Kansas City’s resources for businesses owners continue to deepen. This week the Kauffman Foundation announced grants and sponsorships totaling $840,000 for eight local venture accelerators that work to increase the success of early- and growth-stage entrepreneurs.
The awards are part of Kauffman Foundation’s KC Accelerator Challenge, which was announced last fall.
As part of the challenge, proposals were accepted from local programs that “provide critical mentoring, access to resources and services that enable entrepreneurs to grow and scale their companies.”
The venture accelerators receiving funding are:
- BetaBlox
- Enterprise Center of Johnson County’s Investment Bootcamp
- Helzberg Entrepreneurial Mentoring Program’s Amp Up
- Sprint Accelerator
- Techstars Kansas City
- Project United Knowledge
- Rightfully Sewn
- ScaleUp Kansas City
Each of the recipients must match the funding it receives from Kauffman Foundation and provide mentorship resources or services in one of the following areas: a structured educational curriculum or technical assistance for entrepreneurs, serve an underrepresented population of entrepreneurs, or provide a novel way to accelerate startups that can be tested as a research project.
“Kansas City has many of the ingredients for a strong ecosystem for entrepreneurs,” said Victor Hwang, vice president of entrepreneurship at Kauffman. “The KC Accelerator Challenge is part of the Kauffman Foundation’s comprehensive approach to address barriers that too many of our entrepreneurs face in Kansas City and the Midwest.”
The KC Accelerator Challenge is part of Kauffman Foundation’s Zero Barriers movement, through which the Foundation collaborates with others to reverse declines in entrepreneurship and empowering entrepreneurial success.
