Startups Stories
This diehard sports fan is pitching a new platform to get KC’s young athletes paid
NIL deals give student athletes a greater opportunity to financially benefit from their name, image, and likeness while in college, and now Chris Owings wants to extend that opportunity to Kansas City area youth athletes, he shared. “One of the things that really motivated me was when the Royals signed Jac Caglianone,” explained the founder…
Missouri Startup Weekend back with $45,000 in prizes, $600,000 in potential investment
COLUMBIA, Mo. — A flagship event for the state’s startup ecosystem is returning April 17-19 in a bid to help build Missouri’s next billion-dollar company, said Willy Schlacks, noting it’s a proven launch pad for future unicorns. “We still talk about that original Startup Weekend all the time,” said Schlacks, president and co‑founder of EquipmentShare…
From Homebase to homes of the future: Here’s how KC-connected Quext landed its GFiber partnership
When Blake Miller talks about smart buildings, he isn’t theorizing from afar. He’s tracing a line that runs straight through Kansas City — from early smart-city experiments and public Wi-Fi infrastructure to a new partnership with GFiber that aims to reshape how residents experience internet access and daily digital life inside apartment buildings. Miller, founder…
Bracket bash races to halfcourt, cutting pitch competitors down to 16 Kansas startups
The competition for $25,000 in startup capital is intensifying for more than a dozen Kansas entrepreneurs as a high-profile pitch event announced Wednesday that it had narrowed the field from 32 finalists to 16. Selected companies — half of which hail from the Kansas City region — advance to the next round of the 2026…
Ship with a smile: How SendBack is giving life in the face of a graveyard for returns
Click “start return.” That’s where SendBack steps in. The new-to-Kansas City startup built technology that catches a return the moment a shopper initiates it, explained founder Shaniqua Jones-Williams. Instead of automatically shipping it back to a warehouse, SendBack pauses the process and asks what actually makes sense — a refund, a discount to keep the…
