2022 Kansas City’s VC-Backed Companies Report

The metro’s field of venture capital-backed companies is getting more crowded — their payrolls swelling with new employees — amid a bounce-back from the global pandemic and new signals of Kansas City’s momentum, according to data in a new report from Startland News.

The 2022 Kansas City Venture Capital-Backed Companies Report provides an updated snapshot into the region’s growth-stage, venture-backed companies — reflecting ongoing deal flow, revenue growth, and workforce changes.

“This report offers investors and ecosystem leaders another tool to gauge high-growth Kansas City companies’ progress on their journeys to exit — and can potentially trigger those in positions of power to pile onto that success with support or further investment,” said Austin Barnes, executive director for Startland News, which partnered with UMKC’s Technology Venture Studio on the data project.

One of the year’s most buzz-worthy developments: 18 companies newly eligible to be detailed in the report, which considers funding totals and other investment data. Together, they raised $217.4 million of the record $1.677 billion in funding for the 72 total companies.

These new entries ranged from autotech startup Whipz, which notched a hefty $1.8 million pre-seed round, to Foxpoint Trucks, an innovative transportation and logistics company that secured a $85 million capital infusion for growth. Other additions came in industries from eSports and cryptocurrency to biotech and online gifting.

It’s important to note the 2022 Kansas City Venture Capital-Backed Companies Report is not a ranking of companies’ value or worth, but a comprehensive data set of self-reported information from every company that meets the following criteria and responded to our call for data:

• Raised at least $1 million;
• Raised capital from at least one institutional venture investor;
• Pre-exit; and
• Physically headquartered in the greater Kansas City metro area as defined by the Kansas City Area Development Council.

The in-depth report is made possible through financial support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, though it was prepared independently by Startland News’ nonprofit newsroom.

About a dozen companies detailed in 2021 dropped from being listed in the 2022 report, either because of an exit, move in headquarters, closure or another significant change in eligibility. 

LaborChart, for example, exited in October 2021 in an undisclosed deal with Procore to acquire the Overland Park-based workforce management software company; Spear Power Systems was purchased by East Coast powerhouse Sensata; Cingulate Therapeutics closed its IPO; and the Kansas City-built banking solution tailored to Black Americans, First Boulevard, became Kinly, which now touts its headquarters as Atlanta.

“The VC-Backed Companies Report also allows for introspection, specifically related to weak spots in the ecosystem, as well as where (and why in the case of the pandemic, for example) companies are stalling (or bailing) out,” said Barnes. “That information is valuable for community leaders — the people who can step up and do something to curb slowed progress.”

Keep scrolling to see which companies were included in the 2022 report, then check out more notable statistics pulled from this year’s data.

Finally, the default order for the list is the KC Growth Index (also explained below the list) which is an effort to create a fair and significant way to order the companies. Not all companies responded to all prompts, resulting in some instances of undisclosed or insufficient data.

Is your company eligible and missing from the list? Click here to fill out a quick eligibility and data form and email Tommy Felts.

NOTE: On desktop or laptop, you can sort by the different columns, click the “expand” icon by each company name for a company summary, and click “view larger version” in the bottom right corner for a sortable, full-screen view. On mobile, click on each company for a company summary.

Explaining the KC Growth Index

Startland, the parent organization of Startland News, established the KC Growth Index for the inaugural VC-Backed Companies report  in 2018 to organize it in a fair and significant way. The evaluation system doesn’t solely prioritize capital raised, but instead creates a more comprehensive snapshot of venture-backed companies in the Kansas City area based on capital raised, number of employees, two-year average annual revenue growth rate and longevity.

The KC Growth Index calculation was tweaked this year, so a company’s score is now comparable year-to-year. It is based on a 27.5-point scale, but a company can exceed 27.5 points. For example, employee count is based on a 10-point scale with 100 employees equating to 10 points. However, if a company has 200 employees, they will be given 20 points.

The index is based on a formula that rates each company based on the self-reported data provided to UMKC’s Tech Venture Studio and Startland News. The index takes into account four data points from each company.

• Total funding raised (10-point scale based on $50 million; in other words, $50 million raised equals 10 points);
• Current number of employees (10-point scale based on 100 employees);
• Two-year average annual revenue growth rate (5-point scale based on a sliding scale in relation to longevity, 1000 percent for two-year-old companies to 100 percent for 10-year old companies); and
• Longevity (2.5-point scale based on 10 years).

Each company’s four category scores are combined to compute their KC Growth Index score.

NOTE: Companies that didn’t disclose certain information received zero points in that particular category.

This report is possible thanks to support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a private, nonpartisan foundation that works together with communities in education and entrepreneurship to create uncommon solutions and empower people to shape their futures and be successful.

For more information, visit www.kauffman.org and connect at www.twitter.com/kauffmanfdn and www.facebook.com/kauffmanfdn