Voting with cash: Meet the 8 Kansas City tech startups competing in the Pure Pitch Rally

The landsharks are circling and eight hungry tech founders are ready to sell their ideas at the fourth annual, invite-only Pure Pitch Rally, the early-stage funding platform announced Wednesday. 

Karen Fenaroli, Pure Pitch Rally 2018

“In Kansas City, we have the business soul and hunger to help others — through both community crowdsourced giving and offering others a stepping stone to success,” said Karen Fenaroli, lead sponsor and founder of Pure Pitch Rally and CEO of Fenaroli & Associates. 

Set for Oct. 15 at The American Restaurant, founders and startups chosen to compete in the Pure Pitch Rally include: 

• Andy Bond, BestyBnB — Of nearly 3,000 domestic violence shelters in the U.S., less than 5 percent have the means to house companion animals. BestyBnB’s platform provides a suite of tools to manage and track survivors and pets, who are matched with pet caregivers.
• Elango Thevar, Blockchain Water — Blockchain Water Platform is a comprehensive, integrated real-time water management platform. Blockchain Water Platform uses artificial intelligence, specifically machine learning, to model and assess the risk condition of drinking water distribution mains, sewer and stormwater collection systems.
• Libby Martin, Calving Technologies — Calving Technologies equips cattle producers with affordable, durable technology that reduces calving mortality rates and increases cattle production overall.
• James West, Clara Biotech — Clara Biotech enables tomorrow’s medical breakthroughs today through exosomes. The company solves the major roadblock preventing exosome solutions from reaching patients — purification of exosomes from biofluids. Clara Biotech’s solution enables breakthroughs in diagnostics and cures for a wide variety of conditions including cancer, Alzheimer’s Disease, multiple sclerosis, ischemic stroke and more.
• Anurag Patel, Helix Health — Helix Health increases revenue and health outcomes through data intelligence. The company does this by giving clinics a tool to understand their patient populations in real-time and allocate their resources in a value-based health care system.
• Christopher Jones, MatchRite Care — Matchrite Care is an integrated electronic health records application that allows patients to aggregate their data into a single patient profile via mobile application or web portal along with their dependents’ records.
• Kwinton Scarbrough, PawConX LLC — PawConX is the playdate messaging app for dogs and their owners. PawConX creates an innovative method allowing dogs to use their natural ability to select preferred playmates and build their own dog pack.
• Kim Naramore, TravelHive — Millennials value experiential purchases such as travel. TravelHive simplifies the journey through digital bookmarking and planning tools. Travelers save their travel research to their profile; when they are ready to start planning, they can seamlessly move their saved research into collaborative, visual trip plans.

“The Pure Pitch Rally combines our Midwestern giving spirit with our sharp and creative business sense,” Fenaroli said. “The end result is supporting entrepreneurs and burgeoning businesses, lending evidence to Kansas City’s cachet as a tech hot spot.” 

Quinton Lucas, Pure Pitch Rally 2018

A growing list of landsharks slated for the 2019 showing includes: 

• Quinton Lucas, Kansas City mayor 
• Terry Dunn, DD Ranch Ventures
• Pam Berneking, chief commercial officer, Community America Credit Union
• Kimberly Young, President, KC Animal Health Corridor
• Matt Watson, CEO, Stackify and FullScale.io
• Davyeon Ross, CEO and founder, ShotTracker
• Angela Hurt, CEO, Veracity Consulting, Inc.
• Scott Hedrick, CEO, Pro Athlete Inc.
• Dennis Ridenour, CEO, BioNexus KC
• Jill Groebl, Senior vice president of client services, Intouch Solutions
• Keith Molzer, general partner, Flyover Capital
• Darcy Howe, Founder and MD of KC Rise Fund
• Donald Hawkins and Bo Lais, leaders, KC Collective
• Jeanette Prenger, CEO, ECCO Select
• Tom Sanders, growth accelerator, Black & Veatch
• Greg Gunderson, president, Park University
• Jason Houseworth, CEO, FanThreeSixty

Nearly $1 million in cash and resources will be on the line during the contest, with each landshark awarding $1,000 to a startup of their choice. 

Click here to read about last year’s winners, which included Lauren Lawrence, founder and CEO of Stenovate. 

In addition to cash and resources, founders will take part in three incubator academies designed to help them establish solid groundwork for their business and assist with pitch crafting, branding and scale-up guidance in finance, mergers and acquisitions, and legal support. 

“This event puts a spotlight on funder investing in Kansas City,” Fenaroli added. “There are investors here, and we want entrepreneurs to know how to find them so they can stay here to grow their businesses.”