The Innovation Stockyard announced two new companies to receive funding through its recent partnership with Digital Sandbox KC.

“We’re thrilled with the quality and quantity of ideas coming to the Sandbox through our partnership,” said Ronan Molloy, president of the Innovation Stockyard. “In less than a year, we’ve found three high-growth St. Joseph businesses to support and we know there are many more to come.”

The Sandbox partnered with the Innovation Stockyard in 2017, along with the St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce, the City of St. Joseph, Buchanan County, Missouri Western State University and other local organizations to drive new business growth and jobs in St. Joseph and throughout northwest Missouri.

“We know that there are creative, innovative entrepreneurs in Kansas City, St. Joseph and across the state of Missouri,” said Jeff Shackelford, director of Digital Sandbox KC. “The Sandbox provides critical funding so those ideas can move forward. By matching the program and its track record of success with the overwhelming response from the St. Joe community, we’re proving that supporting early-stage ideas is the way to support and grow entrepreneurship and build local economies.”

The companies selected for support include:

DocuLock helps businesses archive, index and digitize paper documents, protecting valuable business information from threats and making them accessible from any web-enabled device.

“The support from St. Joseph and the funding from the Digital Sandbox KC will allow us to meet the needs of our customers and provides important validation for our business,” said Paul Janicek, CEO of DocuLock.

WHETStone Devices developed an innovative brace to provide plumbing companies a secure and easy-to-install solution for water heater expansion tanks.

“Funding from Digital Sandbox KC will allow us to move our product forward faster,” said Chad Raw, co-owner and manager of WHETStone Devices.

Launched in February 2013, results for Digital Sandbox KC thus far have included:

  • More than $1.9 million in project funding
  • 98 proof-of-concept projects funded for KC-area startups
  • More than 580 new jobs created with more than $14 million in payroll
  • $50,860,670 in follow-on funding

Funded by a grant to the Innovation Stockyard from the Missouri Technology Corporation and matching funds from Buchanan County and the City of St. Joseph, the partnership brings the Digital Sandbox KC program to St. Joseph, targeting early-stage entrepreneurs in northwest Missouri who have concepts that can rapidly grow a business into a significant employer. Businesses will receive as much as $15,000 in project development funding and coworking space for three to six months at the Innovation Stockyard, located inside the Kit Bond Incubator on the campus of Missouri Western State University.

“We’re focused on continuing St. Joseph’s spirit of entrepreneurship,” said R. Patt Lilly, president and CEO of the St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce. “By maximizing our existing resources and partnering with Digital Sandbox KC’s innovative program we are creating a pipeline for early-stage, high-growth companies in our community.”

Digital Sandbox KC is now accepting applications from entrepreneurs in the St. Joseph area for the next round of project reviews.  Applications from scalable businesses can be submitted via the Digital Sandbox KC online application. The deadline for applications is August 15. Seven companies will be chosen to present to a panel of Digital Sandbox KC and St. Joseph evaluators on September 12 in St. Joseph. Visit www.digitalsandboxkc.com/programs/stjoe for more information.

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Digital Sandbox KC is an unprecedented partnership among private companies, universities, entrepreneurial support organizations and government agencies across the Kansas City region designed to spur the creation of high growth companies. Digital Sandbox KC provides proof-of-concept resources including market validation, prototyping and beta testing support for development of digital technologies within new and existing businesses.

Innovation Stockyard, located in the Christopher S. “Kit” Bond Incubator on the campus of Missouri Western State University, is a one-stop business incubator for those who want to start or grow any business, but specializing in the animal sciences field. It offers business and scientific consulting—and facilities—to help bring ideas to market.