In just four months, Amitayu Basu grew his customer experience platform, Numr, by nearly 40 percent, momentum he credits to the relationships gained through the YSpace Tech Accelerator.
Numr, which helps businesses identify pain points in the customer journey and take action to improve retention and growth, was voted Demo Day winner for this year’s cohort.
“Winning Demo Day is validation. It tells us that what we’re building matters.”
Amitayu Basu, Numr
By graduation, Basu, Co-Founder and CEO of the company, had also launched pilot programs with two major North American financial services companies and one telecommunications giant.
“When we joined, Numr had no clients in North America,” Basu said. “Back then, getting a meeting was tough. Now we have a strong network and real momentum.”
“The accelerator helped us grow up as a company, to stop thinking like a scrappy startup, and start operating like a scalable business,” Basu added.
Numr was already part of the YSpace incubator program, operating from its offices in Markham and collaborating with York University researchers, when Basu decided to apply for the Tech Accelerator. Basu said he already knew the benefits of being part of the community and trusted the team’s expertise. What stood out most, he added, was the quality of the accelerator’s mentors and the strength of the founder cohort.
YSpace, York University’s entrepreneurship and innovation hub, has supported more than 1,400 startups that have collectively generated $350 million in revenue, raised $160 million in funding, and created nearly 2,000 jobs.
Its Tech Accelerator, sponsored by the City of Toronto, is a four-month program split into growth and fundraising sprints. It’s designed for market-ready startups, providing more than $60,000 in support and up to $30,000 in cash awards.
According to Nafis Ahmed, Associate Director at YSpace, the accelerator stands out for its hands-on approach. The program starts with a rigorous mentor matchmaking process, pairing founders and mentors based on industry expertise and interests. Over the four-month program, each founder works with two mentors, one focused on business strategy and the other on growth.
“We help founders get in the right rooms with the right people,” Ahmed said. “A lot of programs focus on the business, but from day one, we knew it was really important to not only focus on business, but also on the individuals and the founders themselves.”
The accelerator also runs a unique peer program called Masterminds. Led by Program Officer Alina Ali, Masterminds is designed to support founder well-being and leadership development. Ahmed calls it “the silent co-founder no one asked for.”
“Masterminds support leadership development within founders by discussing their challenges, their wins, their ups and downs, whether personal or business related. It’s a more structured, formalized way to peer groups,” said Ali.
For Basu, those connections proved pivotal. Having participated in other leading accelerators, he said YSpace was where he built his most lasting relationships.
“Talking to mentors and other founders helped me break through a huge mental block around how to approach new customers,” he said. “A few mentors worked closely with us on channel management strategies, which led to partnerships with some of the world’s largest consulting and market research companies. Those relationships wouldn’t have happened without YSpace.”
As Demo Day’s first-place winner, Numr received $15,000, which Basu said will go toward marketing and sales expansion.
“But the win itself is personal,” he added. “Winning Demo Day is validation. It tells us that what we’re building matters. It’s Numr planting a flag and saying, ‘We’re here, we’re ready, and we’re going to win this market.’”
Additional prizes were awarded to second-place winner Pooya Saberi of Tinybox Systems, third place winner Kay Boamah of swiirl, and People’s Choice winner Kareem Abdur-Rashid of Kare Chemical Technologies.
“This cohort was one of the strongest we’ve seen,” Ali said. “I think all of them met their milestones and goals they set at the beginning of the program, which made Demo Day extremely competitive.”
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Applications for the next YSpace Tech Accelerator open January 2026. Sign up for the program waitlist to stay updated.
All photos provided by YSpace.