1 Minute Candidate launch its platform at Startup Weekend Kansas City, a event in which entrepreneurial-hopefuls…

Local weight lifting tech firm Rack Performance lands $250K

A Lenexa-based tech company is racking up investment capital to further develop its weight room management software. Rack Performance recently raised $250,000 from local, private investors that will help the company advance the second version of its software. Rack Performance built a web-based, weight room and group fitness platform to help coaches and trainers efficiently…

FitBark wags its way into nationwide retailer

  Animal tech company FitBark is now selling its dog activity-tracking device in Target stores nationwide. The deal will place its product in front of millions of consumers each year at Target’s nearly 1,800 U.S. locations. FitBark’s animal tracking device will be featured among Target’s new “Connected-Life” section, which features other Internet-enabled products such as wireless…

Kansas City startup ‘walks the talk,’ bungee jumps

Sara Davidson doesn’t lightly espouse a message of fearlessness in business. And that’s why Davidson, the founder of Hello Fearless, is live broadcasting her jump off a cable car in Switzerland. Davidson is hoping to inspire other women around the world to conquer their fears not only with a live-streamed bungee jump — out of a…

Think accounting: 3 ways to drive your accountant insane

In this Think column, Emerging Business CFO founder Dan Schmidt shares three ways to drive him, and other accountants, crazy. The Think column helps entrepreneurs to stop and think about the various aspects of starting and running a business. Accountant and finance professionals are generally known to be level-headed clear thinkers, able to ride the crests of emotion…

Kansas City seeks leaders for Smart City board

The City of Kansas City, Mo., is now seeking nominations to lead the city’s smart city efforts. City leaders hope to attract citizens with experience in smart city technologies to help advise the City of Fountain’s coming Cisco Smart City project, in addition to its other smart city efforts. The newly authorized “Smart City Advisory…