OVERLAND PARK, Kan.

Before talking about the company presentations at Invest Midwest, I should give you an idea of the scale. About 300 people attended the venture capital forum on the Sprint corporate campus, including about 60 who identified those as venture capitalists. Organizer Chris Walsh says those numbers compare favorably with past forums, especially those held in the Kansas City area. (Invest Midwest is an annual event that alternates between St. Louis and Kansas City.) Most of the venture capitalists were from places like St. Louis, Indianapolis and Chicago. Promisingly, one of the Chicago VCs is with DFJ Portage Ventures, an affiliate of iconic Silicon Valley firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson. Also here was John Brooke of Brooke Private Equity Advisors in Boston. He was instrumental in creating the Vectis fund-of-funds, which has made some investments in St. Louis.

Here’s another number: the 30 companies making presentations here are seeking a total of about $160 million from investors. Life-sciences firms account for about two-thirds of that number; information technology and other businesses are the rest.