Entries from the 'Waterloo' 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 |
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.
IGLOO raises $4 Million from RBC
Waterloo’s IGLOO announced today that they’ve closed a US $4 million equity financing round from RBC Venture Partners. IGLOO’s software as a service (SaaS) model provides a suite of Web 2.0 and Facebook-like services for firms, allowing their employees to improve in-house communications and share information. The financing will enable IGLOO to extend and commercialize its suite of collaborative social networking tools. The Globe and Mail picked up the news quickly thanks to a Research in Motion connection.
Dozens of technology startups ache to make a name for themselves in the social networking game, but only one has Research In Motion Ltd. co-chief executive officer Jim Balsillie on its board. For Igloo Inc., a Waterloo, Ont.-based company that develops corporate social networking software, Mr. Balsillie’s involvement is the difference between obscurity and instant credibility.
Ironically, Balsillie’s attempts to land a much larger Igloo (Mellon Arena) and it’s flightless inhabitants in 2006 was a popular topic for Canadian media as well.
Java Developer - Incognito Software
Incognito Software Inc., a Canadian company with headquarters in Vancouver, has been providing connectivity solutions for large networks since 1992. Our software helps global communications service providers and enterprises quickly and cost-effectively deploy data, voice, and video networks using our automated IP address management, domain management, and provisioning systems.
We are seeking a self-motivated and technically competent Java Developer for a permanent role in our new office in Burlington, Ontario. Incognito Software uses an agile development process called Scrum, where all developers work in teams, and all team members participate in the design, development, maintenance and testing of both user interfaces and network service applications.
You should possess the following:
- University degree in Computer Science or equivalent
- 2 years relevant working experience
- Strong Java 1.5 foundation
- Strong knowledge of user interface design and implementation using Swing
- Ability to write well designed and maintainable code, and to apply best practices in software development (design patterns, testing strategies, etc)
- Openness to use principles of the Agile Scrum development process, including testing, writing automated tests, continuous integration, peer reviews/programming
- Experience developing applications for Windows, Linux and Unix platforms
- Socket programming
- RDBMS experience (MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, etc)
- Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work within a team environment. Team members are required to work collaboratively to help each other solve problems and complete team tasks. Completing development cycle goals is the responsibility and mission of the team.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills
The following would be beneficial:
- Experience designing and writing code in Java using CORBA API to backend services
- Knowledge of network protocols (TCP/IP, DHCP, DNS, etc)
- Knowledge and experience working with XML in Java
- Web development experience using JSP/Struts and Tomcat
- Knowledge of C++ (occasional opportunities for development in C++ may arise)
If you have the expertise to match and are looking for a career in a global progressive high tech company, please send your resume and a cover letter to hr@incognito.com, quoting reference Techvibes0408.
The Long Tail in Waterloo
Exciting news in Waterloo. Apparently Communitech has secured Chris Anderson as their keynote speaker for their 2008 Tech Leadership Conference which takes place on May 1st. Communitech’s annual conference is one of Canada’s largest tech conferences with high-level keynote speakers, practical breakout sessions, and their annual TechVibe Showcase (great name!).
Communitech is an industry-led organization driving the growth and success of the Waterloo Region´s technology sector through leadership, connections and promotion. Their 450+ members include big names in the global technology industry, like Research In Motion, Open Text and COM DEV, as well as local start-ups, investors, and educational institutions.
For those of you that haven’t heard of Chris Anderson, he is editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine and coined the phrase The Long Tail in an acclaimed Wired article, which he later expanded upon in the book The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More. Anderson is also responsible for summing up the Techvibes.com business model as the “Long Tail of the Techcrunches“.
Award Application Season Underway
Applications are now open for the 2008 Deloitte Technology Fast 50 awards. The awards are a much sought-after mark of excellence for Canadian-owned and managed companies and rank the country’s 50 fastest growing technology companies based on percentage revenue growth over five years.
Combining technological innovation, entrepreneurship and rapid growth, Deloitte Technology Fast 50 companies - large, small, public and private - span a variety of industry sectors, and are leaders in hardware, software, telecom, and emerging areas, such as clean technology. The program also augments the broader Deloitte North American Technology Fast 500, as winners are eligible for this prestigious ranking.
Led by entrepreneurs and visionaries, winning companies have ranged from hot emerging companies to more established world-class Canadian organizations, with a median cut-off revenue growth rate of 425% over five-years. In addition, 2007 Deloitte Technology Fast 50TM winners realized an average growth rate of 3,732%, generated $3.7 billion in combined revenues, and employed almost 15,000 people across Canada.
The Awards are broken down into four categories - the Fast 50, Companies to Watch, Leadership Awards, and the Green 15 - and are presented at regional events across Canada in September. Full award details and online entry forms are available at www.fast50.ca and the deadline for applications is in May.
Toronto Start-up Index - January 2008
This second edition of the Toronto Start-up Index gets more interesting as we get to see some movement through the standings. The index ranks Toronto area start-ups based on an average of Alexa and Compete traffic rankings. Criteria and other details are available on the Start-up Index page.
Two new additions made the top ten: iBegin at #3 and Carpages at #9.
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 | 31,197 |  |
30,511 |  |
30,854 | |
||
| 2 | ProductWiki | 34,343 | |
30,217 | |
32,280 | |
||
| 3 | N | iBegin | 58,617 | 25,439 | 42,028 | ||||
| 4 | |
1 | FreshBooks | 49,286 | |
42,195 | |
45,741 | |
| 5 | |
3 | Sneakerplay | 76,395 | |
91,240 | |
83,818 | |
| 6 | ConceptShare | 84,929 | |
99,939 | |
92,434 | |
||
| 7 | |
3 | ZipLocal | 81,266 | |
136,024 | |
108,645 | |
| 8 | |
3 | Groovle | 59,268 | |
176,366 | |
117,817 | |
| 9 | N | Carpages | 134,770 | 131,877 | 133,324 | ||||
| 10 | |
1 | AideRSS | 129,786 | |
147,708 | |
138,747 | |
| 11 | |
4 | SharedReviews | 117,046 | |
185,877 | |
151,462 | |
| 12 | |
2 | MadWhips | 158,393 | |
149,352 | |
153,873 | |
| 13 | |
2 | OfficeZilla | 224,872 | |
271,840 | |
248,356 | |
| 14 | |
4 | FileMobile | 275,702 | |
300,871 | |
288,287 | |
| 15 | |
2 | Awareness | 323,051 | |
253,564 | |
288,308 | |
| 16 | |
4 | Quotiki | 371,317 | |
272,266 | |
321,792 | |
| 17 | HomeStars | 309,005 | |
366,566 | |
337,786 | |
||
| 18 | |
1 | Onaswarm | 346,730 | |
373,976 | |
360,353 | |
| 19 | |
7 | Zerofootprint | 388,045 | |
351,661 | |
369,853 | |
| 20 | |
6 | BumpTop | 338,642 | |
428,413 | |
383,528 | |
| 21 | |
6 | JobLoft | 242,991 | |
588,200 | |
415,596 | |
| 22 | |
6 | Domainer | 466,889 | |
453,009 | |
459,949 | |
| 23 | |
1 | PokerSpace | 499,997 | |
438,584 | |
469,291 | |
| 24 | |
4 | Well.ca | 583,530 | |
435,035 | |
509,283 | |
| 25 | |
6 | GigPark | 603,347 | |
457,118 | |
530,233 | |
| 26 | N | Omnidate | 668,545 | 714,615 | 691,580 | ||||
| 27 | |
6 | YowTRIP | 657,014 | |
744,006 | |
700,510 | |
| 28 | Octopz | 914,185 | |
932,915 | |
923,550 | |
||
| 29 | |
8 | CastRoller | 2,025,741 | |
828,951 | |
1,427,346 | |
| 30 | |
5 | EasyPost.ca | 2,797,298 | |
967,525 | |
1,882,412 | |
| 31 | |
8 | Cozimo | 732,998 | |
- | |
732,998 | |
| 32 | ViaVol | 792,645 | |
- | 792,645 | |
|||
| 33 | |
3 | Semacode | 796,203 | |
- | 796,203 | |
|
| 34 | |
1 | CellClients | 976,567 | |
- | 976,567 | |
|
| 35 | |
1 | SlashID | 1,326,025 | |
- | 1,326,025 | |
|
| 36 | |
12 | mDialog | 1,405,832 | |
- | |
1,405,832 | |
| 37 | |
3 | Cytoscape | 1,590,542 | |
- | 1,590,542 | |
|
| 38 | N | Ipartee | 445,480 | - | 445,480 | ||||
| 39 | N | Wellocities | 577,255 | - | 577,255 | ||||
| 40 | N | Banzza | 623,815 | - | 623,815 | ||||
| 41 | |
14 | myhood.ca | 677,348 | |
- | 677,348 | |
|
| 42 | |
2 | Ogrant | 2,071,303 | |
- | 2,071,303 | |
|
| 43 | |
5 | Realosophy | 2,184,723 | |
- | 2,184,723 | |
|
| 44 | |
19 | xkoto | 2,195,491 | |
- | |
2,195,491 | |
| 45 | |
6 | Pursudo | 2,633,524 | |
- | 2,633,524 | |
|
| 46 | |
17 | Clay Tablet | 2,821,447 | |
- | 2,821,447 | |
|
| 47 | |
6 | FeelingBullish | 3,258,231 | |
- | 3,258,231 | |
|
| 48 | N | Addictive Mobility | 4,750,605 | - | 4,750,605 |
Related Links:
AideRSS filters and ranks feeds with PostRank
AideRSS, based in Waterloo, Ontario, has just succeeded in securing another round of funding through Tech Capital Partners and a number of angel investors. But the fledging company won’t be resting on its laurels, and will continue to work on PostRank, an algorithm designed to filter and rank incoming stories on feeds in order to deliver what’s important to users amongst a constant stream of information. The service currently tracks over one hundred thousand unique RSS feeds, and filters millions of internet posts each week. Launched last July, AideRSS immediately garnered recognition from Digg, Slashdot, Mashable, e-Week and other online and offline sources.
Crunchies Best Bootstrapped Start-up
Voting is underway for The 2007 Crunchies and Waterloo-based ProductWiki is a finalist in the “Best Bootstrapped Start-up” category. They’re in for a fight with TechMeme and PoliticalBase also making the short list for their category. ProductWiki was #2 on our Toronto Start-up Index for December and is the only Canadian company to make the final Crunchies list. It would be great to see the Canadian Start-up community rally around ProductWiki and make this category a tight race.
ProductWiki is a web-based product information resource, written by real people from all around the world. Their goal is to create an unbiased, accurate and community-based information resource that covers all products in depth.
The Crunchies is a collaboration project between GigaOm, Read/WriteWeb, VentureBeat and TechCrunch. This year is the first annual competition and the award ceremony in January will recognize and celebrate the most compelling start-ups, Internet and technology innovations of the year.
Toronto Start-up Index - December 2007
Inspired by the Seattle Start-up Index, we’ve compiled a Toronto Start-up Index. Sites are ranked based on an average of Alexa and Compete traffic data. Thanks to everyone made suggestions and corrections of our beta index. If there are any other sites we’ve missed, please leave a suggestion in the comments of this post and we’ll incorporate it into the next index.
The criteria for companies to appear on the list:
- Located within the Toronto Area
- Less than five years old
- Not a public company
- Is a tech company (either hardware, software, web application/service, or mobile)
We changed slightly the criteria from “Metro Toronto” to “Toronto Area” as to not exclude Kitchener-Waterloo and other areas that are generally considered to be “Toronto Area”. If any Ontarians would like to dispute this definition, we’re listening.
The Index is intended as a jovial comparison of local companies. Comprehensive traffic data is difficult to obtain, and neither Alexa or Compete’s numbers are perfect; we average them to smooth out bias. Starting with next month’s index, it will be interesting to see trends over time. The next index will be published on January 15 and regularly on the 15th of each month.
| Rank | Name | Alexa | Compete | Average |
| 1 | b5media | 26,650 | 34,393 | 30,522 |
| 2 | ProductWiki | 30,033 | 32,118 | 31,076 |
| 3 | FreshBooks | 48,485 | 57,175 | 52,830 |
| 4 | ZipLocal | 86,833 | 93,211 | 90,022 |
| 5 | Groovle | 28,174 | 180,412 | 104,293 |
| 6 | ConceptShare | 73,257 | 142,110 | 107,684 |
| 7 | SharedReviews | 116,529 | 128,335 | 122,432 |
| 8 | Sneakerplay | 111,808 | 201,067 | 156,438 |
| 9 | AideRSS | 125,898 | 204,177 | 165,038 |
| 10 | MadWhips | 170,259 | 260,550 | 215,405 |
| 11 | OfficeZilla | 240,656 | 215,494 | 228,075 |
| 12 | Quotiki | 242,731 | 272,365 | 257,548 |
| 13 | Awareness | 337,563 | 294,679 | 316,121 |
| 14 | BumpTop | 351,024 | 289,585 | 320,305 |
| 15 | JobLoft | 225,328 | 444,229 | 334,779 |
| 16 | Domainer | 448,436 | 237,733 | 343,085 |
| 17 | HomeStars | 336,238 | 404,252 | 370,245 |
| 18 | FileMobile | 455,399 | 387,663 | 421,531 |
| 19 | Onaswarm | 650,814 | 404,761 | 527,788 |
| 20 | Well.ca | 639,039 | 441,122 | 540,081 |
| 21 | YowTRIP | 726,609 | 663,315 | 694,962 |
| 22 | PokerSpace | 836,373 | 936,978 | 886,676 |
| 23 | Cozimo | 878,347 | 984,251 | 931,299 |
| 24 | mDialog | 1,524,947 | 658,374 | 1,091,661 |
| 25 | xkoto | 2,036,991 | 607,438 | 1,322,215 |
| 26 | Zerofootprint | 357,579 | - | 357,579 |
| 27 | myhood.ca | 574,148 | - | 574,148 |
| 28 | Octopz | 716,525 | - | 716,525 |
| 29 | Clay Tablet | 725,567 | - | 725,567 |
| 30 | Semacode | 923,466 | - | 923,466 |
| 31 | GigPark | 947,798 | - | 947,798 |
| 32 | ViaVol | 1,010,592 | - | 1,010,592 |
| 33 | CellClients | 1,061,860 | - | 1,061,860 |
| 34 | Cytoscape | 1,319,993 | - | 1,319,993 |
| 35 | EasyPost.ca | 1,391,364 | - | 1,391,364 |
| 36 | SlashID | 1,416,457 | - | 1,416,457 |
| 37 | CastRoller | 1,703,797 | - | 1,703,797 |
| 38 | Realosophy | 1,767,971 | - | 1,767,971 |
| 39 | Pursudo | 2,497,159 | - | 2,497,159 |
| 40 | Ogrant | 2,737,392 | - | 2,737,392 |
| 41 | FeelingBullish | 4,534,226 | - | 4,534,226 |
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