•  

Whirlscape

Dango: The emoji predicting app

Emojis are widely used among several social networking platforms. Choosing the right emoji can sometimes be a challenge. With Dango, the choices are generated for you. Thinking is no longer necessary. Whirlscape, the creator of Minuum (the one-row keyboard) and a graduate of the UTEST program, has created this messaging app that associates words with corresponding emojis and GIFS through the use neural networks. Dango has been featured on Android Police. Dango is a floating assistant that runs on your phone and predicts emoji, stickers, ... Read more

MI’s Joel Liederman on CanadaAM to talk product development

Joel Liederman, vice-president of Physical Sciences, appeared on CanadaAM April 5, 2016 to talk about how to make a product. The interview is part of CanadaAM's "What's Next" segment on technology and entrepreneurship. He and host Beverly Thomson discussed the process for moving from a napkin to a prototype to a market-ready product, including market testing, prototyping, soliciting more customer feedback, and eventually product launch. "Marketing a product is a lot easier now than it used to be," said Liederman. "In the ... Read more

UTEST cited among Toronto’s top 10 tech accelerators

UTEST, the tech accelerator co-directed by MaRS Innovation and the University of Toronto, was named to BlogTO's Top 10 list of technology accelerators on November 8, 2015. The list was published just weeks before the announcement of the fourth UTEST cohort, and included recognition of TrendMD and Whirlscape as notable startups among the graduated UTEST companies. Here's the excerpt: UTEST, a collaboration between U of T and MaRs Innovation, is in its fourth year of operation with 15 teams. The program is one year ... Read more

Law firm partners with UTEST program to offer legal advice to early-stage startups

TORONTO, ON (August 10, 2015) — Toronto-based law firm Aird & Berlis LLP (A&B) has become the sponsoring legal partner to the University of Toronto Early-Stage Technology Program (UTEST). This partnership was covered in TechVibes, Law Times and the Financial Post's Legal Post blog. UTEST is a 12-month incubation and acceleration program co-managed by the University of Toronto (U of T) and MaRS Innovation that allows selected U of T-affiliated early-stage startup companies to incorporate, use office space, receive mentorship and access $30,000 ... Read more

How to get accepted into the UTEST start-up incubator: Drive and differentiation

UTEST is now accepting applications to Cohort 4 Editor's note: As of today, the University of Toronto Early-Stage Technology (UTEST) program, which MaRS Innovation co-directs with the University of Toronto, is accepting applications for Cohort 4. The full application is available on the UTEST website.  In meantime, it's our pleasure to reprint Brianna Goldberg's "day-in-the-life-of-an-entrepreneur" feature on Cohort 3 company Nvest, published for U of T News. Jackie Yan focuses on tweaking his PowerPoint slide deck despite the chaos unfolding around him. Near the ... Read more

Portfolio round-up: UTEST, Nvest and Whirlscape news

Sometimes there's so much happening with the MaRS Innovation portfolio that it's hard to stay on top of all the news. Here are a few UTEST program stories that we missed in February. UTEST was named to FundThrough.com's list of "6 Exciting Canadian Startup Accelerators to Watch in 2015." Program co-directors Mike Betts and Kurtis Scissons point out that UTEST does take an equity position in the incubated companies and does not run on a grant basis as mentioned in the ... Read more

MaRS Innovation’s top 10 portfolio stories for 2014

MaRS Innovation enjoyed an exceptional year in 2014. Our team continues to collaborate with researchers within our membership to help bridge the commercialization gap between their world-leading research and creating successful start-up companies or licenses. Here are our picks for the top 10 news stories from MaRS Innovation's portfolio. 1. Triphase Accelerator Corporation, in which MaRS Innovation is an investor, started the year with a bang by signing a collaboration and option agreement with Celgene Corporation. In October, Triphase initiated a Phase I clinical study ... Read more

Whirlscape develops predictive keyboard for Will.i.am’s wearable Puls cuff

Whirlscape, makers of the Minuum keyboard, have developed a small, predictive keyboard for Will.i.am's wearable Puls cuff. The company is a graduate of the UTEST program's first cohort. The Puls, announced by the musician and entrepreneur on Wednesday, October 15, 2014 at the Salesforce.com's Dreamforce conference in San Francisco, is expected to be released in time for the 2014 holiday season. The Puls announcement and Whirlscape's involvement were covered by Mashable. Mashable's Karissa Bell describes how Whirlscape's keyboard integrates with the Puls: Puls uses a ... Read more

Minuum launches iOS 8 keyboard, expanding product to Apple users

Whirlscape, a graduate of the UTEST program's first cohort (co-managed by MaRS Innovation and the University of Toronto), has launched their little keyboard for big fingers to Apple users. The software, released to coincide with Apple's iOS 8 launch, is part of Whirlscape's larger efforts to develop typing solutions for wearable devices, including smartwatches, Google Glass and other applications. The Minuum product launch for iOS was covered in TechCrunch, The Next Web and Mobile Syrup, among other tech blogs, and was mentioned in ... Read more

Whirlscape releases Minuum version 2.11, teases for iOS 8 launch

Whirlscape, graduates of the UTEST program, made tech headlines last week by releasing a teaser of Minuum, their one-line, mobile keyboard for wearable devices, running on an iPhone. The announcement and teaser gif were covered in TechCrunch, SlashGear, MobileSyrup and AndroidGuys, among other tech outlets. From input, the Minuum blog: We’ve embraced the design philosophies of iOS to refine Minuum into an elegant typing experience centred around our incredibly powerful autocorrect. (more…) Read more
Page 1 of 41234