News Stories

Dundee, Lewis & Clark VCs aim to raise Kansas City’s risk capital tide

Kansas City boasts a hearty roster of attractive early-stage investment opportunities. And that’s why two Midwestern venture capital firms with fresh funds are making the Kansas City area a key part of their investment strategies. Both Omaha-based Dundee Venture Capital and St. Louis-based Lewis & Clark Ventures are eyeing Kansas City-area startups for deals varying…

Ahead of Valentine’s, e-commerce floral shop Zinnia prunes itself to grow

Zinnia is not your mom-and-pop local florist — although the company did have a brief iteration as one lasting about a blink last year. It’s also not your big-box, online flower retailer — although their ecommerce site is a beautiful example of what a website focused on the customer experience can look like. The company…

LaunchKC delivering another $500K in 2016

Kansas City’s popular grant competition, LaunchKC, will be doling out another $500,000 in 2016 to startups around the world. LaunchKC in April will open the application period for its international competition, which will issue ten $50,000 grants to winners during the second-annual Techweek Kansas City conference. Drew Solomon, vice president of business and job development…

Key legislator optimistic in the future of Kansas’ angel tax credits

A Kansas lawmaker overseeing discussion on the future of the state’s angel investor tax credits is confident the program will be made a budgetary priority by his peers in legislature. Rep. Marvin Kleeb, R-Overland Park, said that he and fellow members of the Kansas Committee on Taxation listened to thorough testimony Wednesday during a hearing…

5 reasons your startup isn’t attracting investors

Last week, Techstars managing director John Fein told us that one of the main complaints he hears from Kansas City investors is that there aren’t enough fundable startups. Investors may be right, but it’s not necessarily a lack of good ideas. Today, Kansas City investors are looking for more than the next big idea: they’re…