LaunchKC reviving $50K grants competition with 8 big checks for startups ready to call KC home

After a four-year hiatus, LaunchKC is officially set to bring back its signature grants competition. Early-stage tech companies will have the opportunity to each win $50,000 in non-dilutive grants, plus access to business support and networking.  Co-founded by the Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City, Missouri, (EDCKC) and Downtown Council (DTC), the non-profit LaunchKC’s cornerstone…

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KC’s own $160M ‘urban oasis’ park: Private funders greenlit to put a 5.5-acre lid over I-670

Private backers have put up critical funding needed to begin reimagining the South Loop Link — bringing the long-dreamed about project closer to reality than ever before.  Civic leaders from across the region gathered Friday to announce a verbal commitment from funders and local property owners — including Lowes’ Hotel & Co. — who will finance the engineering…

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10-year plan to create more ‘equitable downtown’ would remove interstates, make way for ballpark in city’s core

Editor’s note: The following story was originally published by CityScene KC, an online news source focused on Greater Downtown Kansas City. Click here to read the original story or here to sign up for the weekly CityScene KC email review. [divide] A strategic plan that encompasses neighborhoods more than a mile from the skyscrapers of its central business district…

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Keystone Labs partners with LaunchKC to lead accelerator platform operations

Six years after launching as a grants competition, the ever-evolving LaunchKC program will continue as an accelerator platform, newly led by the minds behind Keystone Labs — an outgrowth of the Keystone innovation district effort championed by Kevin McGinnis. Announced Thursday morning during a meeting of the Downtown Council of Kansas City, the move is expected…

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