Startups Stories

2018 LaunchKC winners

LaunchKC grants competition gets boost toward relaunch with newly announced funding, MTC says

A popular grants competition that helped raise the profiles — and buoy the bank accounts — of dozens of Kansas City startups could be relaunching with renewed funding from the Missouri Technology Corporation, the agency announced Tuesday. LaunchKC was named one of seven organizations to together receive more than $1 million in grant funding to support…

De-risking a dangerous job: How a window washing startup is raising the bar (and hose) with drones

It’s a nightmare to clean the windows of multi-story buildings, said Andrew Brain. “It’s incredibly unsafe for folks to be hanging on the side of buildings — and it’s incredibly expensive for them to be there. Insurance liability has gone up 300 to 400 percent. … I was thinking that there’s got to be a…

Small Business Superstars reception

Small Business Superstars in photos: When people belong, ‘the possibilities are endless’

Editor’s note: The Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce is a non-financial partner of Startland News, which serves as the media partner for the Small Business Superstars program. A celebration Wednesday for the Chamber’s new class of Small Business Superstars came with a message for entrepreneurs of all kinds, said Vicky Kulikov. You belong. “That…

Jake Calhoun, Soya

Pipeline, NXTUS drive exposure for entrepreneur’s on-demand fuel delivery startup

Startland News’ Startup Road Trip series explores innovative and uncommon ideas finding success in rural America and Midwestern startup hubs outside the Kansas City metro. This series is possible thanks to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, which leads a collaborative, nationwide effort to identify and remove large and small barriers to new business creation. WICHITA…

John Boucard, Tesseract Ventures

Tesseract taps into KC’s sticky innovation culture with homegrown partnership to build IoT tools

A new partnership between a leading robotics creator and one of its fellow Kansas City tech innovators showcases the founder’s longstanding commitment to harnessing the region’s potential as a collaboration powerhouse.  “When I moved back to Kansas City to start Tesseract, I made up my mind to lead by example and attempt to build close…