Communitech has named four startups to the second cohort of its Rev accelerator, which is designed to help companies with traction accelerate revenue growth.

The Kitchener-based startup hub earlier this year launched the six-month accelerator to help develop up to 10 growth-stage companies at a time, and the first cohort graduated eight teams. Now Communitech has enhanced the program by staggering the intake and naming four dedicated Executives-in-Residence to the program.

“We’re excited to bring customized sales and marketing coaching to the new cohort,” said

Rev program manager Marylin Ma in a statement. “This is driven by dedicated domain expert EIRs who will work with the unique challenges of each company and customize relevant learning sessions.”

The four companies named to the cohort are:

•        BluePoint Technology, whose product Kindera allows parents to supervise their home Internet from their smartphone. Kindera is a wireless router that parents install in their home to manage their children’s online activities through an easy-to-use web service.

•        Knowledgehook, a cloud-based math software that helps teachers and school boards improve student outcomes by increasing their engagement with the material and helping teachers implement a strong assessment process.

•        FunnelCake, which provides B2B marketers with insights into marketing influence across their entire funnel. FunnelCake aggregates data from existing sales and marketing apps and helps marketers make decisions faster with more accurate data.

•        TallyFi, which has built a high-tech replacement for the mechanical counter used to count people at nightclubs, festivals and events. The company’s purpose-built hardware is used by security staff and provides real-time statistics of entrances and exits, along with time-stamped logging and deep analysis of past data.

The Rev program is still a six-month program but now admits as many as five companies at a time to allow for smaller, more intimate groups.  In three months, it will announce another cohort, ensuring that the current group overlaps the one coming in. The more seasoned founders can then provide peer-to-peer mentorship for the rookies.

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The mentorship has also been enhanced by naming four EiRs, each of whom specializes in a key discipline. They are:

·         Heather Galt, former Vice-President of Marketing at Kik Interactive;

·         Daryl Sherman, serial entrepreneur focusing on commercialization and sales with a diverse background in the life sciences, medical, and consumer packaged goods sectors;

·         Jeff Fedor, who specializes in product and design and has more than 20 years’ experience in startups and software as founder of Covarity and co-founder of Ardesic and ParkVu;

·         And Steve McCartney, Vice-President of the Startup Services Group at Communitech, a leadership expert whose previous roles include President and CEO at Bering Media Inc., Partner at Tequity Inc., and President and CEO of Atria Networks LP.

The first cohort ended in September with five companies pitching at the Centre Stage celebration, and explaining how they would hit $25 million in revenue in five years. Nicoya Lifesciences captured the $50,000 first prize at Centre Stage, while Bridgit and PiinPoint tied for the $25,000 second prize.

“Building off of feedback from the companies in the first cohort, we will closely follow each company’s progress, analyzing where things are working and where things are breaking down,” said Ma. “The goal of this approach is to drive the companies to be focused on rapidly refining and optimizing their sales and marketing engines.”