Bobby Burch
Recent Articles by Bobby Burch
Sprint Accelerator joins the Global Accelerator Network
Kansas City’s Sprint Accelerator recently joined a global group that will connect its startups to dozens of other accelerators around the world as well as a plethora of resources. The revamped Sprint Accelerator — which announced a new focus in October to foster corporate partnerships with startups — is now a part of the Global…
T’was the night before disruption … A startup Christmas poem
With inspiration from Clement Clarke Moore’s classic A Visit from St. Nicholas, Startland News wanted to take a creative crack at wishing our readers a merry Christmas and happy holidays. Hope you enjoy 🙂 T’was the night before Christmas when all through the land, Not a founder was sleeping, for at work they still stand….
KCRise Fund invests in PEQ and Dunami
The KCRise Fund announced two investments in area firms Thursday to round out its 2016. Launched in February in conjunction with the KC Rising economic initiative, the KCRise Fund joined ongoing investment rounds in tech firms PEQ and Dunami. Kansas City-based PEQ is an Internet of Things service enabler that created an operating system for…
Built on speed, grown through community: The Kansas City Startup Village marks 4 years
Editor’s note: St. Louis-based magazine EQ invited Startland News to write a feature story about one of the Kansas City’s innovation districts, Kansas City Startup Village, on the heels of its fourth anniversary. This story was originally published in EQ. As many entrepreneurs can attest, inspiration strikes anytime — including a late Sunday night. “This is going…
Startland’s 2016 made-in-Kansas-City tech gift guide
Startland News and the Kansas City Star have partnered to publish content as part of the Star’s special section, “Spirit.” This story will appear in the Star’s Dec. 18 Sunday edition. With its tech chops expanding like Kris Kringle’s waistline, Kansas City’s startups are starting to resemble the North Pole’s elves in their ability to…
Illness forecaster Sickweather lands local investor, opening KC office
As part of a recent investment round, Sickweather will be returning to familiar stomping grounds to open a Kansas City office. A graduate of the 2014 Techstars-led Sprint Accelerator, Sickweather raised a seed round of an undisclosed value to accelerate sales of its tech that forecasts and maps illnesses for consumers and enterprises. “We’re thrilled…
MTC gifts $2.6M to 10 Missouri tech firms, including one from KC
The Missouri Technology Corporation is making the holidays extra special for 10 Show Me State startups. With an aim to grow the state’s tech and bioscience sectors, the MTC announced that it approved $2.6 million in co-investment awards to 10 firms, including $225,000 to Kansas City-based SquareOffs. Founded in 2012 by Jeff Rohr, SquareOffs created…
Router Ventures plans to make more KC startup investments
Led by regional startup champion Jeff Slobotski, Omaha-based Router Ventures is hoping to grow its early-stage investment portfolio with more Kansas City firms. With seven startups in its roster, the $1.1 million seed fund plans to accelerate its dealmaking in 2017 and Slobotski said Kansas City is key to the strategy. “I strongly believe that…
Sprint parent company to invest $50B in U.S. startups
The billionaire behind Sprint’s parent company plans to unload some serious investment capital in American startups. After a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son announced that he plans to invest $50 billion in U.S. startups that will create tens of thousands of jobs in the next four years, according to the Associated…
Led by a ‘give first’ ethos, Techstars becomes a B-Corp
When your company mantra is “give first,” it’s bound have a philanthropic focus. And that ideology seems to have driven Techstars’ recent move to become a certified “B Corporation,” entailing the investment and accelerator group adhere to strict standards of social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency. A “B Corp” — or benefit corporation —…