This year’s Collision is set to be an interesting one, illuminated against a backdrop of controversy and hype.
Is the “Olympics of Tech,” as Politico has put it, waving goodbye to Toronto?
For now, Collision is staying put, with plans to return for 2024. Still, the tension stirred by a possible move—further electrified by other factors of uncertainty such as Canada’s economy and rapid advances in tech—should make for a riveting week of knowledge-sharing and networking.
Slated to run June 26th through 29th, this year’s Collision features a range of financial technology innovators looking to reshape traditional industries in Canada.
Below, we highlight eight startups based in the Vancouver area who are making the trek eastward to grab their slice of pie in Canada’s 2024 tech Olympics.
OVOU
By tapping an OVOU card on any smartphone, users can instantly share a curated professional profile and contact information, setting a new standard for networking and reducing paper waste. Bootstrapped to profitability, OVOU currently facilitates over 10,000 new connections daily and has seen impressive user adoption across organizations like RE/MAX.
OVOU won the top prize of $110,000 at the 2022 New Ventures BC Competition, presented by Innovate BC. The competition brings together emerging BC startups who receive access to education, mentorship, and community while they compete for $250,000 available in cash and prizes.
Techcouver named OVOU one of ten Homegrown B.C. Startups to Watch in 2023.
Dyne
Dyne helps restaurants maximize their resources across the entire business by centralizing data on their customers, operations, and competitors to provide cutting-edge insights, automatically saving money and boosting margins.
In 2021, Dyne was developing its AI product. In 2022, the startup joined UBC’s HATCH Venture Builder. Later that year, the company pitched on-stage at Collision in Toronto.
Earlier this year, the B2B startup secured an oversubscribed seed round.
Now Dyne plans to further develop its analytics platform, which helps restaurants analyze sales, inventory, and customer data while providing recommendations to help restaurants make better-informed decisions.
Dyne also intends to further research and develop machine learning models in order to provide precise revenue forecasting, pricing, and customer sentiment analysis.
Econommi
Econommi is charting a new course in the auto-leasing business as it heads into its fifth year of operation. With over $1 million in total active leases and a tech-enabled business model, the company is challenging traditional notions of vehicle financing and ownership.
The model’s core is a concept named LeaseTokens. When an individual leases a car, the cost of the car is split into LeaseTokens, which can be invested in by econommi’s clients. These LeaseTokens are securities that represent shares in a lease contract, providing the owner with rights to monthly payments from the lease and are backed by the value of the vehicle.
Econommi partners with car dealerships to accelerate sales, promising a 30-minute contract processing time. Thanks to proprietary technology, back-office paperwork and regulatory reporting are simplified, allowing dealerships to enjoy lower administrative fees and an improved customer approval rate.
Movmint
In a world where access to finance can often be the gatekeeper to opportunities, Movmint says money is the fabric of society. With this in mind, the BC fintech wants to change how we clothe the world.
The company’s vision of a better world doesn’t stop at the individual; it extends to nations as a whole.
Movmint’s journey began as a small team with a shared vision. Experience in fintech, digital currencies, and enterprise blockchain fuelled passion for leveraging technology to improve people’s lives. The result is the world’s first retail Central Bank Digital Currency in production, the Sand Dollar.
Movmint strives to reimagine sovereign money for nations, looking to empower businesses in a digitally evolving ecosystem and redefine how billions of “underbanked” people worldwide interface with money. They do so by partnering with Central Banks and Governments to construct digital money infrastructure.
The company’s Central Bank Digital Currency solution boasts zero system downtime and is built on a proprietary hybrid architecture, demonstrating security, scalability, and interoperability, according to the firm.
From the ground up, founders say Movmint is “human-centric by design” as it takes into account the needs and circumstances of everyday users, enhancing financial inclusion by making adoption straightforward.
ShareWares
Launched as the pandemic pivot of a business struggling to stay afloat during the COVID lockdown, ShareWares has innovated citywide sharing/borrowing systems for reusable packaging to now be accessible, inclusive, and rapidly scalable.
They aim to do so by making reusable packaging borrowing services convenient and accessible so borrowing becomes the default choice for all packaging selection.
ShareWares developed a platform that pairs technology with current city infrastructure to allow reusable cups and food containers to be bought, returned, tracked and processed for resale, at a time when sustainability continues to be an increasing priority for Canadians.
Earlier this year ShareWares was selected to participate in the 2023 Google for Startups Accelerator Canada program.
Capiche
Capiche is pushing to transform the private placement process. Founded on a deep-rooted belief in transparency and equal access to investment opportunities, the fintech aims to facilitate capital raising and investments in a more efficient, cost-effective, and public confidence-inspiring way using modern technology.
Capiche’s platform is designed to simplify the capital raising process, making it swifter but still compliant. By entering corporate details and financing terms, companies can launch an offering, while investors are guided through the investment process to e-sign documents that Capiche automatically generates.
For example, Capiche can make it possible for businesses to hit tight financing windows, minimize reliance on advisors, and maximize proceeds for achieving corporate objectives. It also opens up access to an untapped pool of investors by accommodating subscriptions from a larger number of investors using existing security holder and other prospectus exemptions.
For investors, Capiche has streamlined the investment process. The digitization of the process has a simplifying and expedient effect. More over, transparency ensures that investors have confidence that the offering complies with securities laws and stock exchange policies.
Leasey
Among the vibrant tech-scape of Vancouver, Leasey is a budding platform using AI to give time back to property managers and landlords.
Leasey aspires to relieve the challenges of an overburdened property market, where supply struggles to meet surging demand, and labour shortages and staff turnover add further trouble. With a blend of automation and accessibility, the NVBC Competition finalist is aiming to disrupt the traditional property management realm.
Leasey acts as a digital right-hand of property managers, allowing them to fill tenancies with 70% less effort and in less time. The platform streamlines steps along the leasing process, liberating teams to concentrate on high-value tasks—and hopefully improving the tenant experience.
But how does it work? The Leasey platform offers a multifaceted service that incorporates property onboarding, listing promotion, lead pre-qualification, showing scheduling, tenant screening, and document handling.
Withe
Withe’s SaaS platform is designed for enterprises that hire hundreds to thousands of people at the same time, such as staffing and recruiting teams in the tourism and hospitality industry.
Withe reduces interview time by 82%, providing enterprise hiring teams with seamless scheduling and better utilization of their most valuable resource: time.
Industry leaders who rely on Withe for virtual hiring fairs experience notable decreases in time-to-hire and improved efficiencies across the board.
Earlier this year Withe raised a pre-seed round led by San Francisco-based Focal and plans to use the funds on further expanding its technical team and building its roadmap.
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