There is no shortage of hot startups in Canada's high tech sector. Here are 10 to watch:
6N Silicon
Location: Toronto
URL: www.6nsilicon.com
President: Scott Nichol
With solar power ramping up, the industry is seeking more and more pure silicon in manufacturing cells that can change sunlight into electricity.
The solar industry’s traditional supplier—electronics manufacturers selling scrap silicon—no longer can supply sufficient quantities.
The answer? One-year-old 6N Silicon is developing a metallurgical process to purify lower-grade silicon, bringing it up to grade for solar cells.
In its first funding round in July, Ventures West, Yaletown Venture Partners, and Sustainable Development Technology Canada gave 6N $6 million.
The global market for solar-grade silicon feedstock, about $2.3 billion in 2006, is projected to grow to $10.4 billion by 2010.
Location: Montreal
URL: www.a2m.com
CEO: Remi Racine
Anything is possible in the world of Artificial Mind & Movement.
Canada’s largest independent video-game developer makes games for all the major consoles, including the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii.
Products range from a title based on the dancing penguin movie Happy Feet to a series starring TV cartoon hero Kim Possible. Projects on the horizon include games based on the Indiana Jones franchise for LucasArts and the 2008 Paramount Pictures release Iron Man.
In 2006, A2M’s rapid revenue ramp earned it inclusion in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 as one of the fastest-growing tech companies in Canada.
Now 15 years old, A2M’s backers include Desjardins Venture Capital, based in Montreal.
Location: Ottawa
URL: www.epocal.com
CEO: Dr. Imants Lauks
Blood tests, those staples of modern healthcare, could get a lot simpler if Epocal has its way.
Closely held Epocal has created a lab on a card. Its disposable wireless EPOC smart card, which won approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in October 2006, works with a PDA to analyze blood at the patient’s bedside.
In April, the six-year-old company closed on a $31-million Series C financing round led by Dallas-based Highland Capital Management, with participation from prior investor Genesys Capital Partners, based in Toronto. That followed earlier venture rounds worth about $7 million and a $2.5-million venture loan from MMV Financial.
Extend Media
Location: Toronto and Newton,
Massachusetts
URL: www.extend.com
CEO: Jim Geary
For ExtendMedia, convergence is the name of the game.
The company helps content deliverers manage digital assets. Customers include Clickstar, which lets broadband subscribers watch first-run movies, and Cablevision Systems, a cable firm offering broadband video on demand.
Backed by venture capital heavyweights Venrock, Atlas Venture, and TVM Capital, ExtendMedia offers OpenCase, which gives clients digital tools like storefronts, media players, and digital rights management controls.
The company offers its services in licensed software and hosted versions.
As IPTV (Internet Protocol TV) moves into the mainstream, ExtendMedia should gain traction. Among its IPTV clients are cable channel Showtime and giant retailer Wal-Mart.
General Fusion
Location: Bowen Island, British Columbia
URL: www.generalfusion.com
CEO: Doug Richardson
When it comes to hot companies, none is quite as sizzling as General Fusion.
General Fusion’s ambition is nothing less than to harness the process by which the Sun provides heat and light and adapt it for earthly reactors. Unlike fission reactors, fusion reactors would produce no nuclear waste.
General Fusion’s road map? Build a demonstration machine capable of producing some fusion reactions that can aid in studying shock waves. In phase two, build a reactor that will produce enough fusion reactions to produce as much energy as it consumes. In phase three, they will work to turn the prototype into a real-world power generator.
High risk? Yes. High reward? Definitely.
OZ Communications
Location: Montreal
URL: milestonepharma.com
CEO: Jim Knapik
OZ Communications couldn’t have picked a better neighborhood to hang out. The Montreal-based company provides an array of software to manage email, instant messaging, and social networks on mobile phones, tapping one of the hottest areas of growth in the information technology universe.
OZ has lined up an impressive array of customers, including Motorola, Siemens, Sony Ericcson, and Samsung among the handset makers, and carriers like Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T, and Sprint.
CEO Jim Knapik sees the rise of social networks as the next big opportunity
for OZ because consumers like to connect to social networks using mobile phones. The company has raised $61.3 million in two rounds from the likes of Vantage Point, Quebec’s Caisses de depot et placement, and Fonds de Solidarité FTQ.
Location: Victoria, British Columbia,
and Seattle
URL: www.mixpo.com
President: Anupam Gupta
Wish you could hire documentary maker Ken Burns to shoot a promotional video of your business, but don’t have the budget?
Mixpo may have the answer.
The software lets users insert videos, still photos, links, and comments into a “Mixcard” that can be inserted into a business web site, blog, or social network.
The service is designed to make it easy for professionals and operators of small businesses like real estate agents, restaurateurs, and tour operators to showcase their businesses.
Backers include Madrona Venture Group, based in Seattle, and Canadian venture firms GrowthWorks, Yaletown Venture Partners, and Springbank TechVentures.
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia
URL: www.nowpublic.com
CEO: Leonard Brody
The wisdom of crowds or the madness of crowds?
Whichever it is, NowPublic Technologies has struck a chord with its citizen journalism site.
The company is the parent of NowPublic.com, one of the most active sites that let volunteers post news stories and images on a web site and rate them on their merits. Meanwhile, the web site acts as a showcase for the parent company’s citizen journalism software platform.
In July, NowPublic reportedly passed up acquisition offers and closed on a $10.6-million A round from Brightspark, GrowthWorks, New York City-based Rho Ventures and Rho’s Montreal-based affiliate.
NowPublic faces competition not only from professional news organizations, but also from “crowdsourcing” rivals like Newsvine, NewAssignment.net, and South Korea’s Oh My News.
Octopz
Location: Toronto
URL: http://www.octopz.com
CEO: Ron McKenzie
Octopz is in the business of
collaboration.
The startup, backed by Toronto-based GrowthWorks, helps creative professionals in fields like advertising, architecture, film, television, and radio work together in real time on a project online.
Users enter a virtual meeting room. There they can use integrated voice, text messaging, and webcam communications tools as they modify documents, from standard spreadsheets and word-processing documents to video, audio, and Flash files.
The product, publicly launched in April, costs $99 (U.S.) per month for a basic small business license. Competitors include online collaboration and conferencing companies like WebEx.
Tantalus Systems
Location: Vancouver
URL: www.tantalus.com
CEO: Dominic Geraghty
The “smart grid” is coming. An aging electric power infrastructure and increased stress on conservation mean that utilities around the world are seeking to introduce meters and remote monitors into the distribution grid that can help manage outages, ensure power quality, and adjust loads.
That’s where Tantalus Systems comes in. The company makes two-way, real-time data networks that help control electric, gas, and water utilities.
In 2005, Tantalus closed on an $8.7-million round from Altira, ARC Energy Venture Fund 4, British Columbia Discovery Fund, and Sanders Morris Harris Group, bringing the total funding from that syndicate to about $23 million.
In July, the company announced it
had raised $18.5 million via a private placement to a group of European
investors.