Funding Stories
$1.7M+ crowdfunding haul puts ChessUp in attack position for production, hiring top talent
The makers of ChessUp are at a million-dollar advantage after the close of their first crowdfunding campaign. “It’s what we dreamed about and hoped for,” Jeff Wigh, CEO and one of three co-founders behind Bryght Labs, maker of ChessUp, said of the company’s first Kickstarter campaign and its $1.703 million close late last month. Becoming…
Splitsy takes top prize in Regnier challenge, adding to emerging fintech startup’s spring bump
The Regnier Venture Creation Challenge doled out more than $65,000 in cash prizes to emerging startups this spring, culminating in Friday’s big win for an up-and-coming fintech app. “We had a great competition,” Bryan Boots, managing director of venture creation and assistant teaching professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, told Startland News. The annual…
SafetyCulture rides deeper into unicorn club with $73M round, reaching $1.6B valuation
The evolution from a checklist app into an operations platform for working teams is paying off for SafetyCulture, which Monday announced a massive funding round from the East Coast — pushing the unicorn company even deeper into the realm of startups valued at more than a billion dollars. Led by New York-based Insight Partners, the…
Founded to sell: Emerging KC tech firm led by startup veterans announces $725K funding round
A Kansas City startup’s initial funding round is expected to help small businesses close more deals, faster, said Scott Hansen. LeadSigma, a powerful and easy-to-use sales engagement platform, has raised a $725,000 family and friends round, Hansen, co-founder of LeadSigma, announced Friday. The round included prominent opinion leaders and agency owners in targeted SMB verticals,…
$12M capital infusion pumps Prairie Village-based Artio Medical to $46M in funding
A Johnson County medical device company announced Thursday the closing of an additional $12 million tranche of Series A financing — advancing the startup’s tech toward clinical study and commercialization with the backing of a leading Kansas City real estate developer. “We are thrilled to close this round of financing with strong support from existing investors…
