Tag: UMKC Innovation Center

Comeback KC Ventures launches program to fund, accelerate COVID solutions in region

By Tommy Felts / September 14, 2021

A new Kansas City-based program is recruiting 20 fellows — from among the metro’s first-time entrepreneurs and established businesses — for an effort to help accelerate innovations, products or service lines that are solving needs exposed by the pandemic. “The public health crisis posed by COVID-19 ignited a need for rapid change and innovation,” said Jim…

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Sean Null, Erkios Systems, right, with Austin Barnes, Startland News, and Carlanda McKinney, Raaxo; Global Entrepreneurship Week Kansas City 2018

GEW event series set for 7-day, hybrid return; now accepting presenter submissions 

By Tommy Felts / July 19, 2021

Global Entrepreneurship Week Kansas City, the metro’s largest annual celebration of entrepreneurship, is seeking event submissions from the community to help aspiring entrepreneurs and existing small business owners build their operations and be more resilient for the future. “Even though pandemic restrictions are over, we know the struggle to keep doors open is very real,…

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Just funded: Meet the six young startups joining Digital Sandbox KC’s summer slate 

By Tommy Felts / July 12, 2021

A round of funding from Digital Sandbox KC comes at a critical time for Bryght Labs — and five other early stage companies — as the AI-enabled gaming startup advances hardware development for its wildly popular, high-tech chess board, said Elliot Wilder. “Hardware is hard enough — but 2021 has added some unique challenges,” said Wilder,…

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Sam Yates and Chris Meier, Yup Yup Design Studio; Photo by Ann Millington Photography

Report: UMKC Innovation Center helped create 500 new ventures, boost revenue by $245M in 2020

By Tommy Felts / April 26, 2021

Amid a year of pandemic-prompted chaos in the business community, entrepreneurs forged ahead like rarely before seen, according to the UMKC Innovation Center’s new impact report, which details outcomes of the Kansas City-based resource network’s programming opportunities. “These entrepreneurs and leaders are our clients, our inspiration and our hope,” said Maria Meyers, executive director at…

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Chris Rehkamp

New in KC: Why UMKC’s island-hopping tech leader is trading Hawaiian surf for Kansas City turf 

By Tommy Felts / April 22, 2021

Editor’s note: New in KC is an ongoing profile series that highlights newly relocated members of the Kansas City startup community, their reasons for a change of scenery, and what they’ve found so far in KC. Click here to read more New in KC profiles. The Midwest is home, said Chris Rehkamp. “That’s where I feel like I’m really…

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