Startups Stories
Healium’s mental fitness wearables earn innovation award from world’s largest tech show
A Columbia-based startup’s patented technology that brings wearable biometric data to life via virtual and augmented reality apps has earned a major industry honor, announcing Healium’s selection for a 2022 Innovation Award from the Consumer Technology Association. The awards program is an annual competition honoring outstanding design and engineering in 27 consumer technology product categories….
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…
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,…
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…
How Finotta emerged from 2020’s perils with a leap of faith, $3M investment banked
The through line of Parker Graham’s startup journey so far: resiliency. “People like to joke that cockroaches just don’t die,” laughed Graham, reflecting after his fintech company, Finotta — more pheonix rising than cockroach surviving — recently closed a $3 million seed funding round and completely changed the makeup of its team. “I feel like…
