Tag: Royal Street Ventures

Scott Ford, Pepper

KC startup Pepper secures deal to create new IoT platform with investment from Comcast

By Tommy Felts / December 22, 2022

The merging of a homegrown IoT startup’s tech and a corporate innovator’s existing smart property management system is expected to accelerate growth for Kansas City-built Pepper, said Scott Ford. The companies on Wednesday announced Pepper and Notion — Comcast’s insurtech business unit — had joined to create a new IoT and smart home platform that…

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Kenzen team, pre-COVID-19 pandemic

Kenzen finds capital in Kansas City as market for startup’s speciality wearables heats up

By Tommy Felts / December 7, 2020

Editor’s note: This article is underwritten by Plexpod — a progressive coworking platform offering next generation workspace for entrepreneurs, startups, and growth-stage companies of all sizes — but was independently produced by Startland News. Take a closer look, Heidi Lehmann urged, detailing her once-outsider’s view of Kansas City and ways it revealed a robust and evolving pipeline…

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Maggie Kenefake, Royal Street Ventures, Kansas City University Venture Fund

Founders’ Lab aims to open access to the world of capital for underrepresented would-be startup, investment leaders

By Tommy Felts / December 3, 2020

A pandemic-founded program has students leading the charge as a new generation of founders and venture capitalists rises together against the backdrop of an evolving and accessible Kansas City, Maggie Kenefake said.  “With underrepresented founders, it’s really shocking,” said Kenefake, managing director of Kansas City University Venture Fund (KCUVF) and venture partner at Royal Street…

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Tristan Mace, parkermace

From the Big Apple to the Heartland: A fresh set of eyes sees why KC is poised for growth

By Tommy Felts / November 16, 2020

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone. Tristan Mace is an advisor to early-stage ventures, investment funds, and Fortune 500 companies, an occasional guest professor at The University of Texas, former corporate venture capitalist for Merck and AXA and a serial tech entrepreneur. Click here to read more about his…

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Justin Davis, BacklotCars; Back2KC 2018

Destination exit: Less talk, more acceleration drove quiet BacklotCars to $425M deal

By Tommy Felts / September 11, 2020

In the half-decade run-up to BacklotCars’ historic $425 million exit, the Kansas City startup remained largely under the radar, Justin Davis acknowledged, noting the intentional move became less about strategy and more focused on team values. “Like many people in Kansas City and the Midwest, we all prefer getting to work rather than talking about…

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