Latest Stories
1 Million Cups wraps month-long black entrepreneur showcase
Celebrating differences strengthens everyone, a white 1 Million Cups volunteer told a room full of black entrepreneurs and business owners Wednesday evening. “Diversity and inclusion are important to us year-round here at 1 Million Cups,” said Kyle Smith, communications coordinator at KCSourceLink and a 1MC Kansas City community organizer. “And I am very well aware…
C2FO raises massive $100M round for global expansion
In what is believed to be the largest venture-backed funding round in the Kansas City area’s history, C2FO is lighting the fuse on its global expansion with a $100 million capital raise. The Leawood-based financial tech firm’s round was led by Munich-based Allianz X and Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala Investment Company, and included participation from Temasek,…
Techweek KC returning with big LaunchKC, Techstars, BetaBlox demo days
One of Kansas City’s biggest conference series for entrepreneurs is returning in October alongside some of KC’s most premier accelerator programs, said Amanda Signorelli, CEO of Techweek KC. Demo days for Techstars KC and BetaBlox will join LaunchKC as signature events during the Oct. 8-12 conference, she said. “Combined with the nationally recognized LaunchKC competition…
Techstars KC alum Grit Virtual posts $840K oversubscribed seed round
Reality is starting to sink in for Grit Virtual, said co-founder Chris Callen. “It’s exciting to finally be able to talk about our funding rounds and the successes we have had,” Callen said. “It’s been an exciting ride so far, and we’re kind of gearing up to make it a real company, not just an R&D…
State of Entrepreneurship Address: Redefine ‘entrepreneur’ through inclusion
Entrepreneurship rates are half of what they were a generation ago, and although the U.S. population is increasingly diverse, educated and older, the nation’s entrepreneurial population isn’t changing at the same pace, Wendy Guillies said. Founders face too many barriers, said Guillies, president and chief executive officer of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Wednesday morning…
Photos: Innovation Exchange returns with Top KC Startups to Watch celebration
So … What’s your spirit animal? Eleven startup founders and leaders joined Startland News and the Kansas City Startup Foundation on stage Tuesday for a rebooted Innovation Exchange experience — complete with casual conversation, jazz and few unexpected queries. Saluting the Top Kansas City Startups to Watch in 2018, the rapid-fire, Q&A-style event showcased the…
April Boyd-Noronha: Quest Moffat talks Project United Knowledge’s STEM inspiration
Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone. My columns this month feature four minority-owned STEM businesses in the Kansas City metro. The cool thing about each of these businesses? They include at least one (if not more) aspect of the STEM concept — science, technology, engineering, and math. For the…
City gave into fear, failed the test on innovation with Airbnb vote, councilman says
Kansas City’s move Thursday to prohibit short-term rentals in large portions of the city sent a clear message to entrepreneurs with disruptive ideas and technology, Quinton Lucas said: “Not In My Backyard.” “I don’t know why a city that has so many innovators and that’s buzzing, that’s exciting — and frankly doesn’t always have…
Mycroft hits crowdfunding goal in hours, raises $400K for Mark II
Mycroft’s Mark II crowdfunding campaign raised eight times its goal — and the tech firm is still counting. The Kansas City-based startup set out to raise $50,000 on Kickstarter and garner support from early adopters for its voice assistant product Mark II — similar to Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri or Microsoft’s Cortana. Mycroft “blew through”…
Negro leagues’ only three women players inspire ‘Beauty of the Game’ by KC designer Cherry
Toni Stone, Connie Morgan and Mamie Johnson — the only three women to play in the Negro baseball leagues — remain an inspiration to female entrepreneurs in male-dominated industries some 50 years later, said Thalia Cherry. “It’s still important for us to carve out a great space for ourselves, a great niche, and do the…
