The federally-funded Canadian Digital Media Network (CDMN) has chosen the 27 companies that it will ship off this winter as part of its “outbound” Soft-Landing Program from January to March 2014.
The Soft-Landing Program offers qualified, mature startups and small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) exposure to business opportunities around the world. It provides the opportunity to work from a partnered accelerator, incubator or coworking space to obtain regional support and resources. For Canadian startups, it gives them about $4,000 and a chance to work out of an international destination.
Here’s the list of lucky startups, who are going as far as Singapore, Germany, Brazil and India, and the UAE, among other places:
| Company Name | CDMN Hub | Destination |
| ADVIDEO | Communitech | Singapore |
| Authintic Analytics (Alumni) | Ryerson DMZ | NYC |
| Avid Tap | Communitech | San Francisco, Boston |
| DLI.tools (Alumni) | Communitech | Orlando |
| eProf Education | MaRS | NYC |
| Formulating Change | Communitech | Atlanta, NYC, Chicago |
| Handy Metrics | ventureLAB | Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington |
| I Think Security | Accelerator Centre | NYC |
| InNetwork | Innovacorp | NYC, LA, San Francisco |
| Intelligent Imaging Systems | Startup Edmonton | Brazil |
| Lemonade GameLabs | Accelerate Okanagan | Germany |
| Live Insite | Communitech | NYC |
| Macxmum | Communitech | Silicon Valley, Taiwan |
| Maintenance Assistant | Communitech | Germany |
| Mespere Lifesciences (Alumni) | Accelerator Centre | India |
| Moj.io | Wavefront | San Francisco |
| MRF Geosystems (Alumni) | TR Tech Calgary | New Zealand |
| Nexalogy Environics (Alumni) | Montreal | NYC |
| Now In Store | Montreal | NYC |
| Plasticity | Communitech | NYC, Austin |
| Poppy Barley | Startup Edmonton | NYC |
| Pump Up | Communitech | Silicon Valley, NYC |
| Secure City Solutions (Alumni) | Invest Ottawa | UAE, Saudi Arabia |
| SlimCut Media | Ryerson DMZ | NYC |
| Technology North Corp | TR Tech Edmonton | California, Boston |
| WatSec | Accelerator Centre | Maryland |
| Woof Labs | MaRS | California |
“We’re seeing more and more high-growth, high-potential startups and SMEs come through our hub network that are prepared to take their business international.” said CDMN’s Kevin Tuer. “The CDMN Soft-Landing Program continues to grow as companies recognize the potential it offers them to scale their business internationally.”
The CDMN is a federal “Centre of Excellence” in Commercialization and Research (CECR), and is dedicated to establishing Canada as a world leader in digital media, “by creating and enabling connections and collaboration between entrepreneurs, companies, research institutes, government and intermediary organizations across the country.”
CDMN claims that the Soft-Landing Program is generating a return of more than 30 times on the investment made. The 63 companies that have gone through the program “have reported new opportunities and sales and established key partnerships in their regions, showing that even modest funding at a critical time can have tremendous impact,” read a release.
Ideal candidates for the Outbound Soft-Landing Program are mature Canadian startups and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that are looking to grow their customer base, open a satellite office, develop distribution channels or secure investment.