Bootkik, a consumer platform for sharing and implementing expertise, has been accepted into Silicon Valley-based Founders Embassy‘s summer 2019 program, making it the only Canadian startup accepted into the cohort.
“Our goal is to become Canada’s next unicorn and employ hundreds of Calgarians in the tech sector.”
Founders Embassy is a two-week, equity-free acceleration program that exists to help international and immigrant entrepreneurs access Silicon Valley. During the program, Bootkik will receive mentorship from Silicon Valley-based mentors. At the end of the program, the companies will pitch to an audience of Bay Area investors, which Bootkik said will include some of the tech industry’s largest venture capital firms.
“This is an incredible opportunity to learn how we can build Bootkik into a massive, hyper-scalable tech company,” said Leighton Healey, CEO and co-founder of Bootkik. “Our goal is to become Canada’s next unicorn and employ hundreds of Calgarians in the tech sector. Being accepted into Founders Embassy will accelerate us accomplishing this goal.”
Bootkik is a consumer app for sharing and implementing expertise through step-by-step digital action plans called Recipes. The company was founded in 2016 in Calgary, with a stated mission to give its customers the tools to improve their lives and businesses.
“Bootkik gives anyone the ability to create and share their expertise with others through step-by-step digital action plans, and understand its impact in the lives and businesses of their audience,” Travis Parker Martin, co-founder and director of product and marketing, told BetaKit.
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Earlier this year, the company closed a simple agreement for future equity round of funding which totalled to $600,000 CAD and is now launching a $2 million seed round targeting early-stage venture capital groups. Bootkik has been named as one of Startup Grind’s Top 50 Global Startups, and as one of the 19 most innovative tech companies by Forbes.
Applicants for Founders Embassy come from over 50 countries with the top two percent of founders being invited to participate in workshops, roundtable discussions, investor and mentor meetings, and exclusive networking opportunities. In the program’s upcoming cohort Bootkik will be joined by startups from Switzerland, Australia, India, Pakistan, Bulgaria, and Latvia.
“Our goal is to get connected to early-stage investors passionate about empowering people to implement the expertise of others so they can improve their life and business, and re-thinking how we measure the impact in the knowledge economy,” Martin said. “Additionally, we are looking mentors who can help us build out our product, growth strategies, and can assist us as we begin to permeate the US market.”
Image courtesy Bootkik via Twitter