Bobby Burch
Recent Articles by Bobby Burch
Mid-America Angels invested $3.6M in record-breaking 2016
For the second consecutive year, the Mid-America Angel Network posted a record-breaking year of investing. In 2016, the Kansas City-based network invested $3.6 million via 15 deals in startups, topping its 2015 totals of $2.8 million in nine investments. “What you see here is the result of several years of work, not just one,“ MAA…
Digital Sandbox’s newest cohort: Hip hop health startup, moving app
Digital Sandbox KC on Friday announced its support of two new Kansas City tech firms. Led by entrepreneur Jeff Shackelford, the Kansas City-based incubator welcomed H3TV and MovinHouz to its program. Digital Sandbox invests up to $25,000 in area businesses for specific projects that help the firms secure additional funding. The organization has now supported…
Pipeline announces award finalists, judges for the Innovators
The Kansas City-based Pipeline Entrepreneurial Fellowship announced Friday the award finalists and national judging panel for its annual awards, the Innovators. Formerly known as Innovator of the Year, Pipeline’s culminating event is set for Jan. 26, during which 13 fellows from the region will pitch their firms to the judges. Later in the day, the…
Global Prairie sues ag tech firm FarmLink for loan default
Kansas City-based marketing firm Global Prairie has filed suit against a local ag tech firm for defaulting on a loan, according to a document that was filed Nov. 14 in Jackson County Court. In the document, Global Prairie alleged that Kansas City-based FarmLink failed to fulfill payments on a promissory note in the amount of…
Eyeing a funding round? InvestMidwest deadline looms
The top investment forum in the Midwest is hoping to garner more applications from fast-growing firms in the Kansas City area. Now in its 18th year, the InvestMidwest Venture Capital Forum hosts investors from around the world that hope to hear from the region’s most-promising firms that need a boost of capital. Companies that presented…
Recap of an impressive 2016 for Kansas City’s top startups to watch
What a year it’s been for Kansas City startups. From exits and capital raises to awards and partnerships, the area’s early-stage firms have kept Startland News plenty busy in 2016. To mark that success, we’re revisiting a list we compiled a year ago relaying 10 startups that we believed were poised to make noise in…
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…