News Stories

A.J. Mellott and Heather Decker, Ronawk

Ronawk cultivates first funding round, fight against COVID-19 from new Olathe lab 

As COVID-19 continues to wage war on the world, researchers in an Olathe-based lab are generating trillions of human cells that could be used to cure the ever-lingering virus.  “It eliminates a lot of the work that’s needed,” A.J. Mellott, president and co-founder of Ronawk, said of the health tech startup’s premiere product — Tissue Blocks…

Kyle Smith, Determination Incorporated; and Sarah Muntean, All American Construction Contractors

Rise Up, Get Started winners: Building a second chance as job market sputters

A slowly recovering job market is pushing more people — many of whom previously didn’t imagine ever running their own businesses — into entrepreneurship, said Kyle J. Smith. “The Kauffman Foundation would say they’re starting a business out of necessity rather than choice,” Smith elaborated, describing the importance of programs that provide a second chance…

OYO Nova Gym by OYO Fitness

Reluctant gym-goers help push KC’s OYO to $4.4M in pre-sales for latest home fitness device

A month after breaking records as the most-funded fitness product in Kickstarter history, the KC-created OYO Nova Gym closed its crowdfunding campaign with $4.4 million in pre-sales. “To say that it exceeded our expectations is a total understatement,” said Graham Ripple, COO of OYO Fitness, the Kansas City-based startup behind the handheld home gym product….

Matthew Claar, Decker Starr and John Boucard; Tesseract Ventures

Peek inside Tesseract HQ: Robotics startup builds future in real time (with humans on the brain)

As an intentionally lowered screen begins to lift on Tesseract Ventures, once-seemingly-wild ideas that lived only in tech inventor John Boucard’s head are being realized. With them, the future of work is taking shape — 3D-printed piece by 3D-printed piece — hardwired in the suburbs of Kansas City.  “We were a bit mysterious in the…

Photo by Amy Benton Blake

Avoiding money mistakes now: What teens wish they knew about money 

Editor’s note: The following story is sponsored by CommunityAmerica Credit Union, a partner of STARTLAND, the parent organization of Startland News. Click here to learn about CommunityAmerica’s coming financial literacy webinar series for parents. This story was produced independently by Startland News. A spring corporate innovation internship program — designed as an outlet and opportunity…