Minority-Led Stories
2021 Startups to Watch: PMI Rate Pro ensures efficiency for mortgage loan officers as market expands
Editor’s note: Startland News selected 10 Kansas City firms to spotlight for its annual Startups to Watch list. The following is one of 2021’s companies. Click here to view the full, ranked list of Startups to Watch — presented by sponsors Husch Blackwell and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Three years into working as a mortgage loan officer,…
Mayo Clinic partnership proves TripleBlind’s privacy tech can be applied to healthcare, co-founder says
A new partnership with Mayo Clinic will put Kansas City-stored TripleBlind’s data privacy promise to the test. “We hope to demonstrate the potential of applying TripleBlind’s data privacy and data clean room solution to accelerate how we develop, test, and deploy AI solutions in healthcare, particularly amidst heavily regulated privacy concerns,” Riddhiman Das, co-founder and…
How challenging norms could be Black founders’ key to overcoming lingering funding gap
When authenticity and startup culture collide, Black founders and entrepreneurs of color often don’t see the same opportunities as their white counterparts, said Daniel Smith, contributing to a gap in funding that splits along racial lines. “I talk a certain way; I have different mannerisms; I like to dress a certain kind of way —…
UpDown Nightlife set to relaunch app; secures lead investor for $500K seed round
When COVID-19 turned out the lights on nightlife in 2020, Joshua Lewis didn’t go into panic mode, he said. The persistent founder used the time to flesh out his app’s tech platform — and in the process found a key funder for UpDown Nightlife. “This is our first real round of funding where we’re able to…
Rethinking healthcare: How a doctor and activist brought more than 5,000 COVID-19 tests to KC’s most vulnerable
A primary care physician with an innovative take on healthcare and a passionate activist with an extensive background in video production might seem like an unlikely duo, said Dr. Allison Edwards. But she and serial creative Jay Austin united their strengths during the pandemic to help underserved communities in Kansas City gain access to critical…
