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.
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.
TORONTO, Canada (April 24, 2013) — Flybits Inc. announced today that Forrester Research Inc. has recognized Flybits, a Toronto-based start-up company, as a tool for on-demand marketing processes in a recent report.
The February 2013 Forrester report, written by Anthony Mullen, “Emerging Touchpoints Require a Marketing Mind Shift,” states that to master the new basics, marketing professionals must increase corporate spending on innovation and formalize working relationships in areas such as customer experience, analytics, IT and product design — all of which the Flybits framework addresses.
To address the problem of information overload on mobile devices, Flybits unifies the mobile user experience across multiple channels, creating a cohesive mobile presence for a company’s communication needs. Rather than introducing heterogeneous mobile channels to users, all relevant information can be structured within Flybits Zones — semantic-driven, rule-oriented geo-fences.
Start-up launches Indiegogo campaign to change future of mobile typing
TORONTO, March 18, 2013 — Whirlscape Inc., a Canadian tech start-up, has developed Minuum, “the little keyboard for big fingers.”
Updated: The company has now cleared its $60,000 stretch goal to build a wearable development kit. Read the Mobile Syrup follow-up story.
Minuum’s crowdfunding campaign was covered by the Financial Post, CBC News, CTV News, the Toronto Star and Metro Morning (radio interview). They also did a second spot on CTV News‘s Tech Tuesday report and were featured on Global TV’s The Morning Show.
The story was also picked up by Fast Company, Mashable, CNET, TechCrunch, TechCrunch Japan, TechVibes, Huffington Post, Toronto Standard, BlogTO and Mobile Syrup.
Minuum is a tiny, one-dimensional keyboard that frees up mobile screen space while allowing fast, accurate typing. Its specialized, patent-protected auto-correction algorithm corrects highly imprecise typing.
This algorithm, based on the touchscreen and wearable device research of company founders, Will Walmsley (researcher) and Khai Truong (associate professor) at the University of Toronto, configures the difference between what you type and what you mean, in real time, getting it right even if you miss every single letter.
TORONTO, Canada (Feb. 14, 2013) – Flybits, a start-up company that develops context-aware and intelligent mobility solutions, today announced that they will be exhibiting at Mobile World Congress 2013 to launch a revolutionary mobile product called Flybits LITE.
Flybits LITE, an innovative Platform as a Service (PaaS), enables the quick creation and deployment of context-aware mobile computing applications for enterprises without the dependency of dedicated infrastructure. This unified and scalable platform, which provides personalized and relevant content to mobile users, will be officially launched and showcased throughout the Mobile World Congress event.
Hossein Rahnama, CEO of Flybits, a MaRS Innovation spin-off company, appeared on CBC’s Lang and O’Leary Exchange on August 24, 2012.
Watch Rahnama’s interview on CBC’s Media Player. The interview begins at the 13:40 mark and runs to 19:30.
Rahnama, who is also a professor at Ryerson University and and research director at Ryerson’s Digital Media Zone, was recently named to the MIT Technology Review’s prestigious 35 Inventors Under 35 list for 2012 along with fellow MaRS Innovation inventor Joyce Poon.
He describes his context-aware mobile technology, the importance of adapting research to solve real-world problems, the advantages to running a start-up in Toronto, and growing Flybits while keeping the business in Canada.
Professors Joyce Poon and Hossein Rahnama, who each have inventions within MaRS Innovation’s portfolio of spin-off companies and licenseable technologies, have been named to the MIT Technology Review‘s prestigious 35 Inventors Under 35 list for 2012.
Poon, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Toronto, was recognized for, according to MIT’s Technology Review, “creating new optical modulators with microscopic loop-the-loops through which light can shuttle data between servers and even from chip to chip within a single server.” She is working with MaRS Innovation to license her technology.
TORONTO (May 22, 2012) — Flybits CEO and Founder Hossein Rahnama was among the entrepreneurs of Ryerson University’s Digital Media Zone (DMZ) to meet the Prince of Wales and demonstrate his cloud-based and context-aware software solution.
Flybits Inc., a Mars Innovation spin-off company from Ryerson University where Rahanama is a professor and research director of the DMZ, has developed an innovative, context-aware software as a service framework called FARE (Flybits Activity Recognition Engine).
It allows mobile application developers to rapidly build intelligent mobile applications that address the needs of multiple vertical markets without excessive infrastructure requirements.
TORONTO, ON (Jan. 25, 2011) —Doctors, nurses and administrators can now access electronic health applications on mobile, hand-held technology through VitalHub Corp..
The unique start-up company was spun-off from mobile health technologies developed Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital, thanks in part to $300,000 in seed financing from MaRS Innovation that will give it a crucial head start in the fiercely competitive mobile IT health sector.
MaRS Innovation invests in the most commercially promising discoveries emerging from its member institutions, which include 16 of Toronto’s leading universities, hospitals (such as Mount Sinai) and research institutions. This funding commitment rounds out a sizeable seed round of financing for VitalHub.
Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus, West Tower
108 College Street, Suite 530
Toronto, ON M5G 0C6
info@tiap.ca