As an investor in several Canadian startups, the key to securing financing is about putting the puzzle pieces together for the investment partner. It’s true that Canadian investors are generally more conservative than technology investment firms in Silicon Valley or New York, and that early stage financing may seem limited in relation to our stateside counterparts, but that doesn’t mean Canadian investors don’t exist.
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Dartmouth-based SimplyCast, which specializes in multi-channel marketing platform-as-a-service solutions, has released a Facebook app generator. The generator streamlines the process for any business to create, publish, and promote marketing campaigns on Facebook, the Canadian company says.
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This week, the world of private flash sale sites welcomed MarilynJean to the party.
Based out of Vancouver and created by online marketing and retail veterans, MarilynJean claims to be Canada’s first referral based, private sale, online store that offers moms with exclusive deals and preferred pricing on hand-selected pregnancy, baby, kids and family related items and services.
MarilynJean has just come out of six-month private beta phase where it amassed an impressive membership base of 20,000.
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Katherine Hague, co-founder of Toronto-based startup ShopLocket, has always been an entrepreneur at heart. Just after graduating with a BBA from the Schulich School of Business, she worked in Marketing with Toronto’s ecobee and then went on to consult with other digital media startups.
When she began looking for a new and creative way to sell some T-shirts that she had designed to promote her services, she couldn’t find an eCommerce solution in the marketplace that met her needs. Other than listing a T-shirt on Craiglist or Kijiji, or paying a ton of money for set-up costs and ongoing fees for a Shopify storefront, there was no way to sell just a single product in a professional and simple manner.
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Luxury brands often appeal to consumers because of their mystery and prestige. But it appears that free mobile apps accessible to everyone is the next key to success in the luxury market.
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Mohawk College and Hamilton-based startup Weever Apps have launched a web-based mobile app. The app, developed in part through Mohawk’s iDeaWorks program, will enable Mohawk students, employees and visitors with instant access at their fingertips to search programs and courses, streaming social feeds, events, photos, videos, and a GPS mapping feature.
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Toronto's Claystone Labs has launched its Android homescreen service. The Canadian startup's vision is to become "Everything on your Android phone in one swipe."
It's a new way to using your Android device; Claystone's navigation is composed of Panels that feature content and apps to interact with. Panels are layered atop one another each time a user selects an item, which creats a swipable, browsable Stack. Confused? Check out the video below to see Claystone work its magic.
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Vancouver-based startup HootSuite has extended the functionality of its social media management system with a fourth wave of partner integrations. Joining the company's growing app directory now are MailChimp, Chime.in, Identi.ca, Vision Critical Surveys, and RSS Reader. HootSuite says that these apps will be available immediately to Free, Pro, and Enterprise clients.
“Businesses today are social. Success depends on connecting with customers instantly across multiple social media channels and networks. The growth of our App Directory gives clients an impressive arsenal of tools to do this, all in a single place,” says HootSuite CEO Ryan Holmes. “Our goal, as we close in on six million users by end of year, is to continue aggressively integrating leading apps, turning our dashboard into the mother of all SaaS resources for the social business.”
read moreBDC Venture Capital announced today that it will issue up to $6 million in convertible notes over two years to graduates of Montreal's FounderFuel.
Some 40 young enterprises from all over the country in the web, mobile, software as a service (SaaS), and gaming fields, will each be eligible for a $150,000 BDC convertible note upon their successful completion of FounderFuel's 12-week, mentor-driven business "boot camp".
The investment is part of BDC Venture Capital's larger commitment towards accelerators across the country. Vancouver's GrowLab and Toronto's Extreme Startups has also announced that a $150K BDC convertible note in follow-on funding will be available to successful graduates of their programs.
The folks behind the mesh conference have announced a Hosted Startup Program that could help your startup get to mesh12 for free.
The Hosted Startup Program is a scholarship that will send a handful of bootstrapping entrepreneurs to Canada’s premier digital conference.
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