Just funded: Meet 6 new Sandbox startups poised to impact digital health, AI innovation

A fresh round of novel technology concepts — ranging from deterring AI-powered surveillance to supporting families raising autistic children — are among the latest to earn proof-of-concept backing from Digital Sandbox KC.

“These innovations address real-world challenges that impact digital healthcare, improve operational efficiency from sales to clinical workflow, and address gaps with savvy applications of AI-based technology,” said Maria Meyers, executive director of UMKC Innovation Center where Technology Venture Studio and its program Digital Sandbox KC is housed. “We’re excited to see the next stage of their efforts.”

Each of the six startups selected for the program receive up to $20,000 in project funding, as well as gaining access to the Technology Venture Studio community, mentors, investor connections and technical project support.

“Digital Sandbox KC funding will help Pitchster through mentorship and credibility to accelerate product development, sharpen our go-to-market strategy, and build momentum toward scalable growth,” said Fielding Brenner, founder and CEO of Pitchster, one of the just-funded startups.

The latest cohort of companies joins more than 250 other startups that have received support from the program since 2013.

Click here to pitch a startup idea to Digital Sandbox KC.

Meet the new companies joining the Sandbox:

• SixCyber (noRecognition) (Bill Swearingen), Kansas City, Missouri — A platform that creates adversarial patterns for clothing that defeat AI-powered surveillance.
• WynPhos Systems (Allwyn John Kancherla), Kansas City, Missouri — A healthcare IT company building Provenance, a SaaS compliance platform for CLIA-certified molecular genetics laboratories that automates variant classification workflows and generates audit-ready documentation for both CAP inspections and CLIA compliance.
• Aurexus Health (Sarah R. Cox), Columbia, Missouri — Building Oryn Assist, the coordination infrastructure that independent clinics and pharmacies need to communicate, collaborate, and unlock new revenue. Oryn Assist replaces fragmented fax-and-phone workflows with structured, cross-organization care coordination, giving independent providers the tools they need to survive and thrive in an increasingly difficult healthcare environment.
• Pitchster (Fielding Brenner), Olathe, Kansas — An AI-powered sales training and performance platform that helps sales professionals improve across the entire sales cycle—from onboarding to live deal execution and post-call analysis. Using Voice AI, reps can practice realistic sales conversations, refine their pitches, and handle objections in a personalized, risk-free environment tailored to their company, product, and target customer. Pitchster also analyzes real sales calls, providing actionable feedback and insights for both reps and managers to drive continuous improvement. By combining pre-call preparation with post-call analysis, Pitchster accelerates ramp time, enhances performance, and helps sales teams communicate more effectively and close more deals.
• Prefrd (Kyle Blackman, Brandon Blackman), Kansas City, Missouri — A trusted referral marketplace connecting professionals with the clients and colleagues they can actually vouch for. Built for industries where relationships drive revenue, Prefrd gives professionals a structured way to send, receive, and track high-quality referrals — turning their network into their most reliable source of business.
• Rumio (Phillip Ko), Overland Park, Kansas — Provides a free, AI-powered support platform for families raising autistic children. It replaces the generic, stock-image visual schedules that dominate the market with tools built from a child’s own world, including real photos, real routines, and real context that lives on a parent’s phone. By turning a parent’s spoken daily observations into structured care reports, Rumio helps bridge the critical communication gap between home, school, and therapy. This is the gap where important context and progress are often lost.

“Digital Sandbox KC funding allows us to make these tools and others better for families while building what educators and therapists are specifically asking for: a way to finally see across every family they serve, not just one at a time,” said Ko. “But this is just the beginning.”