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Ottawa’s Promising Tech Startups for 2019

We may be halfway through the year, but I decided to share a rundown of a handful of tech startups that are making waves this year: all based in Ottawa.

 

CanvasPop

Despite being founded in November 2009, this on-demand photo printing venture received a substantial funding injection in 2018. During their Series A, in February of last year, the company raised $3.3 million.

CanvasPop boasts to have served nearly half-a-million customers, and enjoys a strong social media presence.

 

Klipfolio

This Ottawa-based tech company brings real-time business dashboards to non-tech employees, raising nearly $20 million CAD since its founding in 2001; $12 million of which was raised during Series B in 2017.

According to their website, Klipfolio is used by some significant corporations and institutions, including IKEA, Grubhub, and the American Red Cross.

 

MindBridge AI

AI is certainly in vogue at the moment, and is sure to bring huge efficiency leaps to many industries. MindBridge AI is planning to bring this innovation to the world of financial auditing, processing vast quantities of financial data to reduce human error.

This Ottawa-based startup has clearly had its potential noticed, having raised over $42 million to date.

 

Do you know an Ottawa-based tech startup that deserves a mention? Let me know in the comments below!

Drone Delivery Canada

Drone Delivery Canada Gets Government Approval

In 2017, some people thought that drones were a trend that would go away in a few months, like a fad, but recently they have taken a more important role on than most people thought. Amazon made news with the announcement that they were looking to replace some of their delivery drivers with drones and other automated services. Something close to that almost science fiction like idea might be coming to fruition in Canada soon.

A company called Drone Delivery Canada announced in August that it had received a license from the Canadian government to fly a new heavy lifting drone that it says will be used for delivering goods. While this may not sound like a revolutionary step, the major thing is that the drone has been tested in a long range use. Never before has any machine like this passed a “beyond visible line of sight” test, or in other words, this is the first one to be able to go somewhere where the operator cannot see it.

I have been looking forward to a day when these promises would finally be fulfilled, and I think that there is a lot of potential for the kinds of things that companies could do with drones like these. Combined with this, there is always the fact that this is not the final step in the technological march. Times won’t stop, and eventually, this kind of thing will be commonplace and we will be fawning over the next new thing. The big concern is how many jobs will be lost to these drones, we will have to wait and see.

Ottawa Stairs Photo

A rundown of tech startups in and around Ottawa, by Ravi Shanghavi

Startups in and around Ottawa

While it was founded in 1826 under a different name, Ottawa was incorporated into Canada in 1855. Today, it has been voted as one of the most livable cities both in North America and the world. Home to over 1.3 million people, Ottawa is a great place for tech startups. Because of the number of cultural institutions and universities, it has also become one of the most educated cities in Canada. Apart from the federal government, tech companies employ over 64,000 people. So what are the tech startups in and around Ottawa?

How has the industry become so significant?

Before speaking about the tech companies, one must consider the people who have worked so hard to ensure that the industry is what it is today. These people make it possible for start-up companies to begin and be successful. Their skills have helped numerous companies grow beyond what they thought was possible. These tech giants offer great advice to startups that allow them to grow and expand to become global giants.

Ravi Shanghavi's Antilia Homes property photo

One such tech industry guru is Ravi Shanghavi. He is a professional project management and computing expert both in Ottawa and Canada. He is also the president of Antilia homes. He has lived and grown in Ottawa and thus knows a lot about Ottawa. Ravi Shanghavi, therefore, uses his knowledge of Ottawa and his years of experience as a project manager to develop properties that are for sale, to be rented and numerous real estate investments.

In his many years in the tech industry, Ravi Shanghavi Ottawa has worked with large enterprises such as Nokia,Symantec, and HP where he gained a lot of experience and skills that he used to hone his skills. Because of his numerous skills and experiences, Ravi Shanghavi has been hired by numerous start-up companies to help them rise in the industry and grow. He has skills in virtualization, cloud computing, grid computing and architecture amongst others.

For Nokia in 2008, Ravi worked as a line manager. He, therefore, has proven management skills that he uses to manage and grow his company and ensure everything is working smoothly. In addi0ti0on to his experiences, Ravi has an MBA from Edinburgh Business School under his belt. He also has certification from Microsoft as an IT professional and is a Nokia certified security associate. This exemplifies the breadth of knowledge and expertise that Ravi Shanghavi Ottawa has gained throughout the years in tech and computing in addition to management skills earned through managing his companies.

 

Pythian

Their mission statement, “Love your data” tells you almost everything you need to know about the enterprise. It offers data support to some of the biggest businesses in Ottawa. They were the pioneers of providing big data and have grown from scratch to reach the entire world with their services. They are not just some boring company. They also have some fun while naming their products. For instance, their Analytics service is known as Kick Aaas! Up until the Canadian banks deposited $6 million into their company in 2014, this company did not have much influence. However, this began a series of funding that has given this tech company wings to fly and ground to stand on. They, therefore, qualify as one of the most successful tech companies in Ottawa.

Klipfolio

This is one of the most innovative companies in Ottawa. It recognized the fact that business owners need to have an eye on each of their business activities to ensure that everything is working smoothly and make corrections where they are needed. With this company, over 8000 companies in Ottawa have created custom dashboards where they can monitor every process in their business. While this company was founded in 2001, it found i0ts significant capital investment in 2014. This money allowed it to move its services to the cloud and increased its capacity. Therefore, while it was running for years, it did not have a lot of clients and was not as well-known as it is today.

PageCloud

This company opened late 2014 with angel funding. They have continuously had investors invest in their business, and that is how they have managed to get so far in such a short period. This company also tapped into a market that has great potential. Unlike in the past where HTML code was used to define the operability of websites, today, people are looking for great content. Even so, more and more people are looking for websites with videos and audios because listening is easier than reading, for most people. By tapping into this great market potential, this company has found a great financial design and numerous clients in the few years it has been in operation.

Future gain

This company began in 2013 with angel funding and additional funding from series A funding in 2015. While most people do not see farming as a tech industry kind of thing, this company has revolutionized how individuals and companies buy and sell food. By creating a grain market place, the market is not only transparent, but it is also much more efficient.

Shopify

This is a company that began in 2004 but is considered a startup because it finally became an IPO in 2015 and got its first funding seven years after it started. It began when e-commerce was problematic and has pushed against all the odds to become one of the biggest tech companies in Ottawa. They provide enterprise-grade materials and tools that allow medium and small businesses reach their retail customers when they do not have the ability to ship products to customers who are far away. This company has become global.

Shopify Image

 

Conclusion

Ottawa is a great city to live in because it has a fast-growing economy, a significant market potential and tech giants like Ravi Shanghavi Ottawa who are willing to share their knowledge and help other people grow in the industry. With the right resources and advice, it is easy and convenient for small companies to grow and become tech giants in just a few years.