The Techvibes 20, June 2014 Edition – Powered by GoToMeeting

 

The Techvibes 20 is a bi-monthly list of the hottest and most promising tech startups across Canada. The list is carefully curated by Techvibes editorial staff and reflects who’s making waves in our nation’s tech ecosystem right now.

Check out the June edition of the Techvibes 20 after the jump.

The Techvibes 20 is powered by GoToMeeting.

Communicate better. Build trust. Get more done. GoToMeeting is the extremely simple, extraordinarily powerful web conferencing service from Citrix. It integrates HD video conferencing, screen sharing and audio conferencing, creating a natural face-to-face collaboration environment on your Mac, PC, iPad, iPhone or Android device. And you can hold unlimited meetings for one low flat fee. GoToMeeting will change the way you work—and perhaps a whole lot more.


Allocadia, Vancouver – This marketing performance management startup was founded by twin sisters Kristine Steuart and Katherine Berry in 2010. Earlier this month Allocadia announced it has closed a $7 million Series A round led by Altos Ventures and iNovia which it will use to fuel its current growth.

 

Chimp, VancouverFounded by John Bromley, Chimp helps you manage your charitable giving online. Out of beta only seven months ago, Chimp has already facilitated $28 million in charitiable donations. Chimp is 35 employees strong and plans to hit 42 by the end of 2014.

 

Crated, Ottawa – A sister company of Ottawa’s CanvasPop, Crated is a new artists marketplace where photographers and artists can set up a free gallery and sell art. They just launched out of beta and already have thousands of artists from around the world and over 25,000 art pieces available for purchase.

 

FreshGrade, Kelowna – FreshGrade allows educators to capture learning as it happens and automatically transform student work into digital portfolios. FreshGrade’s founding team includes Lane Merrifield of Club Penguin fame, Steve Wandler (his startup was acquired by Support.com), and Mark Payne.

 

GameHive, Markham – Founded in 2009, Game Hive creates mobile games for smartphones. From early success with their Antrim Escape series to their latest monster hit Beat The Boss, Game Hive recently hit 65 million downloads worldwide.

 

Glitchsoft, Ottawa – Wesley Clover-backed Glitchsoft along with Marvel recently released a mobile game called “Uncanny X-Men: Days of Future Past.” The game recreates one of the most iconic stories from the X-Men comic book universe and promises to be a huge success.

 

Higgins, Toronto – Seed-funded Higgins is a cloud-based POS system that connects consumers to products through a personal mobile register letting anyone order, sell, and pay from anywhere. Higgins currently has over 300 customers and is actively pursuing a Series A round.

 

Hubdoc, Toronto – Hubdoc converts receipts, bills and statements into data you can use. A cloud accountant’s dream, Hubdoc automatically pulls online bills and statements into one secure hub. Hubdoc integrates with cloud storage services like Box and Evernote and popular accounting platforms like Xero.

 

Jobber, Edmonton – Originally known as Octopus, Jobber is cloud-based software for field service companies. Last year Jobber raised $500,000 from existing investors Version One Ventures and Point Nine Capital and has been experiencing double-digit month-over-month growth since then.

 

Kiind, Victoria – Kiind is revolutionizing the North American gift card industry by eliminating breakage. Kiind makes it possible to send someone a digital gift card but not be charged until the recipient redeems it and recently launched a service that allows brands to create their own own pay-on-use program.

 

Parsel, Toronto – Parsel is out to change the way online publishers collaborate with their favourite brands. Publishers can use Parsel to easily embed items directly into their own content allowing readers to make purchases seamlessly. Parsel has raised a $500k seed round led by entrepreneur Jason Chapnik.

 

Proposify, Halifax – Spun out of a Halifax web design company, Proposify closed a $670,000 financing round this month that included Innovacorp, ACOA, and angel Patrick Hankinson. Founded by Kyle Racki and Kevin Springer, Proposify helps service providers produce professional-looking written proposals.

 

RosterBot, Vancouver – Founded way back in 2008 as a hobby, RosterBot has gone pro – literally. Last month they raised a seed round of over $1 million led by former NHL player Raul Reinhart and including Stanley Cup winning Bret Hedican. As part of the announcement RosterBot also joined Invoke Labs.

 

Seevibes, Montreal – Founded in 2011, Seevibes measures and analyses the world’s global social TV audience. A graduate of local accelerator FounderFuel, the startup recently raised a $1 million seed round led by Polytech Ventures and including Real Ventures.

 

ShoeMe, Vancouver – Led by entrepreneur Sean Clark, ShoeMe has raised $2.5 million to date for it’s Canadian version of Zappos. Investors include Coastal Contacts deep-pocketed ex-founder Roger Hardy. ShoeMe.ca recently added senior executives from Zappos, YYoga, and Coastal Contacts to it growing team.

 

Slyce, Calgary – Visual product search platform Slyce is in the process of being listed on the TSX-V. Over the past six months the Calgary-born startup has completed a $10.75 million Series A round and acquired Toronto’s Hovr.It and a tech from York University.

 

StackAdapt, Toronto – This AdTech startup is applying programmatic principles to native advertising. StackAdapt is currently working with over 2,000 sites and running campaigns for Ford and GE. Currently at 14 employees, StackAdapt is opening a NYC office this month and plans to be at 50 employees by year end.

 

Structur3D Printing, Kitchener – Part of Communitech’s Hyperdrive, Structur3D Printing was founded by materials scientists who have developed a universal paste extruder that can retrofit existing 3D printers. Structur3D recently launched a Kickstarter campaign and in only hours surpassed its $30,000 goal.

 

StrypeBox, Toronto – Stryepbox is mobile platform that makes collecting funds from friends, family, customers or just about anyone as easy as sending a text. Easily split payments with friends, create a public box and share your payment box via Facebook, Twitter or anywhere.

 

Tulip Retail, Kitchener – Founded by Well.ca’s Ali Asaria, Tulip is an omni-channel platform for retailers that sell both online and offline. Tulip raised a $2.4 million round led by SoftTech and including Wordpress’ Matt Mullenweg in 2013 and won the retail stream at Plug & Play Tech Center Spring Expo.

The Techvibes 20, April 2014 Edition – Powered by GoToMeeting

 

 

The Techvibes 20 is a bi-monthly list of the hottest and most promising tech startups across Canada. The list is carefully curated by Techvibes editorial staff and reflects who’s making waves in our nation’s tech ecosystem right now.

Check out the Techvibes 20 after the jump.

The Techvibes 20 is powered by GoToMeeting.

Communicate better. Build trust. Get more done. GoToMeeting is the extremely simple, extraordinarily powerful web conferencing service from Citrix. It integrates HD video conferencing, screen sharing and audio conferencing, creating a natural face-to-face collaboration environment on your Mac, PC, iPad, iPhone or Android device. And you can hold unlimited meetings for one low flat fee. GoToMeeting will change the way you work—and perhaps a whole lot more.

SendWithUs, Victoria – Sendwithus is a SaaS company focusing on A/B testing for transactional email. Sendwithus announced their backing by startup incubator Y Combinator in February but has remained committed to BC and plans to open a new HQ in downtown Victoria in May.

 

PrintToPeer, Calgary – PrintToPeer makes 3D printers easier to use with a simple web-based remote control and monitoring app that is compatible with most 3D printers. The Calgary-founded startup was recently accepted into GrowLab’s Spring 2014 cohort.

 

Figure1, Toronto – This Ryerson DMZ alumnus raised a $2 million seed funding round in December co-led by Version One Ventures & Rho Canada Ventures. Figure 1 is a healthcare photo sharing app that plans to build the world’s largest free repository of searchable medical images.

 

BitLit, Vancouver – Vancouver’s BitLit was accepted into GrowLab’s Spring 2014 cohort and recently picked up top prize at Cascadia Startup Day. BitLit allows publishers to distribute eBooks to readers who own hardcopies. Readers get the eBook by using BitLit to prove they own a paper edition.

 

Ara Labs, Fredericton – Startup Ara Labs raised $500K in seed financing for its cloud-based threat intelligence software in February. Ara Labs’ SaaS product detects, reports and mediates malware and botnet activity across the Internet in real-time.

 

Klipfolio, Ottawa – Klipfolio announced a $1.7 million venture capital investment in February from US and Canadian venture capital firms. While Klipfolio may seem like a brand new startup, it waited 13 years to raise this round for its online dashboard platform.

 

SEE ALSO: The Inaugural Edition of the Techvibes 20 – February 2014

 

RentMoola, Vancouver – RentMoola is an online payment network that allows users to turn their rent, condo fees and other payments into loyalty points or miles. In partnership with Visa, MasterCard, Discover and AMEX, RentMoola has industry disruption on its mind and wants to eliminate rent cheques forever.

 

LoginRadius, Edmonton – This FounderFuel graduate secured $1.3 million in financing from a syndicate of investors including the Accelerate Fund in February. The startup also announced it is currently powering social login and sharing on 100,000 websites in 180 countries with monthly reach of 15 million users.

 

Crew, MontrealFormerly known Ooomf, this FounderFuel grad is an on-demand network connecting short-term mobile and web projects with handpicked developers and designers. Earlier this month Crew raised a $2.1 million round led by Fred Destin of Atlas Venture.

 

Upverter, Toronto – Upverter is an online electronic design automation platform that raised $2.3 miilion last month. A Y Combinator grad from the Winter 2011 class, Upverter was named one of Canada’s hottest innovative companies by CIX in 2013.

 

Kiwi Wearables, Toronto – Kiwi was one of six finalists representing Canada at 2013’s SXSW Accelerator Competition and while they didn’t win they helped put Canada on the map for wearable tech. The Kiwi Move is a multi-use device capable of running sensor based apps including fitness improvement, sports tracking and voice input apps.

 

EventBase, Vancouver – Eventbase was one of three Canadian companies quietly powering this year’s SXSW Conference. Eventbase developed the official SXSW app which included an industry first through the rollout of secure iBeacon-powered proximity beacons and real-time audience interaction.

 

TrackTik, Montreal – TrackTik provides compliance, tracking, and scheduling solutions for the security guard industry and raised $1 million in financing round earlier this month led by Klass Capital and including Jordan Banks, Managing Director of Facebook Canada.

 

Sulon Technologies, Markham – This startup is hoping to give the Facebook-owned virtual reality startup Oculus a run for its money. Sulon is the maker of Cortex, a virtual reality headset that can overlay a view of one’s physical environment with virtual monsters and terrain the user can interact with.

 

TouchBistro, Toronto – TouchBistro closed a $6 mllion seed funding round led by Relay Ventures last month. The provider of mobile point-of-sale (POS) solutions for the food and drink industry processed approximately $500 million in transactions in 2013 from more than 1,000 merchants.

 

Medeo, Vancouver – Medeo is a telehealth utility that provides video conferencing technology for patients and doctors in BC to connect online. British Columbians with valid Medical Services Plan coverage can use their computers, smartphones or tablets to speak face-to-face with their doctors.

 

Mighty Cast, Montreal – A finalist at SXSW’s Accelerator Competition Mighty Cast makes the NEX Band. This wearable tech targeting teens features interchangeable modules that can be traded and inserted into different bracelets, facilitating an ecosystem of trading games.

 

Slack, Vancouver – Slack is the latest project from Flickr co-founder Stuart Butterfield. Self-described as “team communication for the 21st century,” Slack emerged from a successful beta in February and has Silicon Valley funding behind it including VCs Andreessen Horowitz and Accel Partners.

 

Hexoskin, Montreal – Founded in 2006, this wearable tech company is hitting its stride and is the first that tracks movement, respiration, and heart activity. Hexoskin records more than 35,000 health data points per minute, and connects to iPhones and iPads via Bluetooth.

 

Foko, Ottawa – Foko is private photo sharing for companies and has been referred to as “Instagram for the enterprise.” Angel-funded by Tungle-founder Marc Gingras and accelerated at MaRS, Foko now has double digit penetration of the Fortune 100 active on their service.

The Inaugural Edition of the Techvibes 20 – Powered by GoToMeeting

 

 We’re proud to introduce the inaugural edition of the Techvibes 20.

A completely rethought and redesigned reincarnation of our famous Canadian Startup Index which readers have been following for more than six years, the Techvibes 20 is a bi-monthly list of the hottest and most promising tech startups across Canada. The list is carefully curated by Techvibes editorial staff and reflects who’s making waves in our nation’s tech ecosystem right now.

(Want to be a part of the next Techvibes 20? This list isn’t something you can apply for—but make a splash and you’re certain to get on our radar.)

Check out the inaugural Techvibes 20 after the jump.

The Techvibes 20 is powered by GoToMeeting.

Communicate better. Build trust. Get more done. GoToMeeting is the extremely simple, extraordinarily powerful web conferencing service from Citrix. It integrates HD video conferencing, screen sharing and audio conferencing, creating a natural face-to-face collaboration environment on your Mac, PC, iPad, iPhone or Android device. And you can hold unlimited meetings for one low flat fee. GoToMeeting will change the way you work – and perhaps a whole lot more.


Bionym, Toronto – This wearable tech startup is a grad of Creative Destruction Lab and The Next 36 and was recently a finalist in our 2013 Startup Awards. Bionym and its Nymi band was named one of Canada’s Hottest companies by CIX in November and has been building a world-class team since.

 

Hubba, Toronto – Hubba is a data sharing platform that gives brands, retailers, and agencies the power to manage and share their consumer-ready product information. Hubba was a finalist for our 2012 Best New Startup award, was named one of Cix’s Hottest Companies, and just raised a $2.1 million round.

 

Playerize, Vancouver – This gaming monetization platform is one of the few graduates of a Canadian accelerator that is making money. The FounderFuel grad raised a $1.1 million series A round, acquired a $50 million platform, and just won our Accelerator Graduate of the Year award.

 

Bridgit, Kitchener – Bridgit brings the power and flexibility of mobile devices to the construction site with an app that streamlines deficiency reporting. A recent for our Accelerator Grad of the Year award, this Next 36 grab & Creative Destruction Lab co is led by women and targeting a traditionally tech-adverse industry.

 

CrowdCare, Richmond Hill –  This startup streamlines the tech support experience for smartphones and tablets today by cutting out the need for a long and tedious phone call to tech support. They raised $1 million in January, bringing total funding to $3 million.

 

PasswordBox, Montreal – Named the best mobile app at this year’s CES and one of Canada’s most dynamic and visionary tech firms in 2013, PasswordBox is the first digital life manager that offers all devices. They raised $6 million last November and proceeded to acquire a Silicon Valley based competitor.

 

KeyCafe, Vancouver – Keycafe is a service which lets customers put their existing keys on standby and manage access to their home or rental property remotely. Keycafe was developed for Airbnb hosts, VRBO hosts, property managers, and busy condo owners in high density urban neighbourhoods.

 

FameBit, Toronto – 500 Startups launched its first San Francisco accelerator and two Canadian companies beat out 1,300 applicants to be part of its first batch. One is FameBit – “a marketplace that makes it easy for businesses to find, hire, and work with YouTube influencers for product and service endorsements.”

 

UrtheCast, Vancouver – Last year publicly-traded UrtheCast raised $10 million for the world’s first live space streaming camera. The camera has been installed on the International Space Station and now their efforts turn to commercialization – selling images of everything from hurricanes to ship movements.

 

Guardly, Toronto – The enterprise mobile safety startup just rasied $1.45 million seed round led by Freestyle Capital. Guardly’s solutions have been licensed by enterprise clients for more than 430,000 end users and they are also working closely with the Crime Prevention Association of Toronto.

 

Trulioo, Vancouver – Founded by consumer data entrepreneurs Stephen Ufford and Tanis Jorge, Trulioo allows websites to verify online identities at log-in. Trulioo has raised $2.3 million from investors including Blumberg Capital who earned a 52x return on their first Vancouver investment. Can lightning strike twice?

 

Sciencescape, Toronto – Sciencescape is an academic research platform that is making scientific research manageable for researchers, students and academics. The Extreme Startups grad just closed a $3 million funding round led by iGan Partners and has partnered with global educational publishing giant Elsevier.

 

SmartSkin Technologies, Fredericton – SmartSkin has developed Quantifeel, a pressure-sensitive product that improves the manufacturing process of beverage makers. The University of New Brunswick spin-off landed a $3.9 million funding round from investors Rho Canada Ventures and Build Ventures last month.

 

Bench, Vancouver – Bench is the virtual bookkeeping service that combines smart software with North American, web-based bookkeepers. Originally named 10Sheet, Bench launched out of TechStars New York in 2012 and recently raised a $1 million round that included Contour Ventures and other investors.

 

Whirlscape, Toronto – Whirlscape is the company behind Minuum, a software keyboard that minimizes the screen real estate in takes up, making it ideal for small screens such as smartwatches. After raising $90K on Indiegogo last year this Creative Destruction Lab company raised $500K from BDC VC this month.

 

FixMeStick, Montreal – The FixMeStick is a bootable USB device that makes computer virus removal simple. The simplicity and usefulness of the device impressed the Dragons’ Den cast—in a January episode, all five Dragons made an offer for a stake in the startup. It’s currently raising $50,000 on Kickstarter.

 

Indiloop, Vancouver – Indiloop is remixing the way we listen to our favourite tunes: the cloud-based platform enables users to mix, match, and create all sorts of fantastical songs. The same way Instagram has allowed us to create professional looking photographs with ease, Indiloop is doing it with music.


Phemi, Vancouver – Founded last year Phemi has deep roots in supercomputing and is focused on bringing innovation to the healthcare space. To date nurses and doctors are reporting 30% time saved using Phemi and administrators are reporting 96% time saved.


Rithm, Toronto – A Startup of the Year finalist and dubbed the “Snapchat of music,” Rithm calls itself “the world’s most fun and engaging platform for sharing music”—a statement so true that it can make the app socially dangerous to use. Named to CIX’s list of hottest 20 tech companies.

 

Vidyard, Kitchener – Another contender for Startup of the Year, Vidyard is a rapidly growing startup with lots of partnerships and integrations under its belt, including HootSuite and Salesforce. Vidyard raised a $6 million round last year and CEO Michael Litt has hinted at an IPO some day.