Founder Institute Global Startup Awards 2016: Vote for Your Favorite Canadian Startup Today

Since 2014, Founder Institute has helped Canadian talented entrepreneurs launch over 100 businesses across Canada (See 2016 Canadian Impact Report). Globally, the impact reaches over 2000 businesses across six continents. These Graduates made great strides in 2016, raising over $100M in funding.

At the FounderX event on May 22-24, a private gathering of the Founder Institute’s Global #FIworldwide network, we will announce the winners of the 2016 Graduate Awards and celebrate the founders that made significant progress of the past year.  

Below are the Canadian candidates for the awards, and they include some of the Founder Institute’s most promising companies, having secured notable traction across the team, product development, adoption and investors last year.

Who do you think should win the 2016 Global Graduate Awards? Cast your votes below, or check the full list to see all of the FI Canadian Graduates nominated this year. 

Canadian List of Nominees for the 2016 Founder Institute Global Startup Graduate Awards

Best Female CEO 

1. Bridgr CEO Amira Boutouchent (Montreal FI Graduate) - A service that helps small and medium-sized companies find experts to fix operational problems, Bridgr launched their beta with 5 manufacturing pilots. Bridgr joined the HEC - National Bank of Canada accelerator and is member of the Canadian delegation for the G20 Young Entrepreneurs' Alliance.
2. The Food Room CEO Amélie Morency (Montreal FI Graduate) - A company that provides food businesses with culinary coworking facilities via an online booking platform, Food Room raised $750k and secured an investment on the hit show Dragon’s Den.

Best in Canada

1. Unito (Montreal FI Graduate) - Unito builds software to seamlessly connect and integrate various business apps. They raised $575k in 2016 from Real Ventures, Right Side Capital, and more.
2. deepPixel (Toronto FI Graduate) - Deeppixel Inc. creates a software solution to help B2C businesses increase sales using AI based conversational bots. In 2016, they raised $250k in funding.
3. Logrr (Montreal FI Graduate) - An identity-as-a-service platform for large corporations,  Logrr launched three major pilots in 2016 and landed banking giant Barclays as a customer. Logrr raised a seed round from Colorado-based Rockies Venture Club as well as Techstars.
4. Hykso (Montreal FI Graduate) - A wrist-worn sensor and analytics platform for athletes that was accepted into Y Combinator and raised +600k$, Hykso was used by the USA National Boxing Team in preparation for the Olympics.
5. Wishpad (Toronto FI Graduate) Wishpad is a platform that connects people with their dream home by smart comparison mechanics. They landed an important strategic partnership with ToSolds.
6. SpaceiShare (Toronto FI Graduate) - A marketplace that allows people to offer their empty physical spaces as storage for people who need the room, SpaceiShare joined the MergeLane accelerator and are eligible for $120k in funding.
7. The Food Room (Montreal FI Graduate) - A company that provides food businesses with culinary coworking facilities via an online booking platform, Food Room raised $750k and secured an investment on the hit show Dragon’s Den.
8. Find BoB (Toronto FI Graduate) - Find BoB enables independent financial advisors to buy & sell a financial practice and protect their book of business. In 2016, they grew revenue substantially. 

Best in Frontier Technology  

1. deepPixel (Toronto FI Graduate) - deepPixel Inc. creates a software solution to help B2C businesses increase sales using AI based conversational bots. In 2016, they raised $250k in funding.
2. Airvinci (Toronto FI Graduate) - A hardware company building a personal helicopter backpack, Airvinci tested their prototype last year, which was met by a widespread media excitement.

Best in Hardware/ IoT   

1. Hykso (Montreal FI Graduate) - A wrist-worn sensor and analytics platform for athletes that was accepted into Y Combinator and raised +600k$, Hykso was used by the USA National Boxing Team in preparation for the Olympics.

Best in Health/ Fitness 

1. Hykso (Montreal FI Graduate) - A wrist-worn sensor and analytics platform for athletes that was accepted into Y Combinator and raised +600k$, Hykso was used by the USA National Boxing Team in preparation for the Olympics.
2. Mobio Interactive (Waterloo FI Graduate) - A mental health online avatar community allowing youth and teens to access third party vendors, peers and games, Mobio Interactive launched a guided meditation app in 2016.

Best in Fintech

1. Find BoB (Toronto FI Graduate) - Find BoB enables independent financial advisors to buy & sell a financial practice and protect their book of business. In 2016, they grew revenue substantially. 

Best in Enterprise Tech

1. Logrr (Montreal FI Graduate) - An identity-as-a-service platform for large corporations,  Logrr launched three major pilots in 2016 and landed banking giant Barclays as a customer. Logrr raised a seed round from Colorado-based Rockies Venture Club as well as Techstars.
2. Bridgr (Montreal FI Graduate) - A service that helps small and medium-sized companies find experts to fix operational problems, Bridgr launched their beta with 5 manufacturing pilots. Bridgr joined the HEC - National Bank of Canada accelerator and is member of the Canadian delegation for the G20 Young Entrepreneurs' Alliance.

Learn more about Founder Institute Graduates, and be sure to vote for your favorite FI Canadian Grads in the 2016 Graduate Awards.