Gemba Software Solutions and Repable Inc., two companies that originated in New Brunswick in the past couple of years, have been named to the prestigious Canadian Innovation Exchange Top 20 for 2016.
The CIX, a national organization that recognizes leaders in innovation, announced its latest winners last week. They will be honoured at a ceremony at the MaRS Discovery District in Toronto on Nov. 22.
“Companies were chosen based on a number of key factors including product/service offering, depth of management, market opportunity, and business model,” said the CIX in announcing the winners. “Our jury of investors and technology experts examined hundreds of applicants and have deemed [these] companies the 20 most innovative of 2016.”
Gemba Software is a Saint John-based startup that helps big business employees navigate their company’s operations. The company was spun out of tech company Innovatia and in September 2015 received $1.5 million in funding from Innovatia and the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation.
Led by CEO Daniella Degrace, Gemba has created a Software-as-a-Service product that addresses the problem of multinational corporations being so big that employees can’t find their way through all the divisions or understand what they do.
The company’s ProcedureFlow software provides visual process maps that offer new employees and others the ability to quickly navigate their way through the company’s operations. The product, which features small hyperlinked flowcharts, reduces training time, delivers a consistent message to employees, and lets team members update the content.
Operating out of Moncton and Toronto, Repable collects and analyzes data on eSports, or competitive gaming, a fast-growing international phenomenon. It’s estimated some 200 million people will watch competitive gaming this year.
Co-Founders Heather Anne Carson and Sean Power teamed up last year and knew they wanted to do a Big Data venture. Eventually settled on eSports. Earlier this year, they took the venture through the Propel ICT Build Program.
ESports is growing so quickly that major consumer product brands want to use it as a marketing vehicle, but they don’t know how. Major TV networks want to broadcast it. It’s an opportunity to reach a young audience that doesn’t usually watch television, let alone read newspapers. But these brands don’t have firm metrics on who or what to sponsor or how to approach this new craze.
Atlantic Canada has been well represented in the CIX the past two years. Three Atlantic Canadian companies – LeadSift and SkySquirrel Technologies of Halifax and RtTech Software of Moncton – made the Top 20 in 2015.
The other Atlantic Canadian companies that have made the list were ClearRisk of St. John’s in 2011; Celtx of St. Johns and LiveLenz of Halifax in 2012; and SmartSkin Technologies of Fredericton in 2013.
The other winners of the CIX 2016 Top 20 are: Blue J Legal, Toronto; CareGuide Inc., Toronto; Drop Loyalty Inc., Toronto; Exact Media, Toronto; Finn.ai, Vancouver; Instant Financial, Vancouver; LANDR, Montreal; LEAGUE Inc., Toronto; Medella Health, Kitchener; Overbond, Toronto; SweetIQ, Montreal; TritonWear Inc., Toronto; TrustPoint Innovation Technologies, Ltd., Waterloo; Unata Inc, Toronto; Wantoo, Vancouver; ZEITDICE INC., Toronto; Zensurance, Toronto; and Zoom.ai Inc., Toronto.
