Kansas startups are sparking interesting new innovation and technology shifts across industries. While the state is known for its “sunflowers”, the following emerging new companies will soon be making names for themselves. The companies on our list include, but are not limited to, agriculture and agtech. In fact, many of the companies are breaking ground in industries that are not the ones that many think of when they think of Kansas.
In recent years, Kansas has seen some wildly successful companies, particularly out of the Kansas City metro area. These companies include:
- C2FO (Leawood) continues to grow as it provides access to capital for thousands of small businesses across the globe.
- Stackify (Leawood) provides numerous key posture indicators for companies operating in the cloud.
- Risk Genius (Overland Park) which recently was acquired by Bold Penguin.
- Farmobile (Leawood) provides real-time data to growers regarding the output of their cropland.
- CivicPlus (Manhattan) which provides govtech resources to small cities and counties,
- Grit Virtual (Wichita) a construction software company that was acquired in 2020,
- And, Green Dot Bioplastics (Emporia) is creating twenty-first-century green bioplastics.
However, this is not a list that is solely about companies that have seen success and are scaling up. This list focuses on the next generation of companies – those that are still emerging as start-ups. Most have less than $1 million in revenue or raised less than $10 million in venture capital or younger than five years. Many are all three. These are companies that we, the publishers of Mug.News, are excited to see emerge over the next five years.
- Replica – Kansas City
The company provides information about how people move through cities and urban environments. It uses local sensor networks and other data sources. And, we are suckers for mapping companies.
2. Bellwethr – Wamego
Every startup needs help with sales and marketing. Bellwethr is ready with a platform that utilizes data science and machine learning to improve the process for finding and landing customers.
3. Greenfield Robotics – Cheney
Greenfield provides autonomous drones that remove weeds from row-crop fields. The company’s regenerative ag philosophy permeates its development roadmap and goals for the future.
4. Unified Esports Association – Wichita
Founder, Ramsey Jamoul, is slowly building an e-sports empire in Wichita. He has started to tie many disparate parts of the e-sports industry together at Unified Esports.
5. Hitchpin – Manhattan
Hitchpin is a platform for farmers and ranchers to conduct transactions with each other. Whether it’s finding farm-fresh produce or hay for livestock, Hitchpin is prepared to deliver a frictionless transaction.
6. ShotTracker – Merriam
ShotTracker is an integrated software net that recognizes actions in a gym and provides data, analytics, and analysis regarding the performance of individual participants and teams.
7. Play-it Health – Overland Park
Play-it has participated in both Iron Yard and Village Capital – clear signals of a strong management team. They are helping patients stick to their care regimen – with integrated patient monitoring and turn-key reimbursement.
8. Main Street Data – Mission
Agtech meets fintech with a platform that helps growers make decisions and traders buy and sell. The platform blends smart systems with intelligence from millions of acres of planted crops, plus the founding team includes serial entrepreneur Ron LeMay.
9. Jenny Dawn Cellars – Wichita
Hand-crafted wines, big partnerships, and a strong founding team – what is not to like about this Wichita startup. Plus, did we mention it’s all about the wine?
10. Clara Biotech – Lawrence
A leading company in exosomic isolation and purification. Exosomes are extracellular vesicles that can attach and affect distant cell function and behavior. This allows for interventions in a variety of diseases – such as cancer, neurodegeneration, and inflammatory diseases. This Lawrence-based company is one of the world leaders.
Check out our Community Pages for more on our top !0’s from across the Middle.