Former KC startup acquired by Atlanta-based banking platform, uniting two of the largest Black-owned fintechs

Donald Hawkins, KC Collective; STARTLAND's Innovation Exchange

ATLANTA — Greenwood, a digital banking platform for Black and Latino individuals and businesses, announced this week its acquisition of Kansas City-founded Kinly — a neobank building generational wealth for Black America. The deal will help grow Atlanta-based Greenwood’s ecosystem of more than 1 million members and provide Kinly’s community of more than 300,000 with…

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Fintech revolution follows historical abuse of Black wealth: ‘We’re already late, but we’ve got to do something’

Donald Hawkins, kinly, at the C3KC “Fintech is Revolutionizing Banking” session

Editor’s note: Startland News is a media sponsor for the C3KC session “Fintech is Revolutionizing Banking.” With nearly 30 percent of Americans reported as under-banked or unbanked, leaders in the financial space need to ask themselves what steps must be taken to create a more inclusive system, said Cordell Carter II. “We often ask leaders the…

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Innovators can’t do it alone; C3KC conference calls for cross-sector attack on wealth gap, KC’s biggest pain points

Maggie Kenefake, Royal Street Ventures, Clarence Tan, Boddle, and John Thomson, PayIt, during a previous C3KC conference at Union Station

Editor’s note: Startland News is a media sponsor for the Junior League of Kansas City’s C3KC conference. Click here for tickets to the event, which features a keynote address by best-selling author Adam Grant. Challenges abound in Kansas City, Kimberlee Ried acknowledged, but opportunities for innovation to push change are even more plentiful. An in-person conference…

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Who’s getting funded in KC? The answer requires a long look in the mirror, analysts say

Editor’s note: Startland News asked industry experts to take an early look at the data behind the 2021 Kansas City Venture Capital-Backed Companies Report — the culmination of a three-month collaboration between UMKC’s Technology Venture Studio and Startland News, and presented by Mylo, a Lockton Company. Below are some of their leading takeaways, along with…

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