Startland News Staff
Recent Articles by Startland News Staff
ScaleUP! KC seeks top-tier small businesses primed to scale; applications open through Dec. 23
Impact doesn’t stop with the end of a ScaleUP! Kansas City cohort, said Jill Hathaway, and the program certainly isn’t pausing amid the ongoing pandemic, which has thrown many entrepreneurs for a loop. ScaleUP! KC is set to return in January for its 11th cohort, which now is a 16-week interactive virtual experience that blends…
It isn’t the hometown you left behind: Back2KC returns this week to reunite talent with today’s Kansas City
People are longing for community perhaps now more than ever, said Brett Crawford, announcing the return of Back2KC, a two-day virtual event reconnecting former Kansas Citians to their hometown. And the timing has never been better, he added. “Suddenly you’re not confined by the residence-versus-workplace conundrum,” said Crawford, who leads the Back2KC program for Startland,…
TripleBlind earns strategic investment from Accenture to jump into $500B market faster
A newly announced strategic investment is expected to boost a high-profile, pre-seed Kansas City startup’s bid to help enterprises harness the potential of sensitive data. Terms of the deal between Dublin-based Accenture and TripleBlind were not disclosed Wednesday, but the investment by the global professional services firm marks a significant step forward for TripleBlind as…
Off the rack: Tesseract’s next wearable robot tech — interactive tees with embedded intelligence
It wouldn’t be a Tesseract Ventures original if it lacked hard-wired flair, John Boucard said, showing off the metro’s leading robotics startup’s newest creation — interactive tees. “What we’ve developed is some embedded intelligence inside the textiles,” Boucard, founder and CEO, said in a recently released video showing four T-shirt styles — which represent the…
GEWKC conversation: Black women are building tech — but are we building them?
A coalition of organizations working to connect early-stage founders to critical resources — with an emphasis on equitable access — is shining the spotlight on Black women in tech during this week’s premier entrepreneurship event series, Global Entrepreneurship Week Kansas City. “Black women are launching businesses at the fastest clip of any racial group. Despite…
Can I do it? New online tool helps users assess risk, make COVID-smart decisions about activities in KC
As a second wave of COVID-19 cases bear down on the nation, Kansas Citians have a new tool on their side to help them assess risk of exposure in everyday activities. Created as part of a partnership between pandemic-born resources, Comeback KC and COVID Can I Do It (CCIDI) touted the tool — branded “KC…
BacklotCars completes historic $425M exit, joining ‘power and fierce entrepreneurial spirit’ of KAR Global
The $425 million acquisition of Kansas City-based BacklotCars is complete, nearly two months to the day it was announced. “There is so much energy and excitement around this combination with our employees and with our customers,” Justin Davis, president and co-founder of BacklotCars, said in a release announcing the milestone acquisition’s completion Thursday by KAR…
Keystone Labs partners with LaunchKC to lead accelerator platform operations
Six years after launching as a grants competition, the ever-evolving LaunchKC program will continue as an accelerator platform, newly led by the minds behind Keystone Labs — an outgrowth of the Keystone innovation district effort championed by Kevin McGinnis. Announced Thursday morning during a meeting of the Downtown Council of Kansas City, the move is expected…
Victor Hwang’s Q&A with Andrew Yang: How small business can restart the US economy
Editor’s note: The following is a Q&A-style interview between Victor Hwang, founder and CEO of the Right to Start movement, and Andrew Yang, former presidential candidate and founder of Venture for America. The full Q&A was originally published by Right to Start and is the basis for an Inc Magazine piece published this week — “Andrew…
KC Hall of Fame: Pro Athlete named Small Business of the Year for decades-long winning strategy
Making stewardship — and “blowing people’s minds” — the strategy for your business isn’t always the easiest approach, especially during trying times, said Andrew Dowis, but it’s the most rewarding. “Push yourself to say yes to that crazy idea that doesn’t make sense for the bottom line but makes sense for the betterment of you…