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ESL Explorer: A Better Way to Study English Abroad

ESL Explorer recently emerged from stealth mode, and the Vancouver-based startup is already making waves in the ESL education market.

The ESL market is worth over $4 billion annually, with over 25% of that spend currently going to agencies who place students in schools.

ESL Explorer wants to bring a healthy dose of the Internet into an industry that operates like the travel-agency industry did 15 years ago.

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GrowLab Matures with Announcement of Second Cohort

Two months ago, Techvibes reported that Vancouver's newest superangel, Mike Edwards, would be taking over the helm of Vancouver accelerator GrowLab. We warned Vancouver's startup community to buckle their seatbelts and prepare for "massive action" with Edwards in the Executive Director role.

Techvibes sat down with Edwards this morning to learn more about his first big GrowLab announcement—the cohort selected for their Spring 2012 program which kicks off next week.

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Bruce Croxon: 'Canadian Entrepreneurs are as Smart or Smarter Than Anywhere in World'

Bruce Croxon says that Canadian entrepreneurs are "as smart, or smarter, than anywhere in the world."

The Lavalife founder and star of Dragons' Den told the CBC this week that he finds it "ridiculous" that Canadian tech startups feel forced to move to Silicon Valley to grow: "Canadian companies go to the States to get their money or languish on the shelf because there isn't the support here," he fumed.

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Toronto's Extreme Startups Reveals First Five Companies [Updated]

Toronto-based accelerator (not an incubator, like some misinformed people suggest) Extreme Startups has selected five companies for the inaugurual round of its program.

The organization saw applications from companies in 18 countries spanning five continents, according to TechCrunch—but ultimately settled with an all-Canadian lineup. Three startups are based in Extreme's hometown of Toronto, while one is from Edmonton and one is from Ottawa.

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The Biggest Challenge for Tech Startups? Recruitment and Retention [Infographic]

When you think of the formidable challenges tech startup CEOs face, a few obvious things come to mind, such as raising capital from poker-faced investors and trying to sell your brand new product to fleeting consumers. It's hard to build a company from scratch. But if the saying that a business is simply the people behind it holds true, then perhaps it's not surprising that PwC found CEOs' biggest challenge these days is recruiting and retaining talent.

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Toronto's Engagio Evolves into 'Social Conversations Network,' Adds Chrome Extension to Make Gmail Social

Toronto startup Engagio is becoming what it calls a "Social Conversations Network," which combines "the convenience of the social inbox utility with the power of the network via a new Engagement Discovery Dashboard." The dashboard reveals friends' conversations across whichever social networks and commenting communities they participate in.

“Users will be drawn to the Engagio dashboard because it reveals the conversations that their friends are engaging in from across the spectrum of the social web," says William Mougayar, the CEO and founder of Engagio. "It’s an engagement stream that is quite addictive.”

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Old School Canadian Taxi Company Launches Mobile App to Compete with Next-Gen Uber, Winston Startups

The taxi industry hasn't changed much over time. But with a sudden rush of competition from the likes of Uber and Canada's own Winston, their hand has been forced: innovate or perish.

Starting today, Torontonians looking for a lift can order a traditional taxi with two taps on their smartphone. Beck Taxi is claiming to be Toronto’s first Taxi company to introduce a mobile taxi app.

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