World renowned for its cultivation of technology entrepreneurship, Waterloo’s Accelerator Centre announced today the graduation of Sweet Tooth and Cyborg Trading Systems from its award-winning incubation program. The graduation of the two companies was celebrated by more than 800 attendees at the annual Communitech Tech Leadership Conference in Waterloo.
Sweet Tooth, founded in 2010 by CEO Jay El-Kaake, is a turn-key points and rewards application for e-commerce stores operating on the Magento platform. As the world’s most flexible rewards system, Sweet Tooth offers retailers a completely unique, multi-channel loyalty and rewards experience for customer engagement. More than 3,000 merchants today use Sweet Tooth’s application to reward customers who like products on Facebook, refer friends and purchase products. Sweet Tooth’s goal is to create loyal customers by creating engaging, personalized experiences in real time. In May 2012, Sweet Tooth closed a $2.25 million financing round with funds coming from OMERS Ventures, MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund, Points International, and other government sources.
One of the first companies to enter the Accelerator Program at the Communitech Hub, Cyborg Trading Systems’ game- changing technology eliminates the complexity, time and costs that financial firms experience when automating their trading strategies. The company’s global clients include hedge funds, brokers, banks and professional traders.
Incorporated in 2008 by James McInnes, Peter Metford and Ben Bittrolff, Cyborg Trading has experienced rapid growth since entering the Accelerator Program. The team has grown from 10 to 20+ full-time staff in the last 12 months, and the company is experiencing strong organic growth. Cyborg has been awarded the prestigious Microsoft Blue Sky Innovation Excellence Award, the SAP Best Big Data Solution, and the OBAA and London Economic Development Corporation Innovation Award. The company recently closed a $2 million investment round, bringing with it highly accomplished and experienced industry veterans, Philip Deck and Sergei Tchetvertnykh, who will lend their expertise in advisory and board member roles.
“We are exceptionally proud of our latest graduates. Cyborg Trading Systems and Sweet Tooth have been active participants in the acceleration process, with both companies consistently taking full advantage of the business advisory, mentorship, connections to talent and networking services available to them through the Accelerator Program,” says Tim Ellis, CEO of Waterloo’s Accelerator Centre and Accelerator Program Inc.
About the Accelerator Centre
The Accelerator Centre, located within Waterloo’s David Johnston Research and Technology Park, is a world-renowned, award-winning facility dedicated to developing and commercializing technology start-ups. Through its Accelerator Program, early-stage companies located at the Accelerator Centre and the Communitech Hub receive seamless support services, including access to office facilities, coaching and mentoring, education, connections to capital, networking, R&D support and outreach, talent recruitment, technology transfer assistance, and commercialization expertise, enabling technology start-ups to move to market faster, create jobs and stimulate economic activity.
Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA, March 7
For further information, please contact:
Deb Domjan – Director, Marketing & Operations
Accelerator Centre
Phone: 519-342-2400
Email: ddomjan@acceleratorcentre.com