A month after revealing it’s attracted an impressive set of investors, Qimple has been accepted into one of the best-known accelerators in the world.
The Moncton online recruitment company is one of about 30 startups that will attend the coming cohort of 500 Startups in San Francisco.
Qimple CEO Yves Boudreau found out Monday that his company had been accepted, and he leaves Saturday to attend the 14-week program. He said it will be an experience that could alter the course of his company’s development.
“I’m very level-headed in that I don’t get overly excited or down about things, but this is something I’m ecstatic about,” said Boudreau.
“This is probably going to have the most impact for us of anything we’ve done, if we leverage it properly. It’s an amazing way to start the new year.”
Qimple, which graduated from the Launch36 accelerator in June, makes the hiring process easier for recruiters and applicants due to its applicant tracking system and proprietary candidate-scoring tool. Since making Qimple available to the private sector last year, it has seen more than 100 companies sign up and processed more than 4,000 job-seeker applications.
Last month, the company said it was on the verge of closing a $600,000 equity funding round from such investors as the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation; BDC Venture Capital; Dan Martell, founder of Clarity in Moncton; Patrick Hankinson, CEO of Halifax’s Compilr; and Sanjay Singhal, the CEO of Toronto’s audiobooks.com.
Qimple is the first Atlantic Canadian company to be accepted to 500 Startups, though there are generally five or six Canadian initiatives in each of its 30-team cohorts. Since its inception, more than 800 startups from 40 companies have passed through the accelerator.
Qimple is part of a growing movement of the region’s startups seeking mentorship in major accelerators outside the region. Brownie Points, a St. John’s, N.L., startup, just completed its training at FounderFuel of Montreal, and QRA Corp. of Halifax has just been accepted into Disruption Corp. (founded by former 500 Startups exec Paul Singh) in Washington, D.C.
Boudreau visited San Francisco in November and ended up touring the 500 Startups facility and working there for a few days. He then applied.
The company will receive a US$100,000 investment on joining the accelerator, and will be given work space in San Francisco for the 14-week duration of the course. In May, Boudreau will pitch his company at the 500 Startups DemoDay, which is attended entirely by potential funders.
On Tuesday, he sat his six colleagues down and explained to them what acceptance into the program means: in all their fundraising from here on, Qimple will be able to bill itself as a “500 Startups company,” which groups it with some firms that have raised tens of millions of dollars.
“It’s a badge of honour to be a 500 Startup company,” said Boudreau.
“I’ve made two investor calls since we found out we made it in, and just knowing that completely changes the tone.”
Disclaimer: Entrevestor receives financial support from government agencies that support startup companies in Atlantic Canada. The sponsoring agencies play no role in determining which companies and individuals are featured in this column, nor do they review columns before they are published.
