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Y Combinator-backed Whirlscape closes $500,000 seed funding round

Minuum keyboard creators accelerate wearable device input technology development

Screen Shot 2014-01-21 at 11.26.56 AM
Whirlscape, Inc., creators of the Minuum keyboard, closed an seed funding round of $500,000.

TORONTO, Canada (February 6, 2014) — Whirlscape Inc., creators of Minuum, “the little keyboard for big fingers,” have closed an investment seed round for just over $500,000 (USD). Y Combinator, FundersClub, BDC Venture Capital, and a dozen other prominent angel investors have contributed to the round.

Whirlscape’s plans for the capital involve innovating beyond its participation in Silicon Valley’s start-up accelerator Y Combinator. Whirlscape also aims to consolidate the success of its Minuum keyboard for Android touchscreen devices—available on Google Play—whose positive reviews have boosted sales since the New Year.

See articles of Whirlscape’s seed funding announcement by Darrell Etherington in TechCrunchIan Hardy in BetaKitRob Lewis in TechVibes and Global University Venturing.

Since launching the Minuum keyboard in 2013, Whirlscape has grown to a dedicated team of 10 working to enable new ways to type, and to unify input methods across the rapidly emerging field of wearable and ubiquitous computing devices such as smart watches and Google Glass. Whirlscape has recently demonstrated the Minuum keyboard working on Samsung’s Galaxy Gear smart watch.

“Our vision for the future of hyper-personalized input devices involves letting you choose your companion device for its input capabilities,” said Will Walmsley, CEO of Whirlscape. “By simplifying the concept of the keyboard, we allow text entry to occur in places where it was previously unthinkable, removing barriers to communication. Your keyboard can now be anywhere you want it to be, out of the way, yet immediately accessible.”

Whirlscape, Inc. was in the first cohort of UTEST, the MaRS Innovation and University of Toronto accelerator program for early-stage technologies. UTEST is now accepting applications for their third cohort.

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TechWomen Canada selects UTEST co-director for Silicon Valley program

Lyssa Neel
Lyssa Neel, co-director of UTEST and MaRS Innovation project manager

MaRS Innovation’s (MI) Lyssa Neel, co-director of the UTEST program and project manager, has been selected to represent MI’s ICT start-up companies at the TechWomen Canada program in San Francisco, which runs May 13 to 16, 2013.

The announcement was covered in TechVibes:

TechWomen Canada is run by the Canadian Consulate and is focused on providing Canadian women leaders in the ICT sector an opportunity to expand both professional and business networks in Silicon Valley.

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University of Toronto: Snapshot of Toronto’s Entrepreneurship Scene

Toronto Skyline at Night
Toronto Skyline at Night.

The University of Toronto’s news site has posted a brief snapshot of Toronto’s entrepreneurial scene, highlighting the university’s historical and current innovative strengths.

Here’s a brief excerpt:

Entrepreneurs don’t have to be in Silicon Valley to become the next great business success story. Toronto now ranks fourth among the world’s top 25 start-up ecosystems, according to Start-up Genome, a project that maps the success rates of start-ups. Toronto ranks just behind Silicon Valley, New York City and London.

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