Corporate Stories

Hyleme George, IgniteX accelerator

New Black & Veatch accelerator bent on changing the world, powered by LaunchKC

A new accelerator powered by LaunchKC is Black & Veatch’s attempt to “create the world that we want,” said Hyleme George, director of the freshly announced IgniteX CleanTech program. “It’s a world that we want to invest in to accelerate the adoption of sustainable infrastructure,” George continued. “What that means is a world where there’s…

Mr. K Award finalists

Mr. K Award finalists: RFP360, KC Bier Co., Charlie Hustle among Chamber’s Top 10 Small Businesses

From one of Kansas City’s most popular breweries to a startup that streamlines the RFP process to an apparel company known for its big heart, 10 small businesses received surprise visits Friday — each now a finalist for the prestigious Mr. K Award. “The Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce showered us with confetti today…

LaunchKC accelerator

New industry-specific LaunchKC accelerators expected to bring more dollars, winners

Applications for this year’s LaunchKC program are going vertical, said Drew Solomon, announcing plans for three industry-specific accelerators — two of which will launch new funding-rich demo days in the fall. “We’ve always wanted to grow and expand not only the competition, but the program as a whole,” said Solomon, chair of the LaunchKC program….

We Create KC report: Half of top VC-backed companies tapped early-stage support

In 2018, 50 percent of the top venture capital-funded companies in Kansas City got their start with early-stage investment programs that emerged after 2012, according to We Create KC 2019, KCSourceLink’s sixth annual state of entrepreneurship report. “That high percentage shows us how important these early-stage investment programs are to our entrepreneurs and our ecosystem,”…

Josh Green, Brooklyn Buttery, Sprint Accelerator

Butter to eSports: Sprint Accelerator draws new class of startups from coasts to Canada

Josh Green is used to navigating the streets of Brooklyn, hand delivering artisanal butters, chilled in the back of a pickup, he recalled. As founder of Brooklyn Buttery — which crafted a line of flavor-packed, sustainably sourced compound butters designed to bring a high end restaurant experience to home cooks — the entrepreneur’s growth has now…