Meet Techweek KC’s 2017 LaunchKC winners

After evaluating a lineup of 19 tech startups from across the country, judges awarded eight companies each a $50,000 LaunchKC grant — and one received a grand prize of $100,000. The popular grants contest awarded the non-dilutive grants following the live pitch competition at Techweek Kansas City. In its third year in the City of Fountains,…

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BoysGrow teaches urban youth entrepreneurship through farming

John Gordon Jr., BoysGrow

BoysGrow, a mentoring program that teaches urban Kansas City boys entrepreneurship through hands-on agriculture, isn’t successful based on what the teens harvest, John Gordon Jr. said. It’s all about the soft skills they learn on the South Kansas City farm. “These boys are young,” said Gordon, founder of BoysGrow, noting the two-year program accepts students…

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Hyperloop One zooms past Kansas City-St. Louis route

The prospect of traveling from Kansas City to St. Louis in 23 minutes recently zipped past the Show Me State. Hyperloop One — a tech firm that created a system propelling vehicles at speeds of about 760 miles per hour — announced Thursday its four winning U.S. routes, cutting Kansas City from a list of 11 semifinalists.…

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1 Million Cups embarks on huge national expansion effort

The entrepreneurial events series 1 Million Cups — a national program born in Kansas City and grown by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation — has set the ambitious goal to expand to 500 communities by the end of 2018. “We’re looking forward to keeping the magic that we’ve already created with 1 Million Cups on…

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