KCSourceLink’s fifth annual state of entrepreneurship report, called We Create KC, was released April 5.

“We believe that what gets measured gets prioritized,” said Maria Meyers, founder of KCSourceLink and executive director of the University of Missouri-Kansas City Innovation Center. “Our entrepreneurs solve problems, disrupt industries, and create jobs. To help them do that and to access the resources they need, we continue to measure the vitality and sustainability of our entrepreneurial ecosystem and work collaboratively with our full network to strengthen our entrepreneurial infrastructure.”

Some of the measured outcomes include:

• $540 million in startup investment in 2017
• 290 percent increase in access to capital over the past five years
• an average of 16,376 jobs created annually by Kansas City first-time employers
• 9,425 connections made through KCSourceLink via hotline and email

The report also digs into the entrepreneurial ecosystem, breaking down the four types of entrepreneurs in the metro, capital resources and the number of equity investments and grants to in KC startups, and how corporations can engage with startups. It also includes a list of companies to watch based on funds raised in the past two years.

Read the highlights of the report here, or find the whole report at WeCreateKC.com.