The 2024 AltCap Your Biz Pitch Competition celebrated Kansas City’s vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem, awarding over $40,000 in prizes to local, small businesses at a live event held during Global Entrepreneurship Week in Kansas City.

Kansas City’s Jordin Johnson is set to open Blanc Champagne Bar, which aims to redefine how champagne is enjoyed by celebrating everyday moments. Blanc will feature a diverse, predominantly female staff, while supporting local brewers, chefs, artists, and small businesses with rooftop pop-up events.

Elaina Paige Thomas, founder of The Next Paige Agency, is empowering local creatives in Kansas City. Since its launch in 2021, the agency has generated more than $400,000 in work for local artists and performers in film, television, and theater without requiring them to leave their hometown.

Kansas City artist Deante Howard transformed his passion for "elevated graffiti" into a successful business after a lucrative day selling prints at a Chiefs game, marking his launch as a professional artist.

Hosted in Kansas City's Historic Northeast, Celebrate AMERI’KANA brought together national, local, and youth performers to celebrate the city's rich and diverse music scene.

Liley Villazan, owner of Magnolia Beauty Academy, empowers people across the Kansas City metro by turning their hobbies into six-figure careers as nail technicians.

The Russell’s owner, Amante Domingo, needed cash quickly for a new HVAC system at his restaurant. The financing’s predatory rates, however, nearly de-railed his plans to open another eatery.

Henry Service purchased the Lincoln Building in 2017 and plans to preserve its legacy as a nucleus of community connection and Black entrepreneurship.

Coloratura founder Camry Ivory hopes her company will show the world that “creativity is a universal trait we all have within us.” She created the Coloratura, which allows artists to create electronic music and analog art simultaneously using musical paintbrushes.

Check out some photos from the 2023 AltCap Your Biz Pitch Competition.

As the world emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Endowment for the Arts has unveiled research highlighting a rough development for how Americans engage with artists.

Dr. Shelly Cooper leveraged her $25,000 prize money from the AltCap Your Biz Pitch Competition to better provide health care to children from low-income communities.

Janae’ Barnett’s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017, which served as the spark to her launching Eve , a functional beverage company that hopes to inspire healthy lifestyles.

While it may seem straightforward, the New Markets Tax Credit is often misunderstood. To clear up confusion, we’d like to dispel a few common misconceptions we encounter when talking to folks about the program.

Brenden Coker encountered plenty of skeptics en route to launching his first business. The roadblocks, however, only strengthened Coker’s entrepreneurial resolve to start Gymnetix, a gym based in Springfield, Missouri.

The redevelopment of El Torreon represents a partnership to bring new life to a historic music and community venue that will serve Kansas City for generations to come.

With the help of two AltCap loans over five years, the Monarch Conservatory recently expanded its arts business into a 7,000-square-foot studio space in Blue Springs, Missouri.

Learn how the New Markets Tax Credit helped fuel the Linwood YMCA’s $10.3 million renovation in 2015 that continues to serve as a vital health and community space for the area.

As a first-generation, Vietnamese-American woman, Jackie Nguyen envisioned a shop that cultivates a culture around its coffee — and curates a space where Kansas City’s Asian-American community could feel welcome and celebrated.

Together we made a difference. Our impact during the COVID-19 pandemic helped to propel many entrepreneurs in the KC area.