Tag: Google Fiber

From Homebase to homes of the future: Here’s how KC-connected Quext landed its GFiber partnership

By Tommy Felts / March 6, 2026

When Blake Miller talks about smart buildings, he isn’t theorizing from afar. He’s tracing a line that runs straight through Kansas City — from early smart-city experiments and public Wi-Fi infrastructure to a new partnership with GFiber that aims to reshape how residents experience internet access and daily digital life inside apartment buildings. Miller, founder…

10 years later: Google Fiber boosted city’s ‘capacity for collaboration,’ former mayor says

By Tommy Felts / October 14, 2022

Instant success catalyzed by the arrival of high-speed internet 10 years ago uploaded more than hype for Kansas City, said Sly James, noting Google Fiber’s significant role in reshaping the community as a tech city to envy. Opening unparalleled innovation and civic brand-building opportunities, Google’s selection of Kansas City, Kansas, and Kansas City, Missouri, as…

Replica’s $11M round: Alphabet-owned urban planning tool hits the streets as KC-based spinout

By Tommy Felts / September 13, 2019

Kansas City is suddenly home to a new, heavy-hitter-backed startup with a built-in $11 million in Series A funding, Nick Bowden announced Thursday. Replica — a next-generation urban planning tool by Sidewalk Labs (itself a smart city firm owned by Alphabet, the parent company of Google) — has been spun out into its own standalone…

Techweek 100 list released: Dozens of KC’s top cultivators, ambassadors and innovators

By Tommy Felts / September 22, 2018

Techweek Kansas City on Friday released its Techweek 100 list of the premier leaders pushing innovation in Kansas City. The collection of cultivators, ambassadors and innovators is a who’s who of familiar names across the startup, entrepreneurship and tech communities. Released in the runup to Techweek KC’s Oct. 8-12 festivities, the list isn’t a ranking,…

Williams to critical Bloomberg piece: KC shouldn’t try to be Silicon Valley

By Tommy Felts / March 17, 2017

Editor’s note: The following piece is in response to a Bloomberg article critical of the Kansas City Startup Village and Kansas City’s ability to use Google Fiber to become the “next Silicon Valley.” Opinions expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone.  In 2012, Kansas City experienced what at the time must have felt like winning…

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