Entries from the 'Toronto' category
Kitchener-Waterloo Start-up Index - May 2008
Welcome to the first edition of the Techvibes Kitchener-Waterloo Start-up Index. The index ranks Kitchener-Waterloo area tech start-ups based on an average of Alexa and Compete traffic rankings. Previously, some of these companies were grouped in the Toronto index, but we decided that Kitchener-Waterloo is distant and active enough to warrant its own list. Criteria and other details are available on the Start-up Index page. This month, there may be some large shifts due to an overhaul of Alexa’s traffic sources.
Admittedly, we’ve probably missed companies. If you have any suggestions for companies to add to the index, please post them in the comments for this post.
| Rank | Name | Alexa | Compete | Average |
| 1 | ProductWiki | 34,224 | 29,714 | 31,969 |
| 2 | AideRSS | 101,362 | 87,350 | 94,356 |
| 3 | Moxy Media | 330,563 | 105,132 | 217,848 |
| 4 | Well.ca | 371,890 | 220,328 | 296,109 |
| 5 | Semacode | 434,256 | 637,651 | 535,954 |
| 6 | Brainpark | 3,529,513 | 862,390 | 2,195,952 |
| 7 | Jack of All Links | 558,056 | - | 558,056 |
| 8 | IGLOO | 2,695,368 | - | 2,695,368 |
| 9 | LiveHive | 3,471,207 | - | 3,471,207 |
| 10 | Suited Media | 3,946,658 | - | 3,946,658 |
| 11 | Covarity | 4,009,063 | - | 4,009,063 |
Toronto Start-up Index - May 2008
The index ranks Toronto area tech start-ups based on an average of Alexa and Compete traffic rankings. Criteria and other details are available on the Start-up Index page. This month, there may be some large shifts due to an overhaul of Alexa’s traffic sources.
If you have any suggestions for companies to add to the index, please post them in the comments for this post.
| Rank | + | /- | Name | Alexa | Compete | Average | |||
| 1 | b5media | 14,193 |  |
4,080 | |
9,137 | |
||
| 2 | iBegin | 30,542 | |
15,939 |  |
23,241 | |
||
| 3 | |
3 | CoverItLive | 116,683 | |
20,411 | |
68,547 | |
| 4 | FreshBooks | 109,411 | |
35,402 | |
72,407 | |
||
| 5 | ZipLocal | 60,740 | |
102,991 | |
81,866 | |
||
| 6 | |
1 | SharedReviews | 83,505 | |
107,931 | |
95,718 | |
| 7 | WildApricot | 102,491 | |
90,163 | |
96,327 | |
||
| 8 | N | Forum Warz | 32,221 | 218,093 | 125,157 | ||||
| 9 | |
12 | Groovle | 73,793 | |
232,758 | |
153,276 | |
| 10 | |
5 | Carpages | 116,040 | |
198,990 | |
157,515 | |
| 11 | |
1 | Onaswarm | 197,765 | |
117,550 | |
157,658 | |
| 12 | |
1 | Awareness | 169,345 | |
185,555 | |
177,450 | |
| 13 | N | Viigo | 139,604 | 244,410 | 192,007 | ||||
| 14 | |
1 | Zerofootprint | 260,950 | |
149,395 | |
205,173 | |
| 15 | |
5 | ConceptShare | 138,006 | |
299,289 | |
218,648 | |
| 16 | |
8 | Sneakerplay | 76,136 | |
392,099 | |
234,118 | |
| 17 | |
3 | PokerSpace | 213,744 | |
260,700 | |
237,222 | |
| 18 | |
2 | OfficeZilla | 179,782 | |
294,910 | |
237,346 | |
| 19 | N | Idée | 261,216 | 253,594 | 257,405 | ||||
| 20 | |
2 | MadWhips | 235,748 | |
285,300 | |
260,524 | |
| 21 | |
1 | Quotiki | 320,011 | |
211,720 | |
265,866 | |
| 22 | N | PlanetEye | 408,290 | 169,590 | 288,940 | ||||
| 23 | N | ClutterMe | 416,765 | 167,754 | 292,260 | ||||
| 24 | |
7 | Omnidate | 233,181 | |
356,841 | |
295,011 | |
| 25 | N | Sweetspot.ca | 278,461 | 357,710 | 318,086 | ||||
| 26 | |
14 | FileMobile | 268,776 | |
409,774 | |
339,275 | |
| 27 | N | Learnhub | 252,453 | 466,967 | 359,710 | ||||
| 28 | N | Fivelimes | 240,825 | 479,649 | 360,237 | ||||
| 29 | N | ChickAdvisor | 350,532 | 373,492 | 362,012 | ||||
| 30 | |
12 | HomeStars | 382,303 | |
360,792 | |
371,548 | |
| 31 | N | I Love Rewards | 550,529 | 244,471 | 397,500 | ||||
| 32 | N | Keyword Envy | 517,546 | 385,637 | 451,592 | ||||
| 33 | |
3 | Octopz | 513,363 | |
430,195 | |
471,779 | |
| 34 | |
13 | Cozimo | 203,782 | |
793,114 | |
498,448 | |
| 35 | |
2 | YowTRIP | 510,336 | |
488,405 | |
499,371 | |
| 36 | |
10 | BumpTop | 356,495 | |
648,094 | |
502,295 | |
| 37 | N | Refresh Partners | 1,019,886 | 33,924 | 526,905 | ||||
| 38 | |
11 | mDialog | 675,884 | |
466,501 | |
571,193 | |
| 39 | |
16 | JobLoft | 433,639 | |
748,909 | |
591,274 | |
| 40 | N | Homecourt | 663,148 | 580,540 | 621,844 | ||||
| 41 | |
19 | GigPark | 316,386 | |
995,956 | |
656,171 | |
| 42 | |
14 | Domainer | 596,256 | |
788,113 | |
692,185 | |
| 43 | |
17 | FlashcardDB | 656,017 | |
756,872 | |
706,445 | |
| 44 | |
20 | Ipartee | 506,596 | |
922,856 | |
714,726 | |
| 45 | N | CommunityLend | 763,986 | 699,133 | 731,560 | ||||
| 46 | |
12 | myhood.ca | 662,611 | |
953,262 | |
807,937 | |
| 47 | N | ePresence | 779,663 | 938,044 | 858,854 | ||||
| 48 | N | Blueprint | 1,280,742 | 577,531 | 929,137 | ||||
| 49 | |
20 | CellClients | 1,356,032 | |
855,080 | |
1,105,556 | |
| 50 | |
19 | CastRoller | 1,896,468 | |
495,306 | |
|
|
| 51 | |
21 | Wellocities | 1,774,237 | |
772,380 | |
|
|
| 52 | |
9 | FeelingBullish | 2,175,830 | |
655,290 | |
|
|
| 53 | N | Paymentus | 4,488,076 | 579,433 | |||||
| 54 | |
22 | Banzza | 499,455 | |
- | |
||
| 55 | N | ClearSky Media | 878,025 | - | |||||
| 56 | |
17 | Cytoscape | 1,048,810 | |
- | |
||
| 57 | N | TalentEgg | 1,402,992 | - | |||||
| 58 | |
17 | SlashID | 1,429,894 | |
- | |
||
| 59 | |
21 | ParkingSpots.com | 1,455,761 | |
- | |
||
| 60 | |
23 | ViaVol | 1,636,187 | |
- | |
||
| 61 | N | Chatroll | 1,979,556 | - | |||||
| 62 | N | Civiside | 1,979,556 | - | |||||
| 63 | N | clearRoot | 1,979,556 | - | |||||
| 64 | |
20 | Addictive Mobility | 2,164,541 | |
- | |
||
| 65 | |
23 | Clay Tablet | 2,305,208 | |
- | |
||
| 66 | N | SpatialView | 2,552,557 | - | |||||
| 67 | N | Ontogenix | 2,566,718 | - | |||||
| 68 | |
23 | EasyPost.ca | 2,962,037 | |
- | |
||
| 69 | |
23 | NexJ Systems | 3,020,507 | |
- | |
||
| 70 | |
30 | Ogrant | 3,095,856 | |
- | |
||
| 71 | |
23 | Realosophy | 3,217,330 | |
- | |
||
| 72 | |
25 | xkoto | 3,290,346 | |
- | |
||
| 73 | N | Ondah | 3,309,999 | - | |||||
| 74 | N | Jazinga | 5,928,244 | - | |||||
| 75 | N | Homezilla | 7,239,832 | - | |||||
| 76 | |
27 | Pursudo | 9,047,480 | |
- | |
||
| 77 | N | Natural Semantic Modules | 14,624,120 | - |
Start-Up Index Leaders Heading to Banff
nextMEDIA - The Future of Digital Content is just around the corner (June 6-8th) and the speaker line-up is shaping up. Four of Canada’s digital media innovators are scheduled to talk about what it takes to launch and grow a successful company during a Sunday session.
Hear from the country’s hottest digital media innovators, and learn what it takes to achieve success. What made our speakers Canada’s hottest innovators? What are the key factors required to make it happen? How did they get the financing and support to get to where they are today? Can you build a global success story from Canada? What are their predications for the technology and digital media industries and where are their more unfulfilled opportunities? What should we all look out for into 2009?
Session speakers include Jeremy Wright of Toronto’s b5media; Leila Boujanane of Toronto’s Idée Inc.; Boris Wertz of Edmonton’s Nexopia.com; and Markus Frind of Vancouver’s own PlentyOfFish.com. Our Start-Up Indexes confirm that nextMEDIA has indeed got the hottest digital media players on the panel - b5media is currently #1 for Toronto, Nexopia is #1 for Alberta, and PlentyOfFish.com was #1 for Vancouver until somebody suggested we check their ID. Idée Inc. has been added to May’s Toronto Start-Up Index which will be published later today.
The session will be moderated by Ellie Rubin of Ellie Corporation. nextMEDIA takes place at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel in Banff, Alberta prior to the Banff World Television Festival.
PunchMuch picture messaging: Fail?
PunchMuch, a digital TV channel driven off of interactive elements like viewers texting the station to vote for videos, is teaming up with Toronto’s MyThum Interactive to create North Aerica’s first mobile picture messaging service for broadcast TV. Viewers will now be able to send their pictures to air, along with traditional texting.
Though CTV (owners of PunchMuch) refer to these steps as “leading the way in viewer controlled, lean-foward interactive television”, one has ton wonder why a teen wouldn’t just go to Youtube or other video services and not bother with a clumsy interface mashing two fairly incompatible technologies together. Television isn’t very well suited to interactivity in the first place, and music videos are increasingly becoming an irrelevant marketing tool in a world where OK GO gets millions of hits online from a clever, low-budget music video they created themselves.
Mesh 2008 Sells Out
Next week’s Mesh Conference in Toronto is sold-out but don’t worry if you didn’t manage to grab a ticket. Techvibes’ Varun Mathur will be live-blogging the two-day event right here. Techvibes and the Globe and Mail are media sponsors of Mesh.
For those of you in Toronto that still want to participate in-person, meshU has a few seats available. It’s only one day and has some of the best “geek” content you’ll find anywhere. In addition, some of the Mesh after hours events are open to the public.
Cambrian House gets the axe
So much for the wisdom of crowds. Techcrunch (and Mark Evans) are reporting that Calgary crowdsourcing up-start Cambrian House is headed for the deadpool. Apparently VC Spencer Trask passed on making an investment in Cambrian but instead has picked up their assets cheap - fire sale cheap. Techcrunch’s Erick Schonfeld reported today that Cambrian House’s IP, assets and website will be sold to Spencer Trask for far less than the $7.75 million that investors pumped into the company.
Spencer Trask plans on taking the assets and rolling them into VenCorps, a Cambrian House project that was exhibiting as the Canadian Innovation Exchange in Toronto two weeks ago. Vencorps community builder Will Pate was holding down the booth and did a great job demoing how they’re going to apply the crowdsourcing concept to venture capital.
Open Technologies Day from Sun
Sun Microsystems Canada is a hosting Open Technologies Day in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver in late May and early June.
Transform development capabilities with cutting-edge technologies proven in high scale network environments. Extend your skills and explore new features. Learn about emerging techniques like Comet, Ajax Push, Glassfish using Grizzly Framework and much more. Take advantage of the innovation behind Sun’s long-term developer technology strategy.
The half-day events kick off with breakfast followed by 90 minute presentations from Sun Microsystems’ Jean-Francois Arcand and Ted Goddard of ICEfaces. Space is limited for each event, so pick your city - Toronto on May27th, Montreal on May 29th, or Vancouver on June 3rd - and register now. Sun will be giving away an iPod Touch to a lucky attendee at each event.
BlackBerry Partners Fund Announced?
VentureBeat reported yesterday that Research In Motion, the RBC and Thomson Reuters invested in an $150 million venture investment fund, called the BlackBerry Partners Fund, to support developers of applications running primarily on the Blackberry.
Shortly after reporting on the announcement, VentureBeat pulled their blog post but the details lingered in RSS readers prompting many (including Techcrunch) to jump on the news and potential slip-up.
The fund will be used to invest in both applications and services for the BlackBerry platform, but it won’t be exclusively to support the Blackberry. Companies that support other mobile platforms in addition to the Blackberry can also apply for monies for the fund. According to our source, the fund isn’t designed to be competitive with the iFund, because it will be free to invest in applications serving that platform too.
The venture firm backing the fund is Canada’s JLA Ventures, a Montreal and Toronto firm active in mobile. That firm will co-manage the investing process, together with the investment group of Canada’s largest bank, RBC Venture Partners. RIM, RBC and Thomson are anchor investors in the fund, and will advise in the fund’s management. Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO, Research In Motion, is on the advisory board of JLA Ventures.
In the missing post VentureBeat claimed that they learned of the news in advance of the fund’s official launch and that an announcement will be made at an Orlando convention on Monday.
Founders lunch in Toronto on May 10th
The second Founders lunch will be taking place this Saturday, May 10th in Toronto. It is an invite-only event and provides a great opportunity for local tech entrepreneurs to intermingle in a casual environment. The inaugural lunch was held in March and was hosted by Learnhub.
CNMA Awards Deadline Extended
The deadline for submissions to the Canadian New Media Awards has been extended to May 12th - so if you were hoping to nominate your company but ran out of time, this is your second chance. Categories include Company of the Year, Excellence in Social Media Websites, Excellence in Social Media Applications, and many other categories. The finalists will be announced at the nextMEDIA conference in Banff on June 6th to 8th.
