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Digital Sandbox KC receives $950K in grants from Kauffman Foundation and Missouri Technology Corporation
Proof-of-concept program Digital Sandbox KC announced on Tuesday that the organization has been awarded a $450,000 grant from The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, signaling a renewal of support from the foundation. “Digital Sandbox KC plays a pivotal role in the Kansas City entrepreneurial ecosystem,” said Erin Jenkins, program officer at Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. “Working…
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Guest Post: St. Louis tried to give Amazon more than $7B. Here’s what it should do with that money instead.
Amazon has started giving feedback to the more than 200 cities that didn’t make the initial cut for the company’s planned second headquarters (HQ2). I know that because I read about it in The Wall Street Journal. I also know that because I work in economic development in the St. Louis metropolitan area, and St.…
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Nvsted brings capital investment crowdfunding to St. Louis
St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger, area business leaders and representatives of the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership came together on Wednesday to launch Nvsted, the first hyper-local regulation crowdfunding platform designed for investing. These days, nearly everyone is familiar with crowdfunding platforms. Nvsted is a regulation crowdfunding marketplace specific to the St. Louis region,…
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Missouri-based Lean Media Closes $500,000 in Seed Funding
Chesterfield, Missouri-based Lean Media has announced the successful close of a $500,000 oversubscribed seed round. Much of the funding round came from local investors in St. Louis, including The Yield Lab as the lead investor. “We have been very pleased with the continued momentum of Lean Media as they continue to achieve milestone after milestone,”…
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T-REX and Venture Cafe STL are changing St. Louis’ startup landscape
The Heartland Innovation Road Trip continued to make its way through the Midwest on Thursday with a stop in St. Louis for tours of T-REX and CIC St. Louis, and a roundtable discussion at Venture Cafe STL. T‐REX is located in downtown St. Louis and provides startups and entrepreneurs with low cost, flexible enterprise spaces…
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CoJoe coworking space coming to St. Joseph, Missouri
St. Joseph, Missouri’s entrepreneurial scene is about to have one of their top wishes granted with the upcoming opening of CoJoe, an innovative co-working space located in historic downtown St. Joseph. An opening reception will be held at CoJoe from 4 to 6 p.m. on Jan. 31. Planners describe CoJoe as a fully-functional workspace designed…
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Ten years after the housing crisis, this St. Louis startup is trying to make real estate more transparent
This fall marked the ten-year anniversary of the implosion in the housing market. If you weren’t old enough to be a homeowner then, you should know that the Great Recession really, really wasn’t a fun time to live through. Not only did people lose their homes, many others lost their jobs, and the recovery that…
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This policy helped build Missouri’s innovation districts, and it might be going away
Three years ago, I took a risk and started a marketing and public relations consulting company. Starting my own firm meant giving up a steady paycheck, which was something that I (and most other people) take very seriously. Sixteen years before I became an entrepreneur, my dad had placed the same bet on himself—and it…
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How St. Louis is Becoming a Hub of Innovation (Again)
According to recent research by the University of Virginia, all but a very select group of cities are struggling to figure out how to create jobs in a time when companies are less dependent on human beings and traditional industries face technology– and trade-driven disruption. St. Louis is one of the metropolitan areas trying to establish an economy that can…
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Missouri Technology Corporation still investing in innovation despite tough budget
Journalistic ethics require me to disclose a conflict where one exists. And there is a conflict of interest when I write about the Missouri Technology Corporation (MTC), a public-private partnership created by the Missouri General Assembly to invest in entrepreneurs and startups. The conflict? In 2015, my wife, Megan McKissen, was hired by St. Charles…