Startups Stories

Digital Sandbox KC

Digital Sandbox welcomes four new startups led by emerging, veteran KC founders

The latest round of founders joining Digital Sandbox KC includes relative newcomers to the startup scene alongside a Fountain City Fintech alum and a key player behind one of Kansas City’s biggest exits. The proof-of-concept program announced Friday the addition of four new companies for its fourth quarter: TripleBlind, led by Riddhiman Das, who made…

Erin Papworth, Navit

Are venture-seeking women, minority founders at an unfair disadvantage in KC?

Editor’s note: The following is the second in a series of analyses of Startland’s list of Kansas City’s Top Venture Capital-Backed Companies. On stage with a handful of men, Erin Papworth faced a dilemma. The founder of Nav.It — one of the startups to recently complete Fountain City Fintech’s second accelerator cohort — found herself fighting…

Angel Competition Bikinis

Sisters flex startup strength with well-toned, high-performance Angel Competition Bikinis

Bold women are a force to be reckoned with, declared Karah Jones, and they should never feel the need to hide who they are.  “Sometimes in this world it’s frowned upon for a female to be confident,” Jones, co-founder and CEO of Angel Competition Bikinis, said of her motivations for launching the Lenexa company —…

Josh Oeding, Accelerate Venture Partners

Startup Road Trip: Venture, innovation scenes rapidly growing in Kansas City’s ‘backyard’

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. WICHITA…

Brody Dorland and Brock Stechman, DivvyHQ

DivvyHQ proves ‘unmatched in market’ with top award now spanning four consecutive wins

Voted the No. 1 content marketing tool for the fourth straight year, DivvyHQ plans to capitalize on its momentum to deliver new features and functionality in 2020, said co-founders Brock Stechman and Brody Dorland.  “When we won [the honor] the first year, obviously it was a huge surprise. We were so pumped. But then we…