After gestating for 14 months in SwiftRadius Inc.’s innovation incubator, Adeptio Inc., an achievement planning software company, has been launched in Charlottetown, complete with a round of seed funding from private angels.
The cloud-based software-as-a-service company helps a client’s employees achieve better results in life, in terms of their professional performance, long-term ambitions and personal health.
“There are essentially two verticals,” said Griffin, referring to productivity enhancement and wellness programs. “What we’re discovering is that gaps in one vertical can be filled in and strengthened by strengths from the other.” The idea is that the software can help employees plan to increase their productivity at work, which in turn allows them the time for exercise and other beneficial pursuits that boost their health and work performance.
The software includes what Griffin calls a “two-way interactive” calendar, which can overlay on other electronic calendars, and can be used on the user’s phone, tablet or PC so it is always available to him or her.
Though Adeptio is officially in its first month, it has an interesting history because it grew out of the internal accelerator of its parent company. Ten-year-old SwiftRadius, based in Fredericton, is largely a tech consultancy, advising major companies on software architecture, systems development, business analysis etc. Like several consultancies, it sees a market for some of the technology it develops but marketing SaaS products within a consultancy-based operation is difficult to do. SwiftRadius solved this problem by setting up an innovation incubator. If any of its 50 employees develop an idea that could stand as a business, it can be developed through the incubator and be spun out to form its own company. Adeptio is such a venture.
“The innovation program has allowed us to triage over 40 ideas from our team and our consulting clients over the past two years,” said SwiftRadius CEO Scott MacIntosh. “Adeptio is the result of the merger of two of these ideas combined with significant bootstrapping effort.”
Griffin led the development of the Adeptio technology within SwiftRadius and chose to base the new company in his native P.E.I. The company is already gaining traction, and has signed a channel partner, or a re-seller of its service, in Houston, Texas. Griffin also said the company is close to signing its first major corporate client.
It already employs seven people, each of whom worked at SwiftRadius for at least five years and helped to incubate Adeptio for at least one year. Griffin expects the team will increase to 12 members by year’s end.
“The SwiftRadius innovation program was an ideal environment for the incubation of Adeptio,” said Griffin. “The gated innovation process was key to transforming Adeptio from a conceptual vision to an innovative company with a bright future.”
The company is now focusing on attracting interest from corporate America and will soon hire a sales person in Boston to target the New England and New York markets. That will complement the existing partner in Texas, who will cover the southern states.
Griffin declined to say how much money he raised from investors, stating only that it was a significant sum and that the backers were not associated with SwiftRadius.
