Thunder Bay Ventures has invested $50,000 in three companies that recently graduated Thunder Bay’s Costarter accelerator program.
We covered Thunder Bay’s startup scene in May, when we profiled the Costarter accelerator program and some of the growing tech innovation that’s currently happening in the small city in Northern Ontario.
Now it looks like three companies will enjoy a nice boost in their ventures after going through Costarter, a three-month program that invests $15,000 into startups of two to three people. It’s first cohort occurred between January 1 to March 31, taking place at the “Innovation Centre” at Confederation College.
“Thunder Bay Ventures is dedicated to supporting and financing local businesses and helping them move forward and that’s what this investment is all about: helping teams from Thunder Bay grow and even keeping a new company here from India,” said Royden Potvin, manager of Thunder Bay Ventures.
That startup Potvin referenced is Recroup, an online recruitment platform. Founder Amit Chauhan and his partners came to Thunder
Bay in December from India and now have the necessary funding to apply for Canada’s Startup Visa program.
“It’s great to see the community getting behind these new companies like Thunder Bay Ventures has. This exciting offer will help these companies grow here in Thunder Bay,” said Terry Smith, the manager of the Costarter program.
The Costarter program graduated five companies, ranging in ideas from designer clothing on 100 percent recycled materials to online recruitment software to bio-techonology. Smith said he is “hopeful that the program will run again next year and that we can continue finding and funding big ideas here in Thunder Bay.”
The remaining two companies in the cohort not mentioned thus far have also received offers for the same funding, and are currently contemplating their decision.
The winter 2014 cohort was made up of Recroup, a company that helps financial sector firms find talent; Ungali Clothing, a Canadian clothing brand designed and ethically produced on 100% sustainable materials; Go Kin Packs, an innovative and portable device that can be used anywhere, anytime to generate power on the go; Shipearly, a cloud-based, lead generation and sales automation tools so manufacturers and retailers can work together to grow sales; and Cardiagen.