Gary Goodyear, the Minister of State for the Federal Economic Development Agency of Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario) was on hand to announce a progressive investment in thee Ottawa area start-ups. The investment, with a ceiling of $1,947,250 will aid said companies in funding further innovation in order to bring their products to market while also employing an estimated 40 people within the province in the information technology sector over the next two years.
The aforementioned investment allows the three companies to leverage their private sector investment money ($3.9 million total) from angel investors and venture capital firms to act as a solid foundation moving forward.
The funding being provided is part of FedDev Ontario’s program called Investing in Business Innovation, which as the name implies focuses on investing in local start-ups and encouraging private sector investment for the various social and economic benefits created.
The investment information along with the three companies are as follows:
1. Toushay Inc., a cloud based solution enabling companies to easily and effectively create and use their own mobile applications without strain on their own resources. The investment in Toushay could reach $750,000 and is expected to create 20 new jobs.
2. Protecode Inc., a software developer that aids companies in dealing with and identifying intellectual property issues, licensing grey areas as well as compliance with open source and third party licenses. The investment in Protecode could reach $680,000 and is expected to create 11 new jobs.
3. Benbria Corp., the creator of software that allows companies to capture and analyse customer feedback in real time via various social media and web based sources in order to act quickly and decisively. The investment in Benbria could reach $517,250 and is expected to create 9 new jobs.