Within Kansas City’s startup community, one question remains as confounding as it is combustible.
“What is a startup?”
Purists say it’s a disruptive tech firm. Egalitarians maintain the term applies to any early-stage business. Others ask another question: Who cares?
The answers — debated in spirited fashion in national media, on Kansas City discussion boards and Startland story comments — vary widely.
But regardless of the explanations, Kansas City places significant value on the process of and support for starting up a business. While not unique to Kansas City, such enthusiasm has created wealth and vibrancy for this community, as well as an abundance of stories for Startland.
For instance, those featured in our 2017 KC Startups to Watch list later drummed up dozens of big headlines.
Farmobile raised $18 million for its global expansion. DivvyHQ again was named the best platform for content marketers. Blooom reached $1 billion in assets under management. ShotTracker deployed its one-of-a-kind tech to track players NAIA Men’s National Championship Basketball Tournament. FitBark created a new version of its dog activity tracker, which was featured extensively on Animal Planet.
We’re expecting similarly impressive years from our collection of 2018 startups. But unlike 2017’s tech-heavy list, many of our startups this year are making a physical impact on Kansas City and markets across U.S. from brick-and-mortar operations.
As with years past, the Startland team spent hours poring over top startup prospects. In total, we logged upward of 30 hours assessing more than 60 Kansas City startups. After narrowing the list to about 30, we arrived at our Top 10 by evaluating each company’s team, current traction, potential to create jobs, societal and industry-specific disruptiveness and likelihood to create major news in 2018.
To be clear, this isn’t an apples-to-apples list of what Kansas City startups are making the most money. It’s also not to say that the local firms that do not appear on this list aren’t or won’t be successful. Rather, this is a list of the area’s most promising companies that we feel are best positioned to have banner years in 2018.
Without further ado, here are Startland’s startups to watch in 2018.
Current employee count: 18
Founding year: 2014
Founders: Gerald and Dianna Smith
Amount raised to date: Undisclosed
Click here to read more about what’s driving Plexpod’s success.
Plexpod Westport Commons
Current employee count: 30
Founded: 2014
Founders: John Thomson, founder and CEO; Mike Plunkett, co-founder and COO/CFO
Amount raised to date: $7.8M
Click here to read more about what sets PayIt ahead of its competition.
PayIt
Current employee count: 85
Founding year: 2014
Founder: Matt Condon
Amount raised to date: Undisclosed
Click here to read more about what’s keeping Bardavon healthy.
Bardavon
Current employee count: 61
Founding year: 2008
Founder: Michael Rea
Amount raised to date: $22.6 Million
Click here to read more about what opportunity awaits Rx Savings Solutions.
RX Savings Solutions
5) Swell Spark (Breakout KC, Blade & Timber)
Current employee count: 110-plus
Founding year: 2015
Founders: Ryan Henrich and Matt Baysinger
Amount raised to date: $0
Click here to read more about what’s become cutting-edge experiences for Swell Spark.
Ryan Henrich and Matt Baysinger, Swell Spark
Current employee count: 18
Founding year: 2015
Founders: Kris Adair, Joshua Montgomery, Steve Penrod and Ryan Sipes
Amount raised to date: $2.56 million
Click here to read more about what’s giving voice to Mycroft’s growth.
Mycroft AI
Current employee count: 16
Founding year: 2013
Founder: Bek Abdullayev
Amount raised to date: Undisclosed
Click here to read more about what Super Dispatch is delivering for customers.
Super Dispatch
8) Made in KC
Current employee count: Nine full-time; 20 part-time.
Founding year: 2015
Founders: Tyler Enders and Thomas McIntyre
Amount raised to date: $0
Click here to read more about what makes Made in KC worth expanding.
Made in KC co-owners Tyler Enders, Thomas McIntyre and Keith Bradley
Current employee count: 13
Founding year: 2012
Founders: Stuart Ludlow and David Hulsen
Amount raised to date: $950,000
Click here to read more about what’s developing at RFP365.
David Hulsen and Stuart Ludlow, co-founders of RFP365
Current employee count: 16
Founding year: 2015
Founder: Chris Goode
Amount raised to date: $0
Click here to read more about what’s giving Ruby Jean’s good vibes.
Ruby Jean’s Juicery
Current employee count: Four full-time; five part-time
Founding year: 2011
Founders: Joel Teply and Heather Spalding
Amount raised to date: $100,000 contribution from founders; $100,000 LaunchKC Prize; $110,000 Amazon Credits.
Click here to read more about what Cambrian visualizes for 2018.
Heather Spalding and Joel Teply, co-founders of Cambrian
