Startups in Toronto and Vancouver have been making positive moves this past week. Here is the latest in company milestones, partnerships, and big wins for Canadian tech companies.
Article moves into new headquarters to accomodate staff, product growth
Vancouver-based Article, an ecommerce furniture and decor brand, announced that they are moving their headquarters into a 115,000 square feet warehouse.
“We experienced more than 6X growth in 2016, which meant that we needed to find a space that could accommodate our continued growth,” said Aamir Baig, co-founder, director, and CEO at Article. “We’re expanding in every aspect of our business: we’re hiring more staff, we’re increasing our product range, and we’re developing new technologies to make the process for buying designer furniture more efficient. A new, larger office space was necessary at this stage in our growth, and we wanted to find a location that checked off all of the boxes on our wishlist.”
The upper level of the building will be the office space and will be outfitted with Article furniture. The new facility will also house a research and development centre for new warehousing technology.
Jibestream partners with largest healthcare provider in western New York
Kaleida Health, the largest healthcare provider in western New York, has partnered with Toronto-based Jibestream, which offers a mapping engine and indoor navigation for enterprises.
Jibestream’s wayfinding technology is being used at the new Oishei Children’s Outpatient Center to help patients better navigate the space. The company noted that it took less than a month to integrate its wayfinding technology into the hospital’s app.
“Hospitals are under intense pressure to create a healthcare experience that is dynamic, accessible and engaging. To achieve this, providers need accurate maps to not only guide people, but locate resources and deliver critical care,” said Chris Wiegand, CEO and co-founder of Jibestream. “With our Indoor Intelligence platform, developers can leverage the same SDKs and maps used to execute wayfinding across a hospital system to offer clinical and internal teams real-time intelligence including asset tracking, facilities and space management, maintenance management and enhanced security.”
Two more Kaleida Health facilities will be using indoor navigation by Jibestream later this year.
Brizi named winner of the 2017 SXSW Accelerator Pitch Event
Toronto-based Brizi was named one of the winners at the ninth annual South by Southwest Accelerator Pitch Event this week.
Fifty finalists were broken down into groups of five to compete in ten different categories. Brizi, which was recognized in the sports category, is developing technology that allows teams to monetize fan content at sports events. Brands can attach messages and filters to photos uploaded by fans.
The grand prize winners received $4,000, two badges for the 2018 SXSW Interactive conference, a trophy, and various SXSW Accelerator sponsor gifts.
“Congratulations to all the winners,” said SXSW Accelerator event producer Chris Valentine. “The pitches from all 50 of our Accelerator finalists were extremely impressive, which made the job of selecting one winner in each category very difficult for our judges. Each winning startup reflects the most exciting innovation and cutting edge technology in their space, and we know we’re going to see amazing achievements from them in the coming years as they work to change the world.”
In June 2016, Brizi was among 25 female-led startups chosen to for Communitech’s Fierce Founders bootcamp.