News Stories

Madoka Koguchi and Jackie Nguyen, Cafe Cà Phê; 2021 AltCap Your Biz grand prize winner

KC’s first Vietnamese coffee shop brews $20K at AltCap Your Biz; other winners include an urban farm, development company and selfie studio

Cafe Cà Phê can now afford to build bathrooms in its anticipated brick-and-mortar coffee location, Jackie Nguyen teased on Instagram after being awarded the grand prize at the 2021 AltCap Your Biz: Pitch Competition. “The $20,000 will go toward helping build that out — getting new appliances, [hiring] new employees because we’ve outgrown our cart….

Andy Bond and Matt Krentz, BestyBnB

Leawood firm partners with BestyBnB on tech platform to protect domestic violence survivors, their pets

Fresh off news of its $2 million investment by a local businesswoman and prominent animal advocate, Kansas City-based startup BestyBnB this week announced a new pet reservation tech platform — built by a company in neighboring Leawood. Available on mobile and desktop, the BestyBnB web-based platform enables DV shelters to search and secure long- and short-term…

Keven Fryer, KC Velocity

KC Velocity launches as re-imagined Lee’s Summit accelerator goes metro-wide

An entrepreneur-backed support organization for early stage founders and business leaders across Kansas City went live this week — the culmination of an intensive rebranding campaign for an accelerator previously geared specifically to Lee’s Summit. “KC Velocity is focused on matching growing businesses with experienced, invested experts in a variety of essential capacities including finance, accounting,…

WATCH NOW: Kansas City Community Builders to Watch

   Join Startland News for a celebratory broadcast that showcases the work of six local leaders with exceptional stories of community impact.  This mid-day broadcast — streaming at 11:30 a.m. as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) — features a musical performance by Golden Groves. This edition of Startland News Reports is presented in partnership with Fishtech Group….

Gavin Dell, Hollywood Animation Academy; Shelly Cooper, SureShow; Jill and Justin Bertelsen, Crib Coaching; and Craig Boyle, What Duh Fog

Demo day alert: 13 new Comeback KC Ventures fellows set for debut on GEW KC stage

The first crop of Comeback KC Ventures fellows — entrepreneurs offering solutions from healthtech and edtech products to sports evaluations and an animation academy emerging in response to COVID-19 — is expected to highlight more than a dozen companies Thursday during a GEW KC innovation showcase. “The demo day will allow early participants in the…