THIS WEEK IN TECTORIA

Our Tectorians of the Week are: Flytographer, RingPartner & SilkStart!

These three local Victoria companies are in Kelowna right now connecting with Silicon Valley investors at Metabridge 2016. Out of 109 applicants, they have made it to the top 15!

Pitches started yesterday and went extremely well for all three. The event continues through today. VCs and serial entrepreneurs found at Metabridge come from leading companies such as Google, AngelList and Omers Ventures.

Investment opportunities, strategic partnerships and mentorship from leading tech entrepreneurs are a few key items these startups hope to receive in order to take their businesses to the next level.

We wish them the best of luck! GO TECTORIA!

The Metabridge 2016 Top 15 Startup companies are: Brightsquid (Alberta) Chalk (Ontario) Communitysift (British Columbia) Dive (Ontario) Drop Loyalty Inc. (Ontario) Flytographer (Victoria, BC) Lynk Jobs Ltd. (Kenya) Nobal Technologies (Alberta) Open Channel (Ontario) RentMoola (British Columbia) RingPartner Inc. (Victoria, BC) SilkStart (Victoria, BC) TalentClick (British Columbia) Tapplock (Ontario) Turnstyle (Ontario)

Our Tectorian of the Week is: Tectoria Venture Partners!

Tectoria Venture Partners commissioned and released the findings of a detailed survey on the current state of Victoria’s tech ecosystem this past week. The report, Victoria Angel / Micro-VC Fund Analysis, was the result of interviewing 41 key stakeholders in the tech community, with the purpose of gathering both the qualitative and quantitative data needed to determine whether a sizeable angel fund could be sustained in Victoria, BC.

The conclusion was that the city’s buzzing tech sector could easily sustain a $20-30 million angel fund, spurring the intent to launch Tectoria Venture Partners!

Tectoria Venture Partners is a new investment management initiative seeking to found an angel / micro-VC fund based in Victoria, run by Victoria’s prominent angel investors, and investing in the top high technology opportunities in Victoria and elsewhere.

Click here to read the full press release and to access the report! Way to go Tectoria Venture Partners, and, TECTORIA!

FreshWorks Studio has been slowly and steadily defining their niche in the Victoria startup ecosystem. Samarth, Mod and Rohit Boolchandani founded FreshWorks to bring cross platform mobile and web application development with their keen sense of UX/UI design to the budding entrepreneurs.

With their recent contracts to build apps for the City of Victoria, Chatterblock and the Vancouver International Wine Festival… it’s no wonder why FreshWorks Studio is our Tectorian of the Week!

April 29 was the official launch party to announce their arrival in the highly competitive mobile arena. Their hard work and pursuit for excellence has been well received in the Victoria community which is evident from the rave reviews on Clutch from the past customers and the positive interactions with their current customers.

Victoria’s tech community is a small tight community where word of mouth trumps any paid advertisements. Their perseverance, dedication and passion for their craft is unmatched. For them, it goes without saying that it would not have been possible without the support from the community in terms of mentorship, expertise and opportunity.

Congratulations to FreshWorks Studio on their recent success! We just know it’s a matter of time before they’re among the impressive VIATEC Awards Finalists in years to come!

 

Our Tectorian of the Week is: Checkfront!

They just announced a collaboration with Google Cloud Platform that will combine the power of Google’s infrastructure with Checkfront. Google cloud is used by great companies such as Shopify, Snapchat, Wix and Fullstory.

Under the program Google has generously contributed $100,000 to help grow Checkfront’s infrastructure! This money will allow them to continue to scale their real time online booking system. Additionally, Google is working directly with their team for technical training, architecture overviews and mentorship.

A big congrats to the entire team at Checkfront!

Read the full news release here.

Our Tectorian of the Week is: Change Heroes!

Change Heroes made an impression at the Victoria stop of the 2016 Fundica Roadshow, winning the audience vote AND the judge’s selection for the grand prize! As a result of a very strong pitch in front of a panel of VCs, Angels, banks and government organizations, Change Heroes wins roundtrip airfare to pitch to investors in the valley, 3 months office space in San Francisco, plus cloud and accounting packages to help their business.

Change Heroes is the leader in peer-to-peer fundraising, and now they’re helping as many fundraisers as possible to visit the site of their impact, to meet locals, to build the house, to walk the halls of the schools. With the help of their video-first fundraising technology platform, their charity partners raise four to five times their typical amount while building a strong millennial donor base.

Congratulations to Change Heroes! Learn more about them here.

Our Tectorian of the Week is: Tourism Victoria!

The team at Tourism Victoria have been very busy with press outreach lately. Because of their efforts, Victoria was featured in The Toronto Star and Vogue Magazine articles… in the same week! This is huge press for “Cool Victoria”.

On April 3rd The Toronto Star published an article titled “Cool Victoria is no longer for the ‘newlywed and nearly dead.‘” The author explored the city and interviewed local entrepreneur Bruce Livingstone of Stocksy United as he descriped the quality of life and that Tectoria is good for business. Shout outs were also given to popular establishments including Hotel Zed, Little Jumbo, Smoking Lily and the Fairmont Empress.

And today our sleepy eyes got bright with the realization that Vogue Magazine 1). Knows where Victoria is, and 2). Knows all about “Tectoria”.

Titled “Why Victoria, British Columbia, Should Be Your Next Weekend Getaway,” this article covers Victoria’s great climate, real estate market, hospitality and tourism, and of course, the entrepreneurial spirit of our 900+ tech company city, Tectoria.

Sit back, have a read, be proud of where you live and thank Tourism Victoria for going the extra mile to attract new visitors to our home. If you don’t like it when more visitors flock to your home, then we apologize for shedding a light on these tragic stories.

Go Tectoria!