Tag: AC News

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Apartmint and Planitar announce new partnership

Apartmint logo resizedApartmint and Planitar have announced a new partnership that will take the guesswork out of the home rental process. The digital startup companies will integrate their state-of-the-art technologies to create the most complete online residential rental experience. Expanding in the Greater Toronto Area, Waterloo, and Kitchener, and ultimately nationwide, the new platform will disrupt the home rental market and use emerging technologies to save households time and money.

The Canadian rental market is an $18.2 billion industry, with 13.3 million households renting residential spaces annually. For every transaction, there are a host of potential problems for landlords such as bad tenants and home damages, and for tenants who may face scams, inaccurate, or fake listings. Apartmint offers a solution that helps both tenants and landlords streamline the rental process and mitigate risks. Apartmint’s mobile-friendly software platform features tenant profiles with reviews, references, and credit checks, which also serve as their rental application. Renters can search for homes through the website and apply directly using their profile in just a couple of quick steps.

Apartmint will also integrate Planitar’s groundbreaking iGuide software system in the following weeks. iGuide provides an immersive 360 degree view of a home environment, mapped with an integrated floorplan. The technology combines professional photographic services with Planitar’s laser-equipped camera to capture 3D perspectives of rooms, generate floor plans, and produce accurate measurements. The iGuide tour provides comprehensive views of the home with room images that are crisp and easy to view online.

Apartmint 1 Apartmint

As iGuide (continues its North American expansion), Apartmint will offer the technology to Ontario clients who include property mangers and realtors. On top of providing reliable checks of potential tenants, Apartmint now offers landlords the opportunity to create interactive tours of their units for a quick, easy rental.

Current and future clients of iGuide will also now have even more features at their convenience with further integrated technology from this Apartmint partnership. “We are always looking towards new technologies to innovate and become more efficient,” said Ho Tek, partner and vice-president of Domus Student Housing Inc. and a client of iGuide. “Ultimately, this integration and efficiency has translated into saved time and money.”

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The AC's Joani Gerber appointed VP, Operations

team_joaniThere is a lot of exciting change on the horizon for the Accelerator Centre, and as we begin to execute on our strategic growth plans, venturing into new space and expanding our programming, we are also excited to share some updates about the growth and evolution of the AC team.

You may have read about our newest mentor, Steve Fyke, whose emphasis on design strategy has certainly resonated with our Clients. We’ve also had the great fortune to welcome Alan Quarry, who recently joined the AC as Brand Architect.

As we evolve as an organization, we have also found the need to develop the AC team. In that regard, we’re pleased to announce that Joani Gerber has accepted a new role as VP, Operations with the AC. In her new role Joani will be focused on oversight of facilities planning and management, coordination of human resource processes and policies, management of the Stratford Accelerator Centre, and a number of related accountabilities.

Joani brings over 10 years of accounting, entrepreneurship and Government programming experience and has been a highly valued member of the AC team as our Director, Operations at the Stratford AC campus for the last two years.

Joani holds a degree from Wilfrid Laurier University and certificates in Accounting and Human Resource Management from Fanshawe College. She spent over 10 years supporting entrepreneurship in Stratford, St. Marys, and Perth County working with the Stratford-Perth Centre for Business and the Perth Community Futures.

We’re excited to have Joani as part of the AC team in this new role and look forward to sharing more great news with you in the near future!

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Alan Quarry joins the Accelerator Centre!

Alan QuarryThe Accelerator Centre is excited to announce that brand strategist and marketing pioneer Alan Quarry has joined the AC as Brand Architect.

Alan will spend every Wednesday working with AC Clients as a sounding board, helping to develop and execute their brand strategy. Alan’s presence is an excellent complement to our team of AC mentors, all of whom are dedicated to helping the brightest startups build and scale their businesses.

Alan will also work with the AC’s leadership team, consulting on our own brand as we execute our strategic growth plans in the coming year.

For those unfamiliar with him, Alan is a gifted brand architect and brings to the AC a formidable level of experience. He serves as the Chairman of a 100 plus person team focused on helping Quarry Integrated Communications clients build their business.

Alan has served as director of the Institute of Canadian Advertising and is a past president (twice) of the Trans Canada Advertising Agency Network. He teaches fourth-year Marketing Communications and MBA courses at Wilfrid Laurier University, was an instructor for three years in University of Windsor’s Executive MBA program, and also the WLU Entrepreneur In Residence in 2010, 2011 and 2013.

We’re thrilled to have Alan as a part of the AC team as we continue to grow and work to develop the next generation of leading Canadian technology companies.

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Identify a Problem. Develop a Solution.

How iKlyk Dental is changing the future of dental software

Feda Bashbishi, CEO, iKlyk Inc.
Feda Bashbishi, CEO, iKlyk Inc.

A trip to the dentist was all it took to spark Feda Bashbishi’s inventive mind, changing his career path in 2014.

Feda left California back in 2004, feeling his life needed a transition and looking to advance his career in software development.

After moving to Waterloo from California, Feda landed a job at a company that provided secure payment solutions for the financial services sector. Back then, the organization was shipping out thousands of CDs with software updates to customers.

Coming from a technical background, Feda immediately saw an opportunity to improve efficiencies and pitched the idea of moving the company away from the desktop application to a web-based application.

There was a mixed reaction when Feda pitched such a large scale change; some saw the value, but many were hesitant to implement a transformational shift. But Feda proved his concept by demonstrating the cost effectiveness of web-based vs. desktop, and in the end, they implemented his proposal.

He saw a problem and knew he could fix it. It was a transition that reinforced his belief that you have to be customer focused, that every feature in a product must solve a problem for the customer.

During a check-up back in 2008, Feda noticed his dentist using a traditional desktop application to manage his practice. It sparked a conversation and Feda learned that his dentist wasn’t happy with the software – it took too much time to manage and didn’t offer the flexibility needed to run the practice the way his dentist wanted.
Feda dug a little deeper and found that most dentists were suffering with the same problem: outmoded software that didn’t allow them to protect the data of their clients, access their schedule remotely, and back up their data.

So why didn’t they just change to something better? Because there simply wasn’t a better option.

Feda however, had a solution in mind. He approached his sister-in-law Reem and pitched an idea about creating an online practice management solution that made it easy for dentists to manage their practice on a secure and accessible platform. Reem was already interested in starting her own tech company and had a considerable amount of experience from contributing to her husband’s dental office – it was a perfect match.

“We set out to build something that anyone could use,” said Feda.

With the combined skills of Feda’s MBA, M.Sc. Eng., and Reem’s PhD in Computer Science, they focused on creating something better, something that would make life for his dentist, and every dentist, easier. That’s how iKlyk Inc. was born.

iKlyk is a web-based application that offers dentists and their staff a reliable, innovative, and secure practice management solution for their daily use. With iKlyk, dental companies can protect patient data; access their data anytime, anywhere; track transactions which minimizes embezzlement; and automatically update their software, meaning the product is always up-to-date.

Feda and Reem already had a considerable background in both Business and Tech. However, they wanted to immerse themselves in an entrepreneurial community, learning from peers in a similar position and gaining access to mentors who could help shape their business model.

“You need the expertise, you need people who are hands-on, who can help lead you in the right direction and we get that at the Accelerator Centre,” said Feda.

“Our vision for iKlyk is to set the standard in providing the best practice management solution for dental offices to ultimately provide premium patient care,” said Feda. iKlyk strives to be the number one solution for dentists looking to take their practice management software to the next level.

iKlyk is about to launch their first beta product and they’re confident that the dental community will embrace their solution.

It’s difficult to identify a problem, but developing and implementing a business solution is even harder. It requires initiative, leadership and a dedicated team.

Get to know iKlyk

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First AC JumpStart Cohort Announced

AC JumpStart banner

Seventeen early stage companies to benefit from critical seed capital injection and world-class mentorship

The Accelerator Centre® (AC) is proud to announce its first AC JumpStart cohort, the first group of companies to benefit from the $8M funding program, announced January 15th in conjunction with the Federal Economic Development Agency (FedDev Ontario), and partners Conestoga College, the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University.

Companies joining the first AC JumpStart Cohort are:

Quick Facts about AC JumpStart

  • Each member of the AC JumpStart first cohort will receive $30,000 in seed capital (to be matched by the recipient firms), mentorship from experts in finance, sales, marketing, human resources, technology and product development, access to market research and connections to investors, with services to be delivered over a 12 month period.
  • This is the first of three cohorts of companies to participate in the program in 2015, followed by two cohorts annually through to the end of 2018.
  • In total, it is expected that 180 companies will participate in the AC JumpStart program over the next four years.
  • Start-ups participating in the 2013 AC JumpStart pilot program have created 212 new jobs in Waterloo Region, have generated $3.1 million in combined revenue and are expected to raise $5 million in private investment.
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AC CEO Paul Salvini discusses raising capital and securing funding in Watch Magazine

Raising capital to grow a business and realize an entrepreneurial dream is just one of the long list of duties that make up a startup CEO’s curriculum vitae. Perfecting the pitch is only a small part of the battle. Attracting high quality investors, and landing the deal is where the big effort comes in – and it’s not an easy road by any means. In this issue of Watch, we sat down with Dr. Paul Salvini, CEO of the Accelerator Centre, to hear his perspective on the startup funding challenge, and to learn why Accelerator Centre programming and mentorship provide startup clients with that all important investment ‘seal of approval.’

Watch: It’s not easy for a startup to secure funding, especially in the early days. What does the process look like, and do Accelerator Centre clients gain any advantage?

Paul Salvini: There are typically many rounds of funding that a venture will go through from inception through to maturity. Often funding for a business idea starts out with money from family and friends, or savings. Or for those individuals who came from previous employment, perhaps a severance package, depending on the path one takes to becoming an entrepreneur.

And then after that first round of funding from family and friends, a startup will typically go through a seed round provided by folks like angel investors, and then subsequent rounds after that depending on how the business does.

One of the things we do really well here at the Accelerator Centre is provide a structured environment that, just by being accepted into the Accelerator program, provides a startup with level of credibility – a seal of approval if you will – with future investors. It is a competitive process to be accepted to the Accelerator Centre, and it is a competitive process to stay here. So that brings a lot of comfort to those who are funding companies, to have the confidence that the team here thought the idea and the founders were likely to succeed. In addition, we are providing mentoring and guidance on an ongoing basis to these companies, that overtime gives our staff some insight into these companies which is the dream scenario for any venture capitalist.

To read the full interview, click here.