Four startups gain project backing from Digital Sandbox KC

Four business startups have gained backing from Digital Sandbox KC for proof-of-concept projects to move them closer to success.

Each of the four “early stage companies” is receiving funding for a project such as building a prototype, software development, testing a product or service with early users, equipment and other market validation, as well as legal support or project consultants.

Digital Sandbox’s backing is aimed at helping the companies advance their development and attract additional funding. The program doesn’t reveal funding amounts for the companies, but projects average about $20,000.

The program’s financing will speed up by eight months how quickly Bek Abdullayev will be able to expand his app’s potential market.

My Super Dispatch, which he founded in Kansas City after completing the Lean Startup Machine workshop at the Kauffman Foundation, is aimed at trucking companies with five to 10 vehicles. An app on drivers’ phones links with a Web platform that eliminates the paper from tracking the fleet, dispatching loads, managing invoices and other work.

It doesn’t yet provide a “premium” experience for larger fleets, perhaps 20 or 200 trucks, Abdullayev said. He can fix that, but it takes money, and Digital Sandbox is providing it.

“If we had to wait to raise that money internally, it would take us eight months of doing business to finish that project,” Abdullayev said.

Others tapped by Digital Sandbox KC:

▪ Hacumen, which is getting help building a prototype for its software aimed at helping cybersecurity consultants.

▪ LaborChart, whose app helps schedule workers for construction projects, will be able to add features to attract larger users six to nine months earlier than would have been possible without the backing.

▪ ED Dental Services, which will advance completion of its The Dentist Is In virtual dentist consultation with attention to security. The tele-medicine service is aimed at emergency rooms, urgent care centers and “wellness” programs.

These four were chosen from roughly two dozen that Digital Sandbox KC considered during its eight-week cycle of reviews and awards.

This story was originally published March 27, 2015 at 2:00 AM with the headline "Four startups gain project backing from Digital Sandbox KC."