Canadian startups across the country have new announcements to share. Here’s the latest on Canada’s movers and shakers.
CineSend providing digital delivery of films screening at the Tribeca Film Festival
Toronto-based CineSend is delivering films screening at the Tribeca Film Festival digitally, which started on April 18 in New York City.
Most films are delivered to festivals and special event screenings on physical hard drives through the mail, due concerns with privacy and large file sizes. CineSend wants to tackle that problem with its platform, which allows content owners to upload, store, and deliver pre-releases.
“What CineSend brings to Tribeca and other major film festivals is a cloud-based digital delivery platform protected by studio-grade security. This new system cuts down substantially on excessive costs and provides an infinitely more efficient workflow,” said Colin Carter, CEO and founder of CineSend.
The company said that it has 4,700 active users on its platform.
Flashfood expands to Detroit with Tyson Innovation Lab partnership
Toronto-based Flashfood, which allows grocery stores to sell surplus food at a discount, is working with Tyson Innovation Lab to launch flashfoodbox, a direct-to-consumer box containing produce that will now be delivered in the Detroit Area.
Tyson Innovation Lab, the product development acceleration team at Tyson Foods, worked with Flashfood to develop the product. Each box contains 15 pounds of food for $44.99, and monthly subscribers to the box receive a ten percent discount. There is also an option to donate a flashfoodbox, which will be distributed by non-profit Forgotten Harvest, which combats food insecurity.
“Detroit has historically been a city that many have viewed as having a lack of opportunity,” Josh Domingues, CEO of Flashfood, said about the decision to launch in the city. “But over the last few years, there’s been a vibrant resurgence and we want to be part of that fabric as we scale the flashfoodbox into the US.”
“Smart food companies avoid wasting food, but across the food supply chain, throwing perfectly good food out is still too common,” said Rizal Hamdallah, head of the Tyson Innovation Lab. “We hope that our innovative approach to food waste will catch on in many parts of the country as the flashfoodbox initiative expands.”
flashfoodbox is also available in Toronto and London, Ontario.
Mogo reaches 600,000 members
Vancouver-based Mogo announced that it has reached 600,000 members for its products that help consumers to manage their financial health.
“The financial services industry is moving to mobile, and we’re continuing to execute on our vision of making Mogo the go-to financial app for the next generation of Canadians,” said David Feller, founder and CEO of Mogo. “Our growth and success will continue to be driven by how well we help our members manage and improve their financial lives through the Mogo app. The more innovative new products we launch, along with new features we release, and enhancements we make to our user experience, the faster we grow.”
The company said it added 22 percent more members in Q1 2018 compared to Q1 2017, and that 70 percent of its new users are millennials. The company has launched several new financial products over the past year, including a platform that is trying to gamify the mortgage management, and a dedicated cryptocurrency offering.