Bulletyn increases student engagement around campus by digitizing the traditional bulletin boards. Students will be able to know everything that is going on around campus in real time 24/7 while organization leaders will be able to track and use analytics to plan events.

Students miss opportunities all the time due to not knowing about certain events or activities. Today schools still uses old, traditional and messy cork bulletin boards to post events, activities and any type of classified ads. Those boards are messy and students have to be physically present to find anything that might be of their interest. Students or organizations who want to promote on bulletin boards have to go through a process of making flyers, then getting approval to post.

Bulletyn is a mobile and web application that will provide students with real time access to everything happening on campus. Students will be able to find relevant events that interest them all in one place. Students can save events, get notified about upcoming events and explore new opportunities. Students can sell textbooks, find roommates or discover a new interest. Event organizers can gather analytics on previous events to better plan for the next one, as well as have access to other tools to communicate and engage with members.

 “We would like to thank Digital Sandbox to provide us funding to help further our venture,” said Mike Nguyen, founder of Bulletyn.

edcoda’s innovative technology adapts education to today’s generation by making learning simple and fun. The IP-protected gaming software platform delivers customizeable curriculum-based content to students through fun and engaging video games.  In addition, the platform provides educators and school administrators with actionable, real time analytics, classroom management, content management, and reports— all which are streamlined and easy to use.  

Today’s educational landscape is trending downward with disengaged American students rising from 20% fifteen years ago to about 45% of K-12 American students today. When coupled with classroom teachers’ job satisfaction dropping to an all-time low of 23%, U.S. education is at a crossroad of adapting updated curriculum with new learning tools and methods. The major reasons listed for non-engagement are dull traditional teaching methods along with the lack of or inadequate technology tools.

edcoda is an e-learning platform integrated with a role-playing digital game specifically designed to deliver interchangeable industry-standard learning content and assessment questions to players/learners. edcoda helps engage learners as well as streamline educators’ responsibilities.  Additionally, the platform is adaptive, so student learners can progress at their own pace and observed real time by the instructor.

“Funding and connection with Digital Sandbox KC will help in the full development of uniquely formatted electronic content that is a vital component in our business,” said Clarence Tan, CEO.

Miles is a mobile app that automatically tracks and logs mileage for business purposes. Miles users can now create and export their mileage logs without the need of manual input. The use of Digital Sandbox funds will allow Miles to complete its beta product in early 2016.

Mileage is one of the most difficult transactions to track and prove, and is often most susceptible to audit. Due to the inconvenient and inefficient nature of tracking these trips, many people use the percent method when figuring out their mileage deductions. “I used my car for about 80% business and 20% personal.” This format does not meet IRS guidelines and could result in the IRS denying an entire mileage deduction, potentially costing thousands of dollars in taxes. This is a problem for small business owners, contractors, freelancers, sales team, business development and many more.

Miles creates automated reports that detail the following critical pieces of data for mileage reports

• Travel date
• Total Mileage Driven
• Locations driven
• Business purpose notation
• Client association

All of this is done automatically while running quietly in the background of a phone. Users can easily generate reports that can be given to an accountant or used for reimbursement.

“Thanks to the support of Digital Sandbox, we will be able to complete our beta builds for both iOS and Android devices. The connections brought by Jeff and his team have already kicked off discussions with several strategic partners,” said Lance Windholz, founder of Space Raptor, the developer of Miles.

LeagueAlly is league management software that was initially built for a local Kansas City adult recreational sports league which helped take it from 800 players to almost 4,000 in four years. The software efficiently automates the league process for league managers and players as well as connects participants through leagues as they travel from city to city.

The product helps league managers organize leagues, equipment, umpires and players more efficiently, and provides a system that makes it easy for players to join and enjoy those leagues with as much automation as possible. LeagueAlly also addresses unused parks/fields by organizing that information and making it easier to network through recreational sports in new cities.

“The funding from Digital Sandbox KC couldn’t come at a better time for us. It will allow us to finish the first iteration of our app and move exponentially faster to hire more people and get more funding that in turn will allow us to scale and market nationally,” said Luke Wade, founder and CEO.

PlanITImpact is developing a web application that allows architects and planners to better understand – at the earliest stages of the design and planning process – how a building will impact the environment, the community and the building’s inhabitants. Integrating 3D visualization and tapping into Open Data to gather site-specific information, the tool generates early performance calculations related to energy and water use, stormwater infiltration, greenhouse gas emissions, transportation, building mix, quality of life and potential ROI. The Digital Sandbox KC project focuses on the beta version of the product.

According to 2013 US Energy Administration statistics, commercial and residential buildings use more energy and emit more CO2 than any other sector in the US – 47.6 percent – which is nearly as much as the transportation and industrial sectors combined. In response to this statistic, the sustainable design industry is growing rapidly, and as the public becomes more informed about the global effects of climate change and the impacts that our buildings have on greenhouse gas emissions, the demand for sustainable solutions will only increase. Yet, though the sustainable design industry has seen an explosion in innovative buildings and systems, the tools available to architects and planners are woefully behind the curve.

PlanIT Impact is a web application that is intended to make the schematic phase of the planning and design process really smart. The tool integrates with SketchUp, a ubiquitous 3D modeling tool used by the vast majority of design professionals in the U.S. The tool taps into national and local Open Data APIs to access an aggregate of relevant, site-specific data, which the tool pulls – along with data that is embedded in the 3D model – through a series of algorithms to generate early building and site performance projections. These projections are presented in the form of a 0-100 score in each of the eight modules: energy and water use, stormwater infiltration, greenhouse gas emissions, transportation, building mix, quality of life and potential ROI.  PlanIT Impact offers the ability to explore “what if” scenarios and compare design iterations to better understand how design options affect performance.

“This funding from Digital Sandbox fills a critical gap for us as a tech startup…this is the bridge we needed to be able to launch,” said Dominique Davison, CEO.

Training For REAL is a hospitality consulting company that believes in changing simple training into engaged-learning to reduce attrition and increase sales. REAL stands for relevant effective affordable learning. The Digital Sandbox KC project will help Training for REAL move forward with a cloud-based training platform that allows for broader reach and scale.

High attrition in the hospitality industry, combined with ineffective training and structure, lead to increase cost, lower revenue and smaller margins. Other emerging pain points are minimum wage and service included pricing.

• Attrition – Industry Average 87% @ $500 per Front Of House (FOH) employee
• Ineffective Training Program – Poor Leadership & Service/Lost Sales/Less Repeat Guests
• Increased Competition – Not many 2^nd chances
• 6 out of 10 restaurants close within the first three years

REAL addresses the industry pain points straight on by filling the gap between the status quo that has been in place for decades and the astronomically expensive customized program that may or may not be digital. REAL’s Cloud-based Training Platform allows for the delivery of a consistent product, message and culture.

REAL uses adult learning methods and questions based on clinical insights to create what we call 360º testing – full circle understanding.  The company also tracks results that have been tied into the restaurant’s point of sale system to monitor and measure.  This allows for accurate and quick analysis to drive performance and profitability.

“Digital Sandbox KC has connected me with amazing people that provide the ‘honest support’ an entrepreneur needs,” said founder Tonya Round. “The funding will allow for a vision to be turned into a REALity.”

The UpDown NightLife app lets clubs and bars improve customer satisfaction rates with bottle service. With just a few clicks of a button, a customer can reserve a table, pick mixers and put together a guest list. With help from Digital Sandbox KC, UpDown NightLife will complete app development and launch the project.

Bottle service is not always a seamless process. It can be stressful, from not knowing who to call or when to call to trying to create reservations, pick mixers, and get a guest list together. Some nights, it can be hard just getting into a hot joint.

Whether a customer comes to “Turn Up” the night or are out to “Get Down”, the UpDown Nightlife app makes the journey a lot easier. The UpDown NightLife app is developed to make the night a success; with just one click a customer can reserve a table, pick mixers, and put together a guest list.

The app allows customers to follow all the clubs of their choice. When a user clicks into the app, that person’s timeline pops up. The customer can scroll to look at these clubs to check out specials.

 “With this new funding, we will launch and become a true social media platform for the nightlife,” said Joshua Lewis, CEO.

TeraCrunch is helping customers all over the world unlock the full potential of data. Top fortune 100 companies have selected TeraCrunch solutions to make important and mission-critical business decisions by applying data insights to inform and influence products, branding, customer engagement and experiences.  

“Our mission is to support enterprises in key and novel decision making opportunities via actionable intelligence and insights over “big data,” says Tapan Bhatt, founder and CEO.  “We do this using our Unified Big Data Analytics platform (UBA) to aggregate, synthesize, analyze and distribute large volumes of data (“Big Data”) and content that provide actionable intelligence and meaningful insights to enterprises. Through these insights, CMO’s can make advanced marketing decisions and CIO’s accelerate their efforts to manage challenges and opportunities across various functions.”

From healthcare to marketing to optimizing operational processes TeraCrunch’s system helps identify early indicators, trends, gaps and helps solve business problems. 

While athletes are battling it out on a football, soccer or other athletic field, head injuries are stealing the headlines. Effective diagnosis of concussions is limited to observing symptoms typical of head trauma. But now, pHLOGISTIX has a blood test for concussions in development for point-of-injury diagnosis.

Repetitive concussions can lead to dementia and other neurological conditions if untreated.  Given the remarkable explosion in youth participation in contact sports, concussive rates in girls are exceeding those of boys.  

“Sandbox money will allow us to integrate the analyte and clinimetric data in order to have proof-of-concept,” says Barry Festoff, M.D., founder and CEO of pHLOGISTIX. “This can significantly change the way concussion and mild traumatic brain injury are diagnosed and treated. Current methods are all subjective.”

“As a father with a son playing football, anything we can do to better recognize and diagnose concussions is an important advancement,” says Shackelford, noting that no other solution like this exists. “pHLOGISTIX’s platform includes a digital component and software allowing for point-of-injury diagnostics that are objective.” 

If you watch football games on TV, you have likely noticed the technology deployed to make the broadcast more viewer-friendly. But why isn’t that available for in-stadium viewing? L​azser Down has developed a solution that could improve the in-stadium experience for fans.  

Every football play begins with the official spotting the ball with a down marker and chain. We see the down and then guess at the exact distance. TV technology has addressed this through a number of innovations available to the home viewer while the in-stadium method is a technological dinosaur, virtually unchanged in more than 100 years. 

Enter former football coach, Michael Foster, who invented a solution.

“Lazser Down provides real-time down and distance that is digitally displayed on the field and synchronized with the stadium scoreboard,” says J. Michael Foster, CEO. Measurements are read out by the yard, foot and, when necessary, by the inch. Foster says, “It is frustrating because the determination of distance can be subjective. Placements can be different based on angle or a misread of the ball.”

The patent approved Lazser Down technology is synchronized with the stadium scoreboard through electronic, laser, and RF (radio frequency) technology. 

The value of this advanced in-stadium system technology will improve strategy of coaches and players while enhancing the on-field administration by officials.  

“There is a lot of interest in integrating technology into the ‘in-stadium’ experience,” says Jeff Shackelford, executive director, Digital Sandbox KC. “And Lazser Down’s unique real-time technology improves the in-stadium experience.”