Latest Stories

PrairieFood grows power of its micro-carbon ag solution with a pipeline of human connection

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.  LAWRENCE — Entrepreneurship is all about networking, Robert Herrington said. “You never know where a pivot or direction is going to come from,” said Herrington, an early member of the Pipeline…

C2FO marks $300B in funding for businesses as entrepreneurs navigate ongoing credit crunch

Rapid marketplace expansion in the first half of 2023 helped push Leawood-based C2FO — the world’s on-demand working capital platform — past the $300-billion mark in total funding to its customers. This record funding amount reflects invoices paid an average of 31 days early via C2FO’s platform. C2FO gets vital, low-cost capital into customers’ hands…

Froyo with a ’tini twist: Entrepreneur collaboration serves alcoholic frozen yogurt in KC

Kansas City is excited by the new flavor combinations popping up as two entrepreneurs give customers a taste of collaboration, said Isaac Collins, teasing a line of alcoholic frozen yogurt that’s already hitting cups in the metro. Through a partnership with KC-based Brain Freeze Mobile Daiquiri, Collins’ Yogurtini locations have begun a series of happy…

How Meshuggah Bagels ‘built a bakery without a recipe’ — now expanding to Liberty, Lawrence

Pete Linde tested 72 bagel recipes before hitting perfection with number 73, said Janna Linde. She knows because she tried every single test bagel.  “Pete worked on that recipe for about a year. He had a notebook and took notes on every little tweak and modification he made. I’d see the big hand mixer come…

Royals preview ballpark of the future: Now they need to decide where to put it

Editor’s note: The following story was published by KCUR, Kansas City’s NPR member station, and a fellow member of the KC Media Collective. Click here to read the original story or here to sign up for KCUR’s email newsletter. The Royals are choosing between a stadium and entertainment district in Kansas City’s East Village or in North Kansas City. The…

Chingu Coffee blends ‘familiar with not-so-familiar’ in a shop that embraces its neighbors alongside Korean heritage

Keeyoung Kim’s latest concepts — Chingu and Chingu Coffee — revolve around community, the Sura Eats chef and owner shared. Chingu means “friend” in Korean, he explained, and friendship is the recurring theme between the restaurant — which debuted July 2022 in Westport — and the coffee shop — which soft opened in mid-May in…

Serial entrepreneur jumps back into the founder seat with smart online advertising platform

Two years after becoming a twice-exited startup founder, Matt Watson is back at the helm of a new venture: At Capacity — a smart advertising platform geared toward small business owners who offer home services like plumbing, HVAC, and electrical work. Serving as co-founder of At Capacity alongside Meg Stapleton, Watson said the company officially…

TikTok’s favorite moving company pivots to full-time influencer business, growing LGM Boys brand

Kansas City’s highest rated moving company has packed up its operations. The group of friends who started the business — Let’s Get Moving — made the strategic move to pivot their venture to full-time digital content creation. “We started a moving business to help make money to allow us to do what we wanted to…

Teens team with MADE MOBB to raise funds in KC’s Northeast; their tee to support the unhoused was just a start

Vu Nguyen considers MADE MOBB to be a creative hub, he shared. Two of the latest collaborators with Crossroads-based streetwear brand are students at Ryogoku Soccer Academy. “Everybody’s invited,” said Nguyen, who co-founded MADE MOBB — one of Startland News’ Kansas City Startups to Watch in 2023 — in 2013 and owns the business alongside…

Marcell Coffee owners launching ‘Take Care’ retail concept, OLEO brand in Crossroads

The roasting minds behind a successful Kansas City wholesale coffee operation are switching business blends — planning a Crossroads storefront anchored by a new, retail-only coffee brand. Christopher Oppenhuis and Mark Sappington, the founders and owners of the wholesale roasting company Marcell Coffee, are preparing for the fall opening of their first retail concept, “Take…