LENEXA, Kan.—A document management startup that helps surety claim professionals collect information for and manage investigations just received a dose of certainty. Overland Park, Kan.-based ClaimKit, led by co-founder and CEO Chris Cheatham, just closed $360,000 in syndicated investment from Mid-America Angels—with participation from Women’s Capital Connection—and $200,000 from SeedStep Angels in Oklahoma.

Cheatham said the process with MAA was collaborative and streamlined, and always remained transparent and comfortable. The group also referred him and his team to SeedStep.

“I went down and met with the group in Oklahoma City and Tulsa,” he told SPN. “They have a very efficient process and I loved meeting with this group. I even had to pitch one of the groups in my shorts—my suit pants went missing—and they still invested! Very forgiving bunch.”

Cheatman was inspired to start ClaimKit after working as a surety attorney, managing millions of dollars in claims on his own. The bottlenecks caused by poor software and messy documents set him up to create something that could bring sanity to the process.

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Now he’s looking to take software that has already helped manage $2 billion in claims to the next level.

“We will be focusing on two things,” he said. “First, we will be pushing out the ClaimKit solutions to more surety companies. We are confident we can save the sureties money and we will show them how. Second, we will be taking the next step with our software. We are developing the next versions and platforms that will make the life of a claim professional easier.

This round of financing also will enable ClaimKit to add to its staff. It’s the fourth investment closed by MAA this year, totaling almost $2 million in funding for area startups and high-growth businesses.