Six new technology companies have been named as winners of the 2015 edition of the Cape Breton Innovation Challenge.

A total of $200,000 in cash will be awarded to the following ‎companies:

Collegio – Douglas MacLennan – Sydney
Amount:  $50,000
Collegio is a web and mobile application that aims to replace paper-based communication between school administration and faculty and students and their guardians.

Genus – Jake Florian – Sydney
Amount:  $15,000
Genus is an application that allows Twitter users to easily sort the people they follow into personally defined groups.

Layers Technology – A.J. Fraser & Matt Johnston – Sydney
Amount:  $50,000
Layers is an image creation and editing application that allows users to remix and share images with their friends and the wider image creation community.

PartyUP – Todd Mercer – Sydney
Amount:  $15,000
PartyUP is a mobile application for the nightlife and event promotion industry that helps people find out about events and venues in their area and helps the events and venues connect with their target customers through video sharing.

Phased.io – Colin MacInnis & Brian Best – Glace Bay
Amount:  $50,000
Phased.io is an application for companies that shares work status updates with co-workers and provides analytics on how projects and team members are doing based on those statuses.

Tileographer – Brent Stewart & Shawn Boutilier – Sydney
Amount:  $20,000
Tileographer is a technology that lets developers build and customize web maps in real time and deliver them from their own servers or from a SaaS cloud model.

Funds awarded are to be used to support the completion of prototypes or preparation for taking the product or service to market.‎ In addition to the funding, winners will receive mentoring from seasoned business people through Cape Breton’s MENTOR CONNECT program.

Spark Cape Breton is a competition to find and support high potential, early stage technology companies, and encourage entrepreneurial activity in the region.‎ It is presented by Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) and Innovacorp.

Entrants must be a start-up venture based in Cape Breton or the Mulgrave area. They must have a new knowledge-based product or service with zero sales revenue since inception.

The third edition of the Spark competition attracted 28 submissions by June’s deadline. Eleven companies were invited to pitch their ventures to judges in mid-August. The shortlisted companies also participated ‎in several start-up training sessions in recent weeks, including workshops on how to make a pitch, the lean-canvas approach for building a business plan, as well as financial accounting specific to their business.

An eight-person judging committee selected the winners after evaluating the quality of the product or service, the strength of the management team, and the clarity and persuasiveness of the written and oral presentation. Ultimately, entries were judged on which had the highest probability of entering the market in a competitively sustainable fashion and on commercial potential.

Details about Spark Cape Breton can be found at WWW.INNOVACORP.CA/SPARK.

For more information, please contact:

Bob Pelley
Innovacorp
T 902.564.2951 or 800.565.7051 ext. 1300
M 902.577.2689
[email protected]
WWW.INNOVACORP.CA

Sydney, Nova Scotia, August 25, 2015