Government Stories

5 startups enjoy growth, connections with KCMO innovation partnership

Although the government may be pegged as resistant to change, Kansas City Mayor Sly James wants to flip the script. “On a city level, we aren’t having much help from the state and federal governments sometimes,” James said at the Innovation Partnership Program demo day on Monday at WeWork Corrigan Station. “But, we still have…

With fund now slashed, LaunchKC alumni say MTC vital to early success

PopBookings probably wouldn’t be in business today without the early support — and more critically the investment dollars — of the Missouri Technology Corporation, Erika Klotz said. “It really allowed us to do more quicker,” the PopBookings co-founder and CEO said. “For any startup, speed is everything. It allowed us to get credibility right out…

Greitens eyes private investment dollars to fill MTC budget gap

A new, privately-managed innovation fund could replace a popular startup investment program that was dramatically slashed for 2018 amid Missouri’s budget crunch. The potential strategy change comes as a suggestion from the Hawthorn Foundation’s report to Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens, following the months-long work of an innovation task force charged with assessing the current state…

KCMO to celebrate innovation partners at demo day

Since the publish date on Aug. 22, the location of the Innovation Partnership Program demo day has been changed. It will now be held at WeWork at Corrigan Station at 5:00 p.m.  Five Kansas City startups are expected to be toasted next month with a demo day at a popular brewery. The Sept. 11 celebration…

CPR alert! KC Fire adopting tech to notify bystanders of cardiac arrest

Embracing innovation and collaboration, the Kansas City Fire Department is expected to launch technology this month that is designed to notify residents trained in CPR when a person in their vicinity experiences sudden cardiac arrest and is awaiting first responders. Sudden cardiac arrest is responsible for about 350,000 deaths a year, according to the American…