The new Invest Ottawa business acceleration program officially launched yesterday. Forty dynamic technology startups spent the day at Bayview Yards, taking their first steps to becoming Ottawa’s next global player. This program is designed to rapidly and systematically accelerate the development and commercial success of high potential, high growth technology firms in Canada’s Capital. The forty selected Ottawa startups include:

• 76Engage
• Aetonix
• AirShare
• Bluink
• Botmock
• Brighter Sight
• ChangeJar
• Contextere
• Desk Nibbles
• Ecovena
• Evolved Vehicle Environments (EVE)
• Fanshare Sports
• Fellow Insights
• FreightPath
• GameStrat
• Go-For
• Homicity
• iBIONICS
• Incuvers
• Klashwerks
• Kwilt
• MasterpieceVR
• Mindbliss
• Noibu
• QuickSilk
• ReDock
• Rewind
• RVezy
• SmartCone
• SMATS
• Snapclarity
• Spiderwort
• Stripe.tv
• The Growcer
• The Yoak
• Transparent Kitchen
• Trualta
• Trycycle Data Systems
• Welbi
• Wicket

Editor’s note: Our Accelerator Program accepts applications on an ongoing basis. Since the publishing of this article, we have welcomed four new startups to our program. They are:

• CybernetIQ
• FranchiseBlast
• Phzio
• Torochain

Since the launch of the application process in May, Invest Ottawa has received almost 100 applications for this new accelerator program. Leveraging a robust adjudication process, a panel of four expert evaluators assessed each submission based on criteria such as:

• Value proposition of the company;
• Technology and product readiness level;
• Product validation to date; and
• Commitment of the founding team.

Over the next 12-18 months, the current cohort will leverage this new business acceleration program to build a scalable and globally competitive technology company through four stages of development. To graduate from the program, companies must:

• Be well positioned to pursue late seed or Series A investment;
• Establish a go-to-market strategy for international markets; and
• Cultivate a well-rounded founder and management team.

Nick Quain, Vice-President of Venture Development says,

“The calibre of applications for our new accelerator exceeded our expectations. The combination of some of our brightest stars (previously incubated at Invest Ottawa) and a wave of new entrepreneurs have created an amazing first cohort of companies.  We have 40 of the best early-stage firms in the city that will serve as the inaugural participants of this new accelerator program. And with targeted programming, top mentors and access to specialized entrepreneurship resources, we are really going to turn up the heat and show the world that Ottawa’s tech ecosystem is at the forefront of innovation”.

Learn more about our new acceleration program here.