Startups Stories

Sam Kulikov, Jeremy Terman, LJ Browne, Mark Josey and Alex Laughlin, Kansas City Pioneers

Why this KC esports startup is betting on a gambling app to scale into new NFT, cryptocurrency levels

The Kansas City Pioneers became the first professional esports organization to step into the head-to-head gaming and gambling sphere thanks to its pairing with PLLAY Labs — an AI-based wagering platform. “We see this partnership as a tremendous opportunity to tap into a community of folks who love competition — and then inject the KC…

Nick Carter, Market Wagon

Can tech save the family farm? E-commerce farmers market plants seeds in Kansas City

An Indianapolis-based startup is planting seeds of change it hopes can enhance the ways growers and producers get their products into the hands of customers. Kansas Citians are harvesting from it in bushels.  “This is definitely a business of passion for me,” Nick Carter said, recalling his upbringing and days spent on his family’s farm…

TripleBlind team 2021

‘Everybody at TripleBlind is better than me,’ founder says as top startup’s global team firewalls groupthink

Startup companies are on a continual mission to create, define and own the category in which they operate within, Riddhiman Das noted, and to do so — startup founders must build a proficient team.  “If you’re not the category-defining company, then it’s not as big a win. Categories are typically defined at the global level,…

Stephen Hardy, mySidewalk

mySidewalk CEO: Partnership with National League of Cities will ‘unlock’ hidden data for thousands of communities

A veteran Kansas City tech startup has partnered with the National League of Cities to help its members “bring actionable data to every community,” mySidewalk’s CEO announced this week. “Together, we will provide data to unlock funding, guide investments, and improve neighborhoods,” said Stephen Hardy, leader of the KC-based govtech company, describing NLC as “the…

Wichita support org for startups lands nearly $1M in funding — including $300K in Kauffman backing

Startland News’ Startup Road Trip series explores innovative and uncommon ideas finding success in rural America and Midwestern startup hubs outside the Kansas City metro. This series is possible thanks to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, which leads a collaborative, nationwide effort to identify and remove large and small barriers to new business creation. New…