Waterloo’s Accelerator Centre, known to only graduate a few select startups at a time, is ready to graduate its latest pair of small businesses in Intellijoint Surgical and TitanFile.
The Accelerator Centre is located within The David Johnston Research+Technology Park in Waterloo and was established to “accelerate the creation, growth, and maturation of sustainable new technology companies,” and to “promote commercialization of research and technology rising out of academic institutions such as University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University, University of Guelph, and Conestoga College.”
Founded by University of Waterloo mechatronics grads Armen Bakirtzian, Andre Hladio and Richard Fanson, Intellijoint Surgical is “setting the new standard” for surgical hip alignment. Intellijoint’s technology provides surgeons with affordable, smart tools that improve precision and accuracy in joint replacement surgery, lowering the possibility of complication and improving patient outcomes. Intellijoint Surgical received its Health Canada Medical Device License in December 2013, and the company’s technology has been used in more than 100 joint replacement surgeries.
TitanFile is on a mission to build better ways for people and companies to communicate securely. The company allows users to easily connect and securely share files from any device, ensuring that privileged information remains private at all times. TitanFile’s technology has been adopted across a wide range of industries, from healthcare for the secure and HIPAA-compliant transfer of patient information, to lawyers for secure collaboration, to educational institutions for secure research collaboration.
“We are incredibly proud to celebrate Intellijoint and TitanFile’s graduation from the Accelerator Centre today. Each company has approached its respective market opportunity with tenacity – taking full advantage of the Accelerator Centre’s educational programming and unique cross-disciplinary mentorship model to transform their ideas into viable, sustainable businesses,” said Gary Pooley, Acting CEO, the Accelerator Centre.
The Accelerator Centre is funded through the Federal and Provincial Governments, Ontario Centres of Excellence, the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, the City of Waterloo, and the University of Waterloo, along with industry and academic partners.
Since 2006, the Accelerator Centre has developed and nurtured over 130 early-stage technology start-ups, creating 1100+ new jobs, generating over $120 million in revenue, and attracting over $180 million in investment. Thirty-six companies have graduated from The Accelerator Program, and more than 85 percent of these companies have remained in Waterloo Region.