Techstars Toronto has announced the 10 startup’s joining the accelerator program’s third cohort, which will now begin on June 8, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Launched in Canada in 2018, Techstars Toronto is run in partnership with Real Ventures. The program typically runs for 13 weeks out of WeWork in downtown Toronto, and unlike Techstars’ proptech and AI accelerators in Toronto and Montreal, respectively, this program doesn’t focus on one specific industry.
“This year’s 10 companies once again represent the spirit of our diversity, both as a program and as a city.”
Techstars invests $120,000 in each company for six percent common share equity and provides hands-on mentorship as well as unlimited access to the Techstars global network.
In light of recent developments regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, Techstars Toronto has decided to delay the “official” start date of Techstars Toronto to June 8, in order to ensure the safety of its founders and mentors. From now until June, Techstars is having a “soft-start” for its new cohort, offering support and resources from its teams, founders, portfolio companies, and partners. Sunil Sharma, managing director of Techstars Toronto said because of this he feels the 2020 program will be a uniquely elongated program that will span more than five months instead of the usual three.
According to a spokesperson for Techstars, the accelerator plans to run on a remote format. It is relying on updates from health officials to determine the best courses of action and will asses whether its demo day will take place in-person or remote on or before July 15.
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Techstars highlighted that forty percent of the new class has at least one female founder. Notably, last year’s cohort had no female CEOs and the accelerator announced plans at last year’s demo day to begin working with more female-focused organizations like StandUp Ventures, The Big Push, BDC Women In Tech, and Dream Maker Ventures.
Countries of origin for the latest cohort include Iran, Turkey, Poland and Nigeria, as well as Toronto, Vancouver, and Calgary. Twenty of Techstars Toronto’s alumni have collectively raised over $50 million dollars and hired more than 300 people, according to the accelerator.
“This year’s 10 companies once again represent the spirit of our diversity, both as a program and as a city,” said Sharma. “Our companies come from across Canada and the world, and focus on a wide range of industry verticals.”
The companies joining the 2020 cohort include:
Artboard Studio is an online graphic design and animation tool for branding and marketing teams. The tool helps users create unique mockups in their browser and aims to facilitate collaborations, presentations and feedback on assets in real-time.
Babbly is building a data platform for speech development. Through its AI-powered mobile platform, parents can analyze their baby’s speech development and track their progress over time.
Fable is building the direct-to-consumer dinnerware lifestyle brand for millennials. The product today consists of dining essentials crafted in Portugal.
Gini Health is a diet and supplement company that delivers a personalized experience to customers based on their DNA, health goals, diet, and lifestyle data. The company also creates customized smart vitamins to supplement an individual’s diet and lifestyle.
Car Scanner aims to bring transparency and automatization into the car appraisal process with an autonomous robot that performs car inspections. The company also offers a parking enforcement system.
Lance is a platform for freelancers that aims to change how they work with their clients. The startup provides day-to-day tools along with the option for freelancers to add a fee to their invoice so Lance can coordinate payment processing.
Mayday is looking to transform the calendar into a wellness and productivity tool. The startup’s software analyzes how a user spends time, and recommends ways to best optimize each day.
Orbiseed’s AI platform links streams of proptech data, aiming to deliver faster and more accurate business insights. By translating diverse and underutilized data into a common language on a single platform, property stakeholders can access analytics in real-time and maximize their building’s potential.
Peekage is a digital product sampling platform that helps consumer-packaged goods companies target the right audience, send free product samples, and get consumer feedback in order to increase sales, build brand loyalty, and re-target consumers based on their behaviour.
With a focus on Africa, Quidax allows businesses and individuals to buy and sell cryptocurrency with their local currency while making it possible for FinTechs to offer cryptocurrency services to their customers.
Image source Unsplash. Photo by Scott Webb.