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…
Onyx Motion’s digital coach Swish featured on Canada AM
UTEST company Onyx Motion‘s lead product, Swish — a basketball virtual coach that currently works with Android Wear smartwatches to help basketball athletes to improve their shooting technique and emulate their heroes — was featured on Canada AM this morning.
Watch the clip of Onyx Motion’s Swish on Canada AM, CTV’s flagship morning show. Product feature plays after advertisements and begins at 1:40 mark.
Think you’ve got an equally great software-based idea for a start-up? UTEST is currently recruiting for its fourth cohort.
Tom Emrich, a Toronto-based consultant and blogger who specializes in mobile, tablets and wearable technology, presented Swish to Canada AM hosts Marci Ien, Beverly Thomson and Jeff Hutcheson using a Sony SmartWatch 3.
“The application takes your form, measures it and, using the motion sensor of the smartwatch, compares it to experienced players’ data and provides you with a tip,” Emrich explained. “It’s really trying to make sure your next shot is going to be a slam dunk.”
Onyx Motion is part of UTEST’s third cohort. The incubator program, which MaRS Innovation co-directs with the University of Toronto. UTEST is currently recruiting companies to its fourth cohort.
Onyx Motion to appear on NextGenDen, web-based Dragon’s Den CBC show for mobile and Internet companies
UTEST company Onyx Motion, makers of an Android wear app called Swish that provides digital coaching for sports like basketball, will appear on CBC's NextGenDen. UPDATED! You can watch the…
Toronto Star features Minuum keyboard’s successful iPhone product launch
UTEST graduate Whirlscape was featured in Raju Mudhar’s Toronto Star article, “Toronto’s Whirlscape debuts tiny Minuum keyboard on iPhone,” which examines the company’s successful launch of their innovative, one-line keyboard for Apple’s iOS 8.
The UTEST program, co-directed by MaRS Innovation and the University of Toronto’s Innovations & Partnerships Office, gives nascent software companies start-up funding, office space, mentoring and business strategy support. Whirlscape was among the program’s first cohort.
The article was published October 6, 2014. Here’s an excerpt:
An Indiegogo success 18 months ago, the company created a tiny keyboard called Minuum for Android devices. Now, iOS and the vast Apple market beckoned. It required new hires, a couple months of round-the-clock development, and a practical rebuilding of their product from scratch so it could be ready to launch with iOS 8. All the work paid off: in the first two weeks of availability, they have sold more than 30,000 apps to the new iPhone audience.
Whirlscape exits beta, launches version 2.0 of the Minuum keyboard
Whirlscape Inc., a graduate of the University of Toronto Early-Stage Technology (UTEST) program’s cohort graduate, exits beta with the version 2.0 release of Minuum, their hit “small keyboard for big fingers.”
Whirlscape Inc. graduated from the University of Toronto Early-Stage Technology (UTEST) program’s first cohort. UTEST is accepting applications for its third cohort until April 17. Click here to apply.
Version 2.0’s release is already a popular download for Android Apps in the Google Play store. Users can get a 30-day free trial of Minuum and experience new features, including a widely anticipated addition of a Brazilian Portuguese language module, the company’s most requested language.
Will Walmsley, Whirlscape’s CEO, spoke with Daniel Bader of MobileSyrup. Here’s an excerpt from the article:
“We’re constantly testing out new features and improving the disambiguation algorithms,” says Will Walmsley, CEO and co-founder of the company he started at U of T’s Dynamic Graphics Project lab. The company raised $500,000 in seed funding earlier this year, and under the advisement of Y Combinator, began releasing often, trialling new features in what they call Bonus Panels, secondary functions that quickly allow users to change languages, add emojis and more.
Whirlscape’s Minuum keyboard debuts at #2 on Google’s Top New Paid Apps list
The Minuum keyboard, which made its public debut in the Google Play Store on August 21, 2013, has already reached #2 position in Google’s “Top New Paid Android Apps” list. The keyboard is the only non-game currently in that list’s top 10.
In the “Top Paid in Android Apps” general category, Minuum is already #9. The keyboard, made by Whirlscape Inc., has a four-star rating among users.
Whirlscape releases Minuum keyboard beta to early users
10,000 Indiegogo supporters first to try one-dimensional, virtual mobile keyboard
TORONTO, Canada (June 18, 2013) — Whirlscape Inc., creators of Minuum, “the little keyboard for big fingers,” today released the Android beta to the nearly 10,000 supporters who funded the keyboard’s wildly successful Indiegogo campaign.
The Minuum Project campaign raised over $87,000 (USD) through the crowdfunding platform between March and April 2013, well past its initial goal of $10,000. Whirlscape promised to release the hotly anticipated Minuum beta two months after the campaign, and has delivered on that promise.
Minuum’s beta launch to its Indiegogo supporters was covered by TechCrunch, TechCrunch Japan and Mobile Syrup. Whirlscape’s technology was also highlighted in a VentureBeat article on the future of typing.
The product was also reviewed on TechVibes and the Android Police blog: “Minuum Keyboard Beta: Good enough to renew my faith in crowd-funded campaigns.”
Minuum is a tiny, linear, one-dimensional touchscreen keyboard that re-imagines the standard QWERTY layout. It frees up mobile screen space while allowing fast, accurate typing. This touchscreen keyboard marks the first phase of the Minuum Project, which seeks to simplify typing on mobile devices—such as smartphones and tablets—and enable typing for wearable technology. The beta release is an important first step towards Minuum’s “type anywhere” future.
Mobile Syrup announces Minuum keyboard to launch “early next week”
The Minuum Project has achieved such international buzz that even the news of a beta launch from Whirlscape Inc. without a firm date generated media interest.
Mobile Syrup, one of the first technology outlets to report on the company’s Indiegogo campaign, filed a post on next week’s beta release launch by Ian Hardy on June 14, 2013:
Toronto-based Whirlscape developed Minuum, the one-dimensional simplified keyboard for smartphones, tablets and wearable technology. This idea gained a great deal of attention back in March when they went live on crowd-funding site IndieGogo. […]
Those who backed the initiative were promised early access to the beta app for Android sometime in June. Minuum seems to be on track as we’ve been informed that the beta app for Android is scheduled for release “early next week.”
Five UTEST companies to tackle critical healthcare challenges
Program’s second cohort includes eQOL, E-Twenty Development, Root2Crown, Treata Smart Solutions and TrendMD
TORONTO (May 14, 2013) — Five companies tackling pervasive healthcare challenges — such as assessing dental health, helping patients and medical personnel navigate hospitals with greater ease, staying current with medical literature, or creating digital tools to help care for the elderly or those with chronic health conditions — have been admitted to the University of Toronto Early Stage Technology (UTEST) program’s second cohort.
UTEST, supported by the University of Toronto’s Connaught Fund, Innovations & Partnerships Office (IPO) and MaRS Innovation (MI), is part of a growing system of incubators and commercialization support services at U of T.
Two companies in UTEST’s second cohort, E-Twenty Development Inc. and Treata Smart Solutions Inc. are participating in Canada 3.0 at the Metro Convention Centre May 14 and 15, 2013, in Toronto.
This announcement was covered in PE Hub.
Each company will receive up to $25,000, incubation space in the MaRS Discovery District, mentoring and business strategy support to develop protectable intellectual property, launch their products and gain market traction. They are also eligible to become clients of MaRS Discovery District’s ICE or Healthcare practices.
UTEST seeks scalable, enterprise-focused software applications interested in building business-to-business customer bases — and preferably operational products with a short term to market. The program is co-directed by Kurtis Scissons (U of T IPO) and Dr. Lyssa Neel (MI).
The second cohort has big shoes to fill. UTEST’s first cohort has collectively secured over $1.2 million in follow-on funding and currently employs 29 highly skilled people (HQPs). Each company also filed solid patent protection and most have secured customers. Notably, Whirlscape’s Indiegogo campaign secured over $87,000 in crowd-sourced product funds from nearly 10,000 users, and was featured in the Financial Post, TechCrunch, Mashable and The Verge, among other global media outlets.
Minuum’s crowdfunding campaign raises 873 per cent of initial goal
Over 9,600 people funded Toronto start-up’s one-dimensional mobile keyboard
TORONTO, Canada (April 18, 2013) — The Indiegogo campaign for Minuum, “the little keyboard for big fingers,” created by Whirlscape Inc., has closed after raising $87,369 in one month.
Minuum is a one-dimensional, tiny keyboard that frees up mobile screen space while allowing fast, accurate typing. Its specialized, patent-protected auto-correction algorithm allows highly imprecise typing, configuring the difference between what you type and what you mean in real time and getting it right even if you miss every single letter.
Read about the Minuum launch and reaching its $60,000 stretch milestone in previous posts. The posts include links to Minuum’s international media coverage. Most recently, their technology and Indiegogo success were featured in The Verge, the Financial Post, Mobile Syrup (includes an excellent Youtube interview with founder Will Walmsley, embedded below) and Tech2.
The campaign’s initial goal — $10,000 to fund the launch of an Android keyboard app — was reached within 14 hours. Since its launch on March 18, the campaign video has been viewed over 1.1 million times.
Did you know Minuum’s campaign is in Indiegogo’s top 10 of all time for projects with the largest number of supporters?