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Government Invests $800,000 in The Next 36 to Foster Student Entrepreneurship in Canada

It's been revealed that the Government of Canada is giving nearly $800,000 to The Next 36, a nonprofit organization located in Toronto that "strives to launch the careers of Canada's most promising and innovative undergraduates." Wladyslaw Lizon, Member of Parliament for Mississauga East-Cooksville, on behalf of the Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, today announced a contribution of up to $787,500 for The Next 36 that will provide graduates in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) with the skills and support they need to start their own businesses.

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HootSuite Launches Teams, a Suite of Hardcore Tools for Serious Business Users

Vancouver startup HootSuite has released HootSuite Teams, a sutie of tools aimed at "serious business collaboration." The social media dashboard company says that Teams offers an "industrial-grade solution for global enterprises and small businesses."

The company, which is now valued at $500 million, says that in the past year corporate clients on HootSuite have tripled, with two-thirds of Fortune 100 companies now active users of the dashboard. And now, corporate teams average 23 team members each on HootSuite.

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With 11 Days to Go and $8.8 Million Raised So Far, Can Pebble Crack $10 Million on Kickstarter?

Vancouver-born entrepreneur Eric Migicovsky has now raised nearly $9 million for his product, Pebble, a smartwatch for iPhones and Android smartphones, from funding site Kickstarter. Pebble, made by Waterloo-born Allerta, also the maker of InPulse for BlackBerry, has raised three times more money than any other Kickstarter campaign in history. And it's still not done.

With 59,000 backers and $8.8 million raised, can Pebble reach the unheard of milestone of $10 million in its final 10 days? After blitzing to $1 million in a single day, Pebble maintained its blistering momentum, reaching $3 million in just three days.

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Canadian Entrepreneur Dan Martell Officially Launches Clarity

In January, Techvibes reported that Canadian entrepreneur Dan Martell was starting up again with Clarity.

If you're part of the startup community, then you've heard of Martell.

He was most recently with Flowtown, which was acquired by San Francisco's DemandForce in October.

But Martell is also an angel investor who advises startups using metrics driven marketing tactics.

He started the Maple Butter blog and he's particularly fond of Canadian startups.

Today, Martell unveiled a new advice service for entrepreneurs and he knows a bit about getting and giving advice.

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Canadian Startup Verelo Hopes to Save Lives with New Monitoring and Alert Services

A tech startup based in Toronto hopes to use its technology to save lives. Verelo points out how high the risk and danger can be when emergency systems fail. What happenes when the 911 line goes down, or an airline experiences a systems failure?

“We are depending on computer systems more and more everyday," explains Mike Curry, the CTO and co-founder of Verelo. "Ten years ago, it was unheard of to have your car connected to the internet; today, a lot of navigation systems connect to the internet to download the data you see on your cars navigation system."

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Tagga Founder Amielle Lake Moves Over for New Chief Executive Officer

Vancouver's Tagga Media announced yesterday the appointment of veteran software executive Jean-Guy Faubert as their new Chief Executive Officer taking over for original CEO Amielle Lake.

Lake founded Tagga in 2008 and will move into the role of Chief Marketing Officer.

Lake shared her learnings from year one of Tagga with Techvibes and went on to be named one of Techvibes Digital Media People to Watch in BC in 2011.

"I am both thrilled and honored to have Jean-Guy join our team." Lake said. “I believe he has exactly what Tagga needs: experience in scaling sales, superb customer relationship development skills and a proven background of leading fast-growing companies. I look forward to working with Jean-Guy and building the best company we can.”

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Government: 'We Strongly Support the Innovation and Ambitious Entrepreneurship of Canadians'

According to Statistics Canada, 2.7 million Canadians were self-employed in 2010. That's about 8% of the country's total population.

Canada’s entrepreneurs will get a federal nod of support tonight as Member of Parliament from Ottawa West-Nepean and Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird joins other Members of Parliament, industry leaders, and entrepreneurs from across the country for the official launch of Startup Canada taking place at the University of Ottawa. Already one month into its six-month National Tour, Startup Canada team members are travelling coast to coast to celebrate entrepreneurship, identify key challenges facing Canadian seed-, early- and growth-stage businesses, and inspire new community-led solutions.  

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Crowdfanatic's DEMO Pitch Puts Dragons' Den in Perspective

Despite getting demolished by the Dragons, Yaron Baraz and his startup Crowdfanatic are still at it.

Two weeks ago Baraz pitched Crowdfanatic's new "group connectivity layer for Facebook" at DEMO in Santa Clara and the reception was much more positive.

Crowdfanatic’s new social app acts as layer over Facebook, so that fans of of our group on facebook can go head-to-head with another group (think Twilight versus Huger Games).

Users can create "arenas" in which these fans will suggest debate topics, play games, vote in polls, and perform other Facebook-oriented actions such as liking and commenting. On either side, fans can become “top supporters” depending on how often they engage with the arena.

The end goal is to win your debates and spread your side of the story on the biggest social network in the world.

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Montreal Startup Festival to Award Top Startup $50K

The organizers of the International Startup Festival announced this morning that at this year’s event one deserving startup will leave with an investment of at least $50K.

And the award won’t be limited to one of the startups selected to pitch on a main stage; any startup present and badged for the event will be eligible to win.

A group of angels and VC investors, including the Festival’s Founders Phil Telio and Alistair Croll, Anna Goodson, Rory Olson, and Danny Knafo have banded together as equal partners to create the prize.

The prize will be an investment in a startup, in the form of an entrepreneur-friendly convertible debenture (reasonable interest rate with no cap on valuation). Terms and conditions with details of the prize will be posted online soon.

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