Southern Ontario Spotlight - September 2019

When it comes to movers and shakers in community economic development, Wendy Curtis stands front and centre. The high-energy Executive Director of Northumberland Community Futures Development Corporation (CFDC) is responsible for leading a number of progressive programs and services out of Cobourg’s Venture13 innovation and entrepreneurship centre, including DELIA, its latest venture. Curtis was featured on myFM radio, providing an opportunity to talk about how her vision is creating a vibrant and growing entrepreneurial ecosystem. FedDev Ontario supported the CFDC’s successful N1M program for high-potential start-ups, as well as the Collaborative Economic Development Projects initiative, which was pivoted to be industry-focused with excellent results. Northumberland and 14 other CFDCs are now benefiting from a $15 million investment to support the Rural Innovation Initiative Eastern Ontario.

VoxNeuro, a Hamilton-based start-up, has earned its spot on the Branham300 list of Canada’s top 25 up-and-coming tech companies for 2019. The young company operates out of The Forge— McMaster University’s start-up incubator and a FedDev Ontario funding recipient. VoxNeuro developed the world’s first real-time brain function assessment that provides clinicians with a customized rehabilitation plan for a faster, focused recovery. This is the first time that VoxNeuro has been included on the up-and-comers list, joining another FedDev Ontario-funding recipient, Kitchener’s Bridgit. The full Branham300 list features a number of other top ICT companies that received FedDev Ontario funding, including eSentire, NexJ Systems, ExactEarth, Thoughtwire, Alayacare, and Martello.

Business Retention and Expansion International (BREI) has recognized the efforts of regional partners to study the area’s agriculture and agri-food business climate. FedDev Ontario funding recipient, the Corporation of the County of Simcoe, received the 2019 Multi-Community with a Population over 100,000 Award at the BREI annual conference. The study was a true partnership between 47 municipalities, business support agencies and not-for-profits, including previous funding recipient Nottawasaga Futures. The study partners conducted standardized interviews with local agriculture and agri-food businesses to gain vital insights into opportunities and challenges to better support the sector.

When the Digital Finance Institute released its Top 50 FinTech Companies in Canada for 2019 list, more than a few FedDev Ontario-funding recipients were named. Two of the FedDev Ontario-supported companies, cybersecurity firm eSentire and online-investment management firm Wealthsimple, have been recently making headlines and were featured on other prominent lists. The top 50 were selected based on factors that measured product innovation, disruption of a service, scalability and growth adoption. We acknowledge other current and past recipients Hockeystick, Finaeo, Koho, Lending Loop, Payment Rails, Ratehub.ca, Security Compass, Wave and Shopify, and congratulate all of the innovative Canadian companies who have made the list.