Kansas City is home to countless startups.
But what early-stage ventures are the most promising and worth a closer look?
As we entered 2016, Startland News evaluated the area’s top startups based on the strength of their team, current traction, disruptiveness and job growth potential. Below is a list of the top 10 area enterprises we’ve identified — as well as four honorable mentions — that we think are poised to make big moves in 2016.
As one may expect, the area’s top early-stage firms play strongly to the metro’s economic strengths, including agriculture, animal health, finance and technology services. And while experiencing varying degrees of notoriety, each of Kansas City’s top-performing startups have been kicking butt in their respective industries.
Here are Startland News’ picks for the top 10 startups in no particular order to keep your eye on in 2016.
1) Blooom
- Current employee count: 21
- Founding year: 2013
- Founders: Chris Costello, Kevin Conard, Randy AufDerHeide
- Amount raised to date: $4 million
Leawood-based Blooom is a financial tech firm where users grow their 401(k)s using the company’s proprietary online tool. The tool analyzes the user’s 401(k) and shows its health through a flower in various growth stages, then offers professional advice on how to allocate funds.
The company has been on a solid hot streak. In addition to a $4 million raise in October, Blooom won a $50,000 grant from the national LaunchKC competition and a $10,000 grant in a national Kauffman Foundation pitch contest. Blooom is quickly becoming one of Kansas City’s next startup success stories.
2) C2FO
- Current employee count: 118
- Founding year: 2008
- Founders: Alexander “Sandy” C. Kemper
- Amount raised to date: $99 million
C2FO is a somewhat behind-the-scenes financial tech startup behemoth in Kansas City. The company created an online marketplace where buyers can negotiate with suppliers, earning quicker payments in exchange for discounts to free up cash that would be stuck in accounts receivable. While on the older end of the spectrum, we deemed the company to still be a startup because of its disruptive, high-growth model.
Led by prominent Kansas City businessman Alexander “Sandy” C. Kemper, the company raised $40 million in August and has been growing steadily in employee headcount. In 2015 the company surpassed $1 billion per week in volume of capital trading on its platform, solidifying it as top startup that’s crushing expectations.
3) FarmLink
- Current employee count: 80
- Founding year: 2010
- Founders: Ron LeMay, David Govert and David Forsee
- Amount raised to date: $40 million
Led by a rockstar tech and business team, FarmLink is another example of a Kansas City startup playing to one of the region’s big industries: agriculture. The company created a suite of tech services to help farmers make good decisions on managing their crops. It also introduced a new machinery platform — MachineryLink Sharing — that allows users to lease and share equipment on demand.
FarmLink has raised $40 million in funding to date, with OpenAir Equity Partners as its primary investor. The company is led by former Sprint COO Ron LeMay.
4) Rex Animal Health
- Current employee count: 5
- Founding year: 2014
- Founders: Amado Guloy and Haven Moore
- Amount raised to date: Undisclosed
A graduate of the 2015 Sprint Mobile Health Accelerator, Rex Animal Health collects animal health data from various sources for animal pharmaceutical companies. The information helps pharma companies develop new drugs and identify opportunities to manage chronic diseases in animals.
The company moved to Kansas City shortly after its graduation from the Techstars-led Sprint Accelerator and quickly surpassed $1 million in revenue. Its tech savvy team and location in the heart of the world’s Animal Health Corridor — the Kansas City metro — make Rex a startup worth watching.
5) k12itc
- Current employee count: 28
- Founding year: 2010
- Founders: Brad Sandt
- Amount raised to date: Bootstrapped
k12itc delivers cloud-based IT services to K-12 school districts and has been growing quickly in Kansas City since its 2010 founding date. The Kansas City Business Journal reported in 2014 k12itc enjoyed a mind-blowing 1,768 percent growth in revenue and was recognized as the area’s fastest-growing company. The accolades continued when The Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce named the company a top 10 small business in 2015.
6) Stackify
- Current employee count: 17
- Founding year: 2012
- Founders: Matt Watson
- Amount raised to date: Undisclosed
Led by Kansas City tech guru and angel investor Matt Watson, Stackify created a suite of tools that helps software developers diagnose and fix application problems within a single platform. The company grew revenue 20 to 30 percent each month in 2015, and has been adding new employees at a steady clip.
7) ShotTracker
- Current employee count: 11
- Founding year: 2013
- Founders: Davyeon Ross and Bruce Ianni
- Amount raised to date: $5 million
Led by a team of seasoned sports- and tech-savvy entrepreneurs, wearable tech firm ShotTracker has realized solid traction in its roughly 30 months of existence. The company developed a three-piece wearable device — a net sensor, wrist sensor and app — that allows basketball players to track shot attempts, makes and misses.
The company has raised $5 million to date, scored a partnership with Golden State Warrior superstar Klay Thompson and recently teamed up with equipment giant Spalding.
8) Farmobile
- Current employee count: 27
- Founding year: 2013
- Founders: Jason Tatge, Heath Gerlock and Randy Nuss
- Amount raised to date: $5.5 million
Another up-and-coming ag tech firm, Farmobile created a device — or Passive Upload Connection (PUC) — that plugs into a tractor’s diagnostic port to collect a variety of data useful to a farmer. The company, which was until recently self-funded, created software to provide information for farmers’ decisions on planting, spraying, fertilization, harvest, fleet management and more.
The company substantially grew its headcount in the last year — from six to 27 — and in December raised $5 million from a large international venture capital firm. The company’s founder, Jason Tatge, also has rich ag tech experience, having sold his last venture, Farms Technology.
9) TeraCrunch
- Current employee count: 12
- Founding year: 2013
- Founder: Tapan Bhatt
- Amount raised to date: Bootstrapped
With a team comprised primarily of PhD data scientists, TeraCrunch has bootstrapped its way to becoming a big data analytics firm that serves several corporate giants, including Hallmark, Lockton, Barkley and others. The company’s marketing analytics suite provides insights to understand and improve user acquisition, engagement and retention. The company’s team — including seasoned entrepreneur Tapan Bhatt and seven PhDs — and impressive client base earned it a spot in our top 10.
10) EyeVerify
- Current employee count: 35
- Founding year: 2012
- Founder: Toby Rush
- Amount raised to date: $13 million
Biometrics firm EyeVerify has arguably been Kansas City’s most-well-known startup over the last two years. Led by serial entrepreneur Toby Rush, the company created the “EyePrint ID,” which transforms a selfie of a user’s eye into a biometric security key. More than two million people are currently using the EyePrint ID.
EyeVerify in March scored a deal with ZTE — one of the largest phone manufacturers in the world — that placed its Eyeprint ID on the company’s flagship phone. The Eyeprint ID is now a default feature on the ZTE Grand S3.
Honorable mentions:
- SpiderOak: SpiderOak raised $3.5 million in July and its encryption software nabbed an endorsement from Edward Snowden.
- RFP365: Shortly after RFP365 scored a contract with the City of Kansas City, Mo. and raised $950,000, the tech company was named the 2015 “New Small Business of the Year” by the Kansas City Kansas Chamber of Commerce. RFP365 created software that eases the request for proposal process for issuers and drafters of RFPs.
- FitBark: The tech firm, which relocated to Kansas City after completing the Sprint Mobile Health Accelerator program in 2014, created an activity tracker for dogs that’s gaining global traction available in Target stores nationwide.
- DivvyHQ: This marketing tech firm closed on a $1.8 million Series A round, and has steadily grown to about 20 employees. Founded in 2011, DivvyHQ works with major clients such as Samsung, General Mills, Lowe’s, Roche, Marketo, Aflac and TripAdvisor.