LaunchKC
Eyes on City Hall, White House: His app wants to break social media’s grip on your politics
A fractured news and social media ecosystem driven by biased algorithms makes it more difficult than ever to confidently vote based on facts — or even just understand the news of the day, said Mychal Shaw, touting the rapidly increasing but evergreen need for his civic literacy app. “I was raised in a family of…
Trailblazer on Troost among honored innovators for UMKC’s Entrepreneur of the Year Awards
This year’s signature Bloch School celebration — set for Dec. 3 — heralds the efforts and successes of experts in grassroots community-building, financial planning, DNA science Earning the top social entrepreneurship award from UMKC is more than just the greatest recognition Father Justin Mathews has ever received, the faith leader-turned-community innovator said; it’s validation that…
CoBuild founder razes his social venture; now he’s banking its mission’s success on a new blueprint
Closing his startup CoBuild was bittersweet for Tate Williams, but the mission that drove the company isn’t going away. Instead, he’s carrying it forward in a new role at the Central Bank of Kansas City. Williams officially shut down CoBuild this January. The construction startup, launched in 2018, had built a reputation for opening doors…
‘The American dream is the Midwest’: LaunchKC powers next generation of startup job creators
Editor’s note: The following is part of an ongoing feature series exploring impacts of initiatives within the Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City through a paid partnership with EDCKC. Relocating to Kansas City after winning a LaunchKC grant — and the community and infrastructure support that comes with it — gives Russel Karim’s startup a centralized…
Roz audits its path to $2.15M in early funding; how KC helped this AI startup scale its potential
A series of funding wins is boosting a Kansas City startup’s efforts to automate the most complex — and tedious — parts of compliance work, drawing from the co-founder’s own pain points and resources from a server-full of local entrepreneur support initiatives. With $2.15 million in funding under its belt so far, Olathe-based Roz — which…
