Nikki Overfelt Chifalu

Recent Articles by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu

An insider’s guide to the 2016 Pipeline IOTY

January 19, 2016

One of the region’s most highly-esteemed and exclusive events — Pipeline’s Innovator of the Year — is set for this Thursday in Kansas City. Attracting some of the most powerful businesspeople in the Midwest, IOTY is one part pitch competition, two parts black-tie gala and four parts party. It’s a cocktail of entrepreneurial energy, and…

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Digital Sandbox KC funding three UMKC student-led startups

January 19, 2016

Kansas City business incubator Digital Sandbox KC selected three student-led companies for proof-of-concept funding support Tuesday. The enterprises were selected from the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s E-Scholar program and will join three other E-Scholar companies selected in June as part of Digital Sandbox’s partnership with UMKC. Each student startup will receive $10,000 in project development…

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Document: FarmLink raises additional $24.6M for ag tech

January 19, 2016

Ag tech startups in Kansas City are plowing a promising 2016. Kansas City-based FarmLink recently secured nearly $24.6 million in investment capital for its farming technology, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The company offers a suite of tech services for farmers, including analytics platform TrueHarvest and machinery sharing platform MachineryLink Sharing. TrueHarvest…

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‘PayIt’ up: Kansas City gov tech startup registers $4.5M investment

January 19, 2016

Like the dozens of people around him, John Thomson’s 2013 wait at the Missouri Department of Motor Vehicles had him aggravated. It was such a pain — watching the queue slowly subside while working on his phone — that the entrepreneur did what innovators do: he built a company to alleviate the chore. Fast forward…

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Gooding: Is that a lion? Yes, and it’s keeping your business from growing

January 18, 2016

Ever watch one of those nature shows where you see a herd of gazelle that gets spooked by a lion and they all take off running together? In the ensuing chaos, the camera always follows that one gazelle that breaks from the pack. Why do they follow that one gazelle? The correct answer is “Good…

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Sporting Innovations reveals name change

January 18, 2016

Sports tech company Sporting Innovations is kicking off 2016 new branding. The company announced Monday that it’s changed its name to “FanThreeSixty” to better reflect an “ongoing transformation” and to better connect to its software platform of the same name, FanThreeSixty CEO Robb Heineman said. “We feel the timing is ideal for evolving our brand…

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Local students win national design contest for Royals World Series trophy

January 15, 2016

When it comes to baseball, in appears Kansas City is still on a hot streak. Three students from Pembroke Hill School recently beat out dozens of professionals in a national contest to design a World Series trophy for the Kansas City Royals. The 11th-grade students — Samuel Hrabko, Raghav Parikh, and Momin Tahirkheli — entered…

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Events Preview: Pipeline IOTY

January 14, 2016

There are a boatload of entrepreneurial events hosted in Kansas City on a weekly basis. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, investor, supporter or curious Kansas Citian, we’d recommend these upcoming events for you. WEEKLY EVENT PREVIEW Intentional Collisions When: January 20 @ 9:00 am – 4:30 pm Where: Sprint Accelerator Once a month, the Sprint Accelerator organizes a…

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Amid success, the Kansas City Startup Village is shrinking

January 14, 2016

It’s Nov. 13, 2012, and Kansas City’s Spring Valley neighborhood is in a frenzy. TV vans line the streets near 4454 State Line Road, the first house to receive Google’s ultra fast Internet service in the Kansas City, Kan. neighborhood. Reporters jockey for access to a handful of entrepreneurs and techies that moved to area…

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Why coastal investors ignore the Midwest and what’s next for federal startup policy

January 14, 2016

Here are this week’s watercooler conversation-starters on why inland states struggle to find funding, coming issues in federal entrepreneurship policy and the success of innovation districts that are cropping up around the U.S. (and in Kansas City).  More in this series here. International Business Times: Finding venture capital far from the coasts Of the $48.3…

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