Predictions are made every single day by almost everyone on the planet. However, there is no universal platform to make or track predictions. Predictions are written on blogs, tweeted, uttered by a pundit on television or just casually mentioned to a friend in the car. They are then lost to time and the transience of the Internet.

That is, until Knoda. A prediction tracking platform, Knoda takes and scores predictions, rates and ranks predictors and allows social interaction. 

With the help of Digital Sandbox KC, Knoda will turn its own prediction for startup success into reality. Knoda will use the tools in the Sandbox—both development support and industry connections—to build and release its application and beta test its concept in the marketplace.

Digital Sandbox KC is assisting in market validation and intellectual property search as well as development of an iOS application. 

It all started with a great name for a great website. Brandon Schatz of SportsPhotos.com figured out he had a winner when he grabbed www.sportsphotos.com and launched a platform and marketplace for sports photographers to store and sell their sports photos.

The Digital Sandbox KC is helping Schatz develop a business model and set up a beta service with local high schools. “Some companies in the Sandbox don’t really require an investment of dollars,” said Jeff Shackelford, director of Digital Sandbox KC. “Brandon needed some coaching, guidance and connections to the right people.”

One connection was to TechStars Patriot Boot Camp, a competitive program held this summer in Washington, D.C.  “I really appreciate the Digital Sandbox folks letting me know about this opportunity,” Schatz said. “They also connected me with Dan Strattman (Airport Life) who went through the boot camp last year so I could figure out the best way to use my time there.”

TechStars Patriot Boot Camp is an intense three-day program under the RisingStars umbrella. The program works with a selected group of veterans and service member founders to build technology companies. Participation in the Patriot Boot Camp may be the catalyst for Veterans and Service Members to kickstart a company, find cofounders and advance as entrepreneurs. 

The RisingStars program was created to spur interest from some demographic groups that are underrepresented among technology startup founders, with the goal of extending technology company startup opportunities to these target groups. 

Brandon also made news recently when his photo of The Color Run in Brooklyn was featured on the cover of New York City’s Metro newspaper.

Handprint lets average people replace retail purchasable items with their 3D printers. 

Support from Digital Sandbox KC resulted in the establishment of the company and will help Handprint finish the beta version of its software, assist in helping test the version on the necessary range of 3D printers, and run a demo campaign. Handprint also received a scholarship to attend the FastTrac business development class.

LightBridge delivers distributed data storage solutions through deployment of our proprietary software into telecommunication facilities that currently exist. By leveraging their strategic partnerships with local, regional and national telecommunication carriers, LightBridge is able to substantially reduce monthly data storage wholesale costs.

Beyond the data storage cost savings LightBridge extends to its clients are the benefits of unprecedented security, redundancy and geographical distribution. Combining these elements is how LightBridge is disrupting the traditional data storage market.

Digital Sandbox KC is working with LightBridge to develop customer integration features and advise on intellectual property protection.

XLRYNT (Accelerant) Technologies uses a new, patent pending, approach to process networking application data at speeds 10 to 1000 times faster than existing architectures.  Funds from Digital Sandbox will be used in helping to secure the intellectual property and for a prototype to demonstrate the application of this innovative technology to ‘Big Data’ type operations.

Venture 360 has developed a technology platform to assist private equity investors in evaluating, closing and tracking investments in order to facilitate a private market for trading these securities. Digital Sandbox KC will provide resources to develop additional features so that the platform can support entrepreneurs in organizing their capital raising efforts.

The complete suite of software services for the private equity market includes a proprietary deal scoring and ranking system; investment closing; portfolio tracking; and individual investor portfolio management.

Digital Sandbox KC resources will be used to build the “entrepreneur facing” element of the Venture 360 platform.  With this element added, Venture 360 will release its beta version and seek additional investment.

Flyover Innovations LLC is a hardware/software startup company focusing on easy to use smart A/V and AV accessory products. The first product, Blumoo™ , is a universal home entertainment “app-cessory” that provides users seamless control of the audio and visual equipment already installed in their home.

Digital Sandbox KC is working with FlyOver to develop a prototype on the iOS and Android mobile platforms.

Jobs boards, recruiters, college placement offices and sheer competition – juggling the demands of the job hunt fresh out of college is tougher than trying to find an actual book with an old-school card catalog.

What online catalogs did for college research and sites like Kayak did for booking travel, Briefcase is doing for university placement offices and college job seekers, with the help of Digital Sandbox KC.

“One of the biggest struggles start-ups face is the ability to pull in resources relevant to the companies Minimum Viable Product, said Christian Fisher, CEO. “With the amazing resources, physical, monetarily and mentoring-wise that Digital Sandbox brings to the table, companies like ours can offset some of those struggles and ultimately be successful earlier on. We are proud and honored to be a part of this next group of remarkable companies chosen to the Digital Sandbox program.”

Fisher moved to Kansas City from the Bay Area after being recruited to lead the global talent acquisition of a large digital advertising company. There, he met Nick Mallare, and together they embarked on a startup journey to “terraform” the landscape of job searching.

Briefcase, powered by Cobrapps, aggregates job boards and sites, delivers real-time push notifications to job seekers and keeps track of the entire process from start to finish and beyond. A powerful management tool for the job seeker, Briefcase also allows universities to distribute jobs, track job placement and ultimately improve their job placement rates.

With a great idea in the palm of their hand, Fisher and Mallare recruited their team, including Caleb Phillippi, COO and Alex Benson, Director of UX. They then assembled their advisory board and developed their platform.

Support from Digital Sandbox KC will help Briefcase continue to fully develop their initial product version.

Healthcare providers face any number of challenges in the current environment. Innovative Health Media (IHM), with the help of Digital Sandbox KC, has developed a product to solve at least one challenge: reduce the time and effort it takes for primary care providers and extended care facilities to accurately conduct Medicare Annual Wellness Visits.

IHM’s product, the e-AWV™ System, uses the Medicare Annual Wellness Visit (AWV) as a tool to provide a physical and cloud-based Personal Health Record for Medicare patients. The e-AWV system helps clinicians meet Medicare requirements for reimbursement in a simple, intuitive and cost-efficient fashion.

The e-AWV serves both the needs of the patient and the clinician. Patients often do not have basic information about their own health, such as health history, medications, family history, risk factors and prevention. Physicians have not had the tools to educate their patients, with potential life-threatening results. The e-AWV Personal Health Record solves the communication problem between healthcare providers and patients.

Chuck Smith, an RN with more than 18 years of experience, founded the company in 2010 and created the e-AWV system. He and partner David Wilson have co-founded several companies ranging from real estate to temp staffing. The product has progressed through alpha and beta stages, and version 1.0 is currently in use.

Digital Sandbox KC funding will allow IHM to make several product enhancements and add features in order to build interest and market share. The founders recently participated in SparkLabKC and received $18,000 in equity funding from that source.