Digital Sandbox KC recently funded five local startups as it rounded out 2022.
To date, the program has armed 181 early-stage startups with more than $3 million in proof-of-concept funding.
Those startups later raised nearly $200 million in follow-on funding, and 27 startups have surpassed $1 million in sales. Some of the successful alum include DDSports, parent company of sensor-based basketball system ShotTracker, and TripleBlind, whose technology enables the secure sharing of regulated and private data. Last year, TripleBlind raised a $24 million round from investors, including Flyover Capital and KCRise Fund.
“Early-stage funding is rare in Kansas City, so Digital Sandbox KC is proud to be one of the few to provide vital support to prime the pump and fuel innovations now so they can accelerate with additional funding later,” Jill Meyer, senior director of Technology Venture Studio, which oversees Digital Sandbox KC, said in a release. “Scaling past proof-of-concept is key, so making these startups fundable provides a launchpad to help an idea take off once it’s built. It’s about more than funding: The Sandbox helps founders connect with investors, experts and more help in KC’s robust tech pipeline.”
Each startup receives as much as $20,000 in project funding. Here’s the latest cohort:
- Diced Digital, Kansas City, is developing a Web3-focused “learn-to-earn experience” that aims to help at-risk students through fractional asset ownership; trauma-informed, practical financial literacy; and Web3 protocols.
- Folks Capital, Kansas City, is an investment platform that delivers risk-adjusted returns for investors, builds wealth and provides sustainable impact for civic institutions.
- Glownar, Kansas City, is a hardware and software product that wants to revolutionize how emergency medical services operate. Its hardware, for example, can guide EMS personnel to your doorstep by light, and the software provides pertinent information about you and your loved ones to EMS before they arrive. Ultimately, it reduces errors due to panicked callers and enables efficiency and faster response times.
- Marma Nutrition, Kansas City, is developing an app that gives women personalized and evidence-based nutrition guidance during fertility, pregnancy and postpartum.
- Techne360 LLC, Leawood, developed a proprietary high-definition virtual reality technology that can construct “digital twins” of physical environments. A goal is to foster simultaneous workflow collaboration across multiple geographies and bridge the gap between the physical and digital world.
