Here’s a roundup of Groover Labs members in the news over the past three months:
SEPTEMBER
Sisters Deborah Gladney and Angela Muhwezi-Hall, who together founded the employment match-making company QuickHire, appeared in both the Wichita Eagle and the Wichita Business Journal on September 28. QuickHire offers an app that uses swipe-based features to connect people in the service industry with jobs. The articles tell similar stories: two sisters came together to create an app that shares features with current dating apps; users swipe right for jobs that interest them and left for jobs that don’t. If the employer does the same, there’s a match. Incorporating the swipe-and-match feature set will resonate with younger generations who are familiar with the process.
On September 30, the Wichita Business Journal published a story about FlagshipKansas.Tech’s new executive director, Ashley Scheideman. Scheideman joined FlagshipKansas.Tech from Youth Entrepreneurs, where she worked for almost five years. As executive director, Scheideman plans to support Kansas’ current tech companies, attract new talent and companies, and grow overall tech jobs in the area.
OCTOBER
In early October, Groover Labs member Kansas Global Trade Service landed a front page article in the Wichita Eagle about a pilot program, the Wichita Export Accelerator, which hopes to increase exports from the area and help diversify the city’s economy. Five local companies are part of the program: Meter Engineers, Hornet Cutting Systems, Lubrication Engineers, Quicc, and Big Dog Motorcycles. KGTS began with a list of 500 companies and winnowed it down to five.
On October 9, Groover Labs’ internet service provider IdeaTek recently made headlines in HutchNews.com. IdeaTek, whose headquarters is in Buhler, Kansas, leases a dedicated desk for its representatives working in the Wichita area. The firm won a $13.71 million grant from the Connectivity Emergency Response Grant (CERG) to extend its fiber-optic network to underserved areas in parts of more than a dozen Kansas counties. The award comes with its challenges: IdeaTek must lay some 300 miles of new line and related wireless equipment during an 80-day window.
Startland News published a story on October 12 about Miguel Johns. Johns and his startup KingFit entered into a partnership with BioTel Care, a subsidiary of BioTelemetry, a $2 billion publicly-traded global company. Johns, who completed an agreement for the acquisition of another KingFit product earlier this year, said the BioTel Care deal was underway before Covid-19. It has been an exciting and busy 2020 for Johns and KingFit.
We return again to Kansas Global Trade Services, who, on October 14, announced that they will have a presence at Groover Labs. The trade consulting firm is shifting to a new and more agile workplace model to match its digital and physical resources to meet their clients’ needs. KGTS had been planning this new operations paradigm before Covid-19 took root in the United States.
On October 16, the Wichita Business Journal published a second story featuring QuickHire co-founders Deborah Gladney and Angela Muhwezi-Hall. They discuss the challenges they face as first generation Americans and Black women who are disrupting the labor market and how a lack of representation with VCs can lead to a lack of understanding about available resources.
NOVEMBER
And, finally, we return to FlagshipKansas.Tech, who, on November 10, officially announced they had joined Groover Labs as members. The article appeared in the Wichita Business Journal. New executive director Ashley Scheideman, who’s no stranger to the entrepreneurial culture, said FlagshipKansas.Tech and Groover Labs have similar goals—create opportunities to keep tech talent and grow the number of technology businesses in the region.
CONCULSION
Congratulations to all of our members who are making headlines! Their successes are examples of businesses who, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, have smart and ambitious leaders and staff who are determined to meet and surpass their goals.
If you’re looking for a place where smart and motivated people are working together to create and grow their businesses, then you’re looking for Groover Labs. Schedule a tour here or drop by!