L-SPARK Selects First Six B2B Software Startups to Join Inaugural Incubator Session

OTTAWA, ON – L-SPARK has selected six new SaaS and cloud software startups to join their inaugural Incubator program that begins this month. Following an application process that attracted 300 startups from the Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa areas, 13 companies were selected to participate in a private Pitchfest held at the end of March. The selection committee at that Pitchfest included representatives from Microsoft, BDC, IBM, OpenText, the Capital Angel Network, Naavon Capital and Wesley Clover International.

After a full day of presentations and deliberation, six successful companies were chosen and notified of their acceptance into the Incubator session. The diverse set of enterprise software startups cater to a variety of markets and target customers, from interior designers through to physicians:

Mydoma Studio is a customizable eDesign portal that enables interior design professionals to collaborate with their clients and better manage their projects. Built by Interior Designer Sarah Daniele, the online tools include a contract management utility, messaging service, storage and management of product catalogs and shopping lists, and more.

Cliniconex is a patient reminder and survey application designed by founder and CEO Anthony Mar. The software integrates with popular electronic medical records (EMR) solutions to enhance patient scheduling tasks. Cliniconex is available to the market today, and already serves the needs of more than 500 physicians.

Advantage Connect Pro was founded by Matthew Rock, and is now an official Adobe Solutions Provider and partner of both Microsoft and Blackboard. ACP offers a hosted application that integrates telephony and learning management systems.

ZINation was founded by David Ker, and provides an add-on utility for Shopify (and Etsy) users who require flexible tools for outbound merchandising of goods from within their e-commerce storefront.

Punchtime, co-founded by Yves Eggleston and Chris Desjardins, is a software solution that helps businesses keep track of their employee’s time and location. The app also integrates with existing accounting packages to help automate payroll. It’s simple to use and works on most smartphones.

And last but certainly not least, Target Fuel offers an easy-to-use platform that simplifies the delivery of targeted web site content, driving up conversion rates while lowering the increasing costs of inbound marketing channels. Founder Chris Corman is confident this cloud-based solution will remove the current dependencies within these tasks on technical teams, website coding and not-always-simple website updates.

The Ottawa-based companies will move into L-SPARK’s office space for four months starting immediately, and there they will have access to a range of key resources. For example, per L-SPARK’s high-touch mentoring model, each company will be paired one-to-one with an experienced mentor who will actively support the startup’s executive team.

Participation in the Incubator will open many important doors for these companies. L-SPARK will provide multiple opportunities for the companies to pitch their businesses to angel investors and VCs over the four months, in a bid to secure that all-important seed capital.  The founders will also meet one-on-one with L-SPARK’s strategic partners, including Google, Microsoft, Citrix, OpenText, Mitel and IBM to identify customer and/or partnership opportunities.

The journey begins now.