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Feature Story
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TrustPoint Innovation Technologies Ltd., and blueRover are the latest companies to Graduate from The Accelerator Centre.
On March 20th, 2014, the Accelerator Centre (AC) will welcome Clients, Graduates, Accelerator Centre board members, and key stakeholders to celebrate the graduation of our 35th and 36th companies respectively. We caught up with Bill Scott, VP, Product Marketing and Operations for TrustPoint Innnovation Technologies Ltd., and captured his thoughts on their time at the AC, plans for the future, and what they will miss the most about the AC.
"The AC provided us with a fabulous infrastructure and ecosystem what was supported by an incredible team of dedicated support staff and knowledgeable coaches. It allowed us to focus our time and attention in the early days on what mattered, which was 1) Understand the market and 2) Grow an impactful team, both of which we accomplished while at the AC.
This has laid the foundation for us to double the team by the end of this year and have a major presence in the Machine-to-Machine market with our Secure Authentication solution. We are deploying our solution into the Broadband Wireless market and we are at the table with all of the major car manufacturers implementing a secure and robust Vehicle-to-Vehicle communication infrastructure.
We will miss the coaching and support as these always gave us the assurances we were on the right path with the right focus. We will also miss the spontaneous discussions we had with fellow AC colleagues in the hallways, which normally resulted in a connection being made or a problem being solved."
Congratulations to both companies. The AC team looks forward to following your stories of continuous growth and ongoing success!
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Accelerator Buzz
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Did you hear about our JumpStart celebration? We celebrated the launch of 30 start-ups last week!
The Accelerator Centre's JumpStart program is a unique six-month mentorship and business acceleration program aimed at assisting engineers and scientists commercialize new products and develop new businesses.
Since the JumpStart program kicked off in January 2013, thirty technology start-ups each received $5K in mentorship from the Accelerator Centre's team of in-house advisors along with $25K in matching seed financing. As a direct result of the JumpStart program, participating start-ups have created 180+ new jobs in the Waterloo Region, generated $3.2 million in combined revenue, and are expected to raise approximately $5 million in private investment.
Click here to see all the companies we had the good fortune of mentoring.
And to add to that celebration, we were recently recognized by the Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce with our very own 2013 Business Excellence Award for Innovation for our JumpStart program. The award recognizes Chamber members who have made exceptional contributions through their involvement and leadership, making a clear difference and who act as role models in the community.
Read more about the award here.
On Wednesday March 19th, Ryan Gariepy, CTO and Co-Founder of Clearpath Robotics, will be a guest speaker at Communitech's UpStart Breakfast series. For event and registration information click here.
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Client Corner
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We're always on the lookout for great stories to share with our readers! Here's what our Accelerator Centre Clients have shared with us this month.
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Communitech reports on how Mozzaz improves patients' lives through custom treatment management
Entrepreneurs lose a lot of sleep worrying about making payroll and paying bills. Sammy Wahab is no exception.
But the co-founder and chief executive officer of Mozzaz has something to jump-start his day: A mobile app that helps improve the lives of people who suffer memory loss or can't communicate with the people around them.
Mozzaz also had the opportunity to share their story on the Morning Edition-KW of CBC Radio. Click here to listen in!
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| iNotForProfit: The Future of Social Entrepreneurship
An exciting start-up on the rise and making waves in the entrepreneurial as well as philanthropic community, iNotForProfit, credits their success to a number of supporters. As one of the first start-ups selected into the freshly inaugurated Communitech Google for Entrepreneurs program, resources such as the Google Innovation Space have been a blessing for a rapidly growing for-profit business. In less than a year, iNotForProfit has expanded from a two-person start-up into a burgeoning social purpose business that quadrupled in size! iNotForProfit is dedicated to the success of the charitable sector and continues to innovate with one goal in mind - to help the philanthropic community better connect, engage, and fundraise with next generation donors and volunteers. Their mobile application platform was created with nonprofit needs in mind and is as easy to update as any social media account - for less than the cost of a cup of coffee a day. Better yet, the proceeds from their latest win, a giant cheque from the Accelerator Centre's JumpStart competition, will go to help improve the product and make it even more accessible for charities across the globe. iNotForProfit recently partnered with the Ontario Volunteer Centre Network (OVCN) to help put the power of volunteerism into the hand of Canada's ever-growing mobile community, and provides volunteer centres with an effective and efficient way to reach existing and potential volunteers. Now volunteers can connect with their cause anytime, anywhere! So what else is in the pipeline? Well, something that's got the team jumping up and down in anticipation is their B Corp certification application. Canada currently has 99 certified B Corps, and they're hoping to become number 100. Though it's not yet final, they passed the assessment with flying colors, so stay tune with iNotForProfit to find out the results! Interested in learning more about this start-up that is changing the landscape of philanthropy? Visit their website or contact them directly. | |
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Welcome to the Accelerator Centre (Communitech Hub) Konectera! Here's an introduction to our newest AC Client.
At Konectera, we develop non-invasive medical devices for pets that improve quality of life, fitness and other features currently not available from other vendors. Our devices can be used in a variety of clinical applications including spot-checking or continuous monitoring, where local and network infrastructures are required. Konectera's devices can be used in a variety of veterinary procedures including intubated animals, and continuous monitoring over extended periods of time.
Konectera devices provide unique and secure data collection, processing, storage and distribution solutions for the pet industry.
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Accelerator Centre Graduate ChangeIt welcomes a new CEO
The Communitech Hub's longest tenant is making 2014 a year of change as it welcomes a new CEO and moves to a new office space.
The company, which automates gifting between your bank account and a charity of your choice, started in Dave Beaton's basement. Beaton was the only employee. His dog acted as a foot warmer in the drafty space.
Read the full article at Communitech.ca.
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Accelerator Centre Graduate Clearpath Robotics join forces with Thalmic Labs, talk to The Record about their planned growth and upcoming move, join Communitech for their UpStart Breakfast Series, and debut on the Discovery Channel. No rest for the Clearpath team this Spring!
Kitchener based companies and University of Waterloo startups, Thalmic Labs and Clearpath Robotics have joined forces to prove gesture controlled robots are possible. Read full article on the Morning Post Exchange.
Clearpath Robotics will soon mark its fifth anniversary with profit, the sale of its 1,000th robot and plans to significantly expand its workforce of highly skilled engineers. Read the full article on The Record.com
Clearpath Robotics made it to the Discovery Channel's show Daily Planet, for their SuperSize week showcase! Clearpath's
Grizzly RUV was put to the test in an attempt to tow some seriously powerful hauls. We won't spoil the fun...watch the video for yourself!
On Wednesday March 19th, Ryan Gariepy, CTO and Co-founder of Clearpath Robotics, will be a guest speaker at Communitech's UpStart Breakfast series. For event and registration information visit Communitech's event page.
We were also lucky enough to catch Meghan Hennessy, Marketing Communications Coordinator for Clearpath, on a rare down moment (we interrupted her lunch break) so she could bring us up to speed on the upcoming move! She had so many details for us she turned it into the company blog. Here's an excerpt:
"This June, we'll be celebrating our 5th birthday! The past half-decade has been full of excitement, challenges, achievements and growth. Ah growth - we've never really stopped growing, and we won't be slowing down anytime soon! With 35 new positions to hire for, we're ready to move for a fourth time in four years. The new robot lair is going through a floor-to-ceiling overhaul to accommodate our team of people, and the bots they make. With minimal nudging, we got all the det's from our very own co-founder and Chief Operating Officer, Bryan Webb..."
Check out Clearpath's blog to for the rest of the 'det's' on the 'Botsmith Lair' as it is affectionately named :)
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Accelerator Centre Graduate Axonify enjoys success with WalMart
When you're in charge of one of the largest distribution networks and private trucking fleets in the world, how do you go about continuously improving safety for sustained, bottom line results?
Axonify delivers safety training program to Walmart with stunning results. To read more, download the PDF here, or visit Axonify's News Room for this, and additional news on the company.
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Partnership agreement allows Accelerator Centre Graduate LoyaltyMatch Inc. to break into Europe and Brazil
LoyaltyMatch Inc. and Innovagency announced today that they have signed a Reseller Agreement to sell the LoyaltyMatch OnDemand loyalty program Software as a Service (SaaS) solution in Europe and Brazil. The agreement provides Innovagency clients with access to LoyaltyMatch OnDemand solutions, as well as implementation and support services.
Read their full press release here, and visit their media room for additional information.
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Accelerator Centre Graduate Intellijoint Surgical Inc. (formerly Avenir Medical) receives a Health Canada Medical Device License
Intellijoint Surgical, Inc. (formerly Avenir Medical) an innovator in smart tools to improve joint replacement surgery, announced today it recently received a Health Canada Medical Device License for its flagship product, Intellijoint HIP™.
The Company also announced early results for its ongoing clinical study with surgeons at Mount Sinai and selected Toronto Area Hospitals showing the Company's smart tool to be significantly more accurate in determining leg length and offset equivalency than traditional measurement methods used in hip replacement.
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