Elyssa Bezner
Reporter
Recent Articles by Elyssa Bezner
After expanding West Bottoms production, Convivial shaping new botanical concept in Crossroads
Bootstrapped design and manufacturing company Convivial is reaching out with a clay-covered hand from its West Bottoms production space to plant a Crossroads retail concept, said Chentell Shannon. “I feel grateful and I feel honored and excited and scared — I mean, growing a business is scary,” laughed Shannon, founder of Convivial. Having delivered handmade…
Overland Park-based CAPS education network launching cross-cultural program in India
The Center for Advanced Professional Studies’ (CAPS) first international affiliate program in India has the potential to break down geographic barriers to provide students with exposure to real workplace experiences on a global stage, said Corey Mohn. “I think [the American School of Bombay] is really the perfect partner to get started with,” said Mohn,…
New $750K investment round for Lula comes with partner in apartment management
Closing a $750,000 seed round is even more impactful with a strategic partner like Worcester Investments, said Lula founder Bo Lais. “We did have three other private investors, that were minority investors with two of them local, but it’s [become] more than just investment with [with Worcester],” said Lais, CEO of the Overland Park-based home…
Chronic Cow uses big data to attack pain: ‘I can still live a good life,’ founder with MS says
Half of all Americans have a chronic illness, said former TeraCrunch co-founder Dr. Kevin Payne. That somber reality, paired with uninvolved physicians, makes quality of life difficult for patients and the focus of Payne’s new venture, Chronic Cow, he said. “From a medical perspective, all I can do as a patient is what my physicians…
FlipSwitch VR visualizes scaling its active, multiplayer gaming concept from Crossroads
Kansas City could be the virtual reality hub of America, said Michael Eichenseer, predicting Crossroads-located FlipSwitch VR will jumpstart the movement with the help of First Fridays foot traffic. “The owners [KC natives Jim and Jamie Mahoney] definitely want to expand,” said Eichenseer, host and marketing manager for the “epic scale, free-roam, multiplayer virtual reality”…
Life Equals shoots $2.35M oversubscribed round led by former Anheuser-Busch InBev exec
Well, that didn’t take long. A freshly raised $2.35 million investment round will be a turning point for Life Equals, taking its brand to the national stage, said Kyle FitzGerald, announcing the funding Thursday at Startland’s Startups to Watch in 2019 celebration. Life Equals was selected as No. 7 on the list of Kansas City…
Crema apprenticeship effort aims to decode a more inclusive talent pool
Crema’s recent growth means more than an additional Crossroads office space for the startup, said Gabby Brotherton. It provides bandwidth for the firm to supplement Kansas City’s tech talent with a new apprenticeship program. “[Crema is] very much a company that values collaboration and innovation learning,” said Brotherton, marketing specialist at the software development firm….
Biopesticide AgTech building toward RNAissance with TechAccel cultivation
KC-based TechAccel endeavors to guide startups through “the valley of death” stage that emerges after ideation, but before traction, said Brad Fabbri, noting the firm’s new venture, RNAissance Ag, is expected to disrupt the ag tech industry with environmentally-safe biopesticides. “We try to find products and help develop them to make [farmers’] lives easier and…
KCultivator Q&A: Donald Hawkins chews on sage advice, blood sausage, ‘circle of giving’
Editor’s note: KCultivators is a lighthearted profile series to highlight people who are meaningfully enriching Kansas City’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Founders should rally around Kansas City’s startup ecosystem like fans rallied around the Chiefs, said Donald Hawkins. “If you look at a lot of the companies that have scaled — there’s a huge connection gap between…
KC Tech Council: ‘No Coast’ aims to prove landlocked doesn’t mean limited for local tech industry
Kansas City has been “punching above its weight” since the days of covered wagons, said Ryan Weber, noting the tech industry specifically has an impact of almost $11 billion a year on KC’s local economy. “Nationally, our profile has risen so much,” said Weber, president of the KC Tech Council which works to support the…