Proudly representing Kansas City, Mycroft wins national pitch competition
March 24, 2017 | Meghan LeVota
Mycroft AI made Kansas City proud at the Techweek National Launch Competition in Miami on Thursday by taking home the grand prize of $50,000.
As the one company representing Kansas City, CEO Joshua Montgomery said that this wasn’t just a win for Mycroft — it was a win for Kansas City.
“Kansas City won,” Montgomery said. “We are proud to represent the Kansas City startup community at the national level.”
Competitors at the national competition were comprised of one winner from each of Techweek’s regional competitions, 7 in total. In September, Mycroft — along with 9 other Kansas City firms — won a Launch KC grant, which was announced as a part of Techweek KC.
Although all ten Launch KC grant winners walked away with $50,000 in September, Mycroft was selected by Launch KC judges to represent Kansas City in Miami at the national finale.
A graduate of the Kansas City-based Sprint Accelerator, Mycroft has developed an open-source, artificial intelligence device to challenge Amazon Echo and Apple’s Siri.
The artificial intelligence firm is certainly on a roll in 2017 and this win only adds to its existing momentum. In February, Mycroft snagged a partnership with Jaguar Land Rover and will be employing its tech into future vehicles. This announcement came two weeks after Mycroft announced that it was selected into the Silicon Valley-based accelerator 500 Startups.
Montgomery himself recently moved to Silicon Valley to open up a second Mycroft office, yet he maintains the headquarters in Kansas City.
Montgomery stresses that Kansas City entrepreneurs do not need to move to Silicon Valley in order to be successful, unlike what the recent Bloomberg article suggests. He believes that Kansas City is a place where startups can thrive and said he owes all his success to the community.
“I wish that Bloomberg had the integrity to look into our startup scene more deeply,” Montgomery said. “Anyone can see that Kansas City is on an upward trajectory. Our startup scene is as good or better than any scene globally.”
2017 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Welcome to Startland News
Scrappy. Determined. Gritty. Those often were the words attributed to the Kansas City Royals as the team unexpectedly surged into the 2014 World Series and captured the national spotlight. Those very words are apt for this city, which has been built on the grit and determination of successful entrepreneurs like Ewing Kauffman, Joyce Hall, Henry…
Kansas budget woes render uncertainty for angel tax credits
As state budgetary concerns loom in the background, early-stage firms in Kansas are hoping a bill to extend the Sunflower State’s Angel Investor Tax Credit program will become a priority for legislators. Scheduled to sunset after the 2016 fiscal year, the program annually allocates $6 million in credits to entice investments in early-stage, growth-oriented companies…
KC virtual reality firm partners with KU, NFL coaches
A Kansas City-based virtual reality company hopes some marquee partnerships will plug it into a market projected to reach $150 billion in five years. Founded in 2013, Eon Sports VR recently landed the University of Kansas football team as a client for its mobile virtual reality platform to help players train without the risk of…
ECJC relocates office, updates brand
The Enterprise Center in Johnson County is shaking things up. The non-profit organization that connects entrepreneurs to the resources they need to grow revealed Thursday an updated website, brand identity, and new office location. “This move is the culmination of a long, strategic transition to ensure that as Kansas City’s entrepreneurial community changes, we change…