Funding Stories

Satya Mishra and Raj Singh, co-founders of WayLit

Missouri startup wants to make it easier for HR to fill tech gap with foreign nationals; its immigration management software just got funded

Startland News’ Startup Road Trip series explores innovative and uncommon ideas finding success in rural America and Midwestern startup hubs outside the Kansas City metro. This series is possible thanks to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, which leads a collaborative, nationwide effort to identify and remove large and small barriers to new business creation. ST….

Jackie Nguyen, Cafe Cà Phê; Jill and Justin Bertelsen, Bertelsen Education and Crib Coaching; and Risa Stein, SeeInMe

UMKC’s pitch competition showcases ‘real people’ solving real problems with $88K up for grabs

Seven ventures remain in a popular regional business challenge that culminates this week with $88,000 in prizes on the line. Many of the competitors: no strangers to the pitch stage. Finalist presentations in the Regnier Venture Creation Challenge are planned for in-person Friday afternoon, followed by an awards ceremony at the UMKC Bloch Executive Hall….

Sean McIntosh, Foothold Labs

His portable lab can detect COVID in saliva within minutes; how this former Navy SEAL’s startup is expanding its target

Foothold Labs is on a mission to develop a next-generation, portable diagnostics system that can not only rapidly detect infectious diseases in saliva within five-to-eight minutes, but also indicate deadly contaminants in other common substances, shared Sean McIntosh. “To get equivalent results to our technology, someone would need to submit a sample to a professional…

Digital Sandbox Q1 2022 awardees: Dan Schwarzlander and Nick Bennet, VaccineAssist; Sean McIntosh and Sarah Steeby, Foothold Labs; Roger Ngo and Tam Tran, DataAppraisal; Lisa Cooper, Workplace Healing; Tyler Bolz and Will Strout, DataSource

Meet 5 new Digital Sandbox-funded startups poised as the next wave of KC innovation

A just-announced first-quarter cohort of startups are set to receive more than just $20,000 each in project funding from Digital Sandbox KC, said Jill Meyer, emphasizing the holistic support headed toward selected founders. “Early-stage funding is just one piece of the puzzle that helps our founders succeed and our startups accelerate toward commercialization and follow-on…

Flight Schedule Pro

Overland Park aviation software firm flies in $31M growth equity investment from Austin

Flight Schedule Pro — the maker of industry-leading cloud-based tech for flight schools, universities, and flying clubs — recently opened the hangar doors on $31 million in funding from an investor landing deals with fast-growing, bootstrapped software companies. Financial terms of the investment from Mainsail Partners, a growth equity firm that boasts offices in Austin…