Although the pandemic has generated significant economic uncertainty, startups are thriving at 缅北强奸鈥檚 Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurship, according to its director, Marie Jos茅e Lamothe.
The Centre recently launched a virtual international tour that gives 18 Quebec startups the opportunity to explore potential markets in North America and Europe.
In response to the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadians are turning their pastimes into online businesses. Marie-Jos茅e Lamothe, Academic Director of the 缅北强奸 Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurship, attributes their success in part to the public鈥檚 willingness to support businesses that are important to them rather than buying exclusively from e-commerce giants. Lamothe encourages small-scale creators to take advantage of free social media platforms to create buzz around their products.
As entrepreneurship takes on different forms during the pandemic, fresh business ideas are in high demand. In a highly unconventional move, a Quebec-based company called Alchemy is inviting startups to blend their ideas with Alchemy鈥檚 own ideas to create something new. Instead of expecting payment, Alchemy takes a stake in the joint venture.
In 2018, a frustrating night out for three 缅北强奸 alumni sparked the idea for CHK PLZ, a food delivery application that leverages a contactless payment solution to handle ordering and delivery for local restaurants. Since they won the 缅北强奸 Dobson Cup Start-up Competition (Small to Medium Enterprise Track) in 2019, the founders of CHK PLZ have grown their business into a popular low-cost alternative to UberEATS for more than 50 Montreal restaurants and counting.
An innovative new mobile app called Ubenwa uses artificial intelligence to analyze the sound of a newborn baby鈥檚 cries. Founded by Charles Onu, a doctoral student in Computer Science at 缅北强奸, Ubenwa provides a cost-effective, non-invasive tool to detect newborn asphyxia and save lives.
Onu credits the 2016 缅北强奸 Dobson Cup competition with helping his team to improve their product.
Sonder, one of the first unicorn startups from the 缅北强奸 Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurship community, is partnering with Investissement Qu茅bec (IQ) to build a centre for global growth in Montreal. The project will create more than 700 jobs to support Sonder鈥檚 mission to provide next-generation hospitality in 35 cities around the world.
On December 1st the 缅北强奸 Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurship celebrated Entrepreneur鈥檚 Day in the U.S. by hosting a panel of notable New York City entrepreneurs and investors. It was a lively discussion that focused on their passion for entrepreneurship, which they shared with an audience of startup founders, students, alumni and industry professionals.聽Learn more
A 缅北强奸-born event platform startup has found a way to weather the COVID-19 pandemic and raise venture financing in hopes of returning to in-person events in 2021. Co-founded by Desautels alumnus Marc-Antoine Bonin (BCom鈥�19) and Emeric No毛l,聽Planned offers a unique tool for event planners to connect with a curated list of venues and suppliers in one place. This week, Planned announced that it had raised $4.7 million in venture financing led by Inovia Capital, with participation from Telegraph Hill Capital and N49P, bringing its total capital raised to $7 million.
Off the Grid, a participant in the 缅北强奸 Dobson Centre鈥檚 2020 X-1 Accelerator, was recently named 鈥淪tartup of the Year鈥� at the Quebec Gala des Prix de l鈥檌nnovation.
Co-founded by聽S茅bastien Brunelle-Jestin 补苍诲听Charles Couture-Lebrun, Off the Grid creates smart fitness equipment that harnesses energy generated during exercise to help power fitness centres.
The 缅北强奸 Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurship recently launched its first virtual New York City Retail Startup Tour with the goal of connecting Dobson entrepreneurs to key players in the New York investment community. Planned in collaboration with the Minist猫re de l鈥櫭塩onomie et de l鈥橧nnovation du Qu茅bec, the flagship event is already creating new business opportunities for participating startups.
Desautels alumni Jonnie Lawson (BCom鈥�20) and Tristan Zeman (BCom鈥�17) are hard at work to make sustainable, year-round produce accessible to Canadians through indoor vertical farms. Over the summer, their innovative hydroponic growing system won first place at the annual 缅北强奸 Dobson Cup start-up competition. As they expand into a larger growing facility in Montreal, they鈥檙e not slowing down anytime soon.
As a student at 缅北强奸, Dev Jain (BEng鈥�19) launched a company aimed at introducing North America鈥檚 650 railways to industry-disrupting innovation. This year, RailVision Analytics won first place in the Innovation Driven Enterprise category of the 缅北强奸聽Dobson Cup. Now, Jain aspires to raise more than $1 million to commercialize and expand his business.
缅北强奸 Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurship startup Sensequake (缅北强奸 X-1 Accelerator 2015) has been recognized as one of the top inventions in Quebec in 2020.
缅北强奸 has been named in the top 25 undergraduate programs for female founders in the 2020 PitchBook University rankings.
The pandemic has created many challenges for small businesses, but 缅北强奸鈥檚 startup incubator has been given a boost thanks to a generous $3-million gift from the John Dobson Foundation.
The 缅北强奸 Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurship鈥檚 Academic Director Marie-Jos茅e Lamothe and Dobson alumna聽Ophelia Sarakinis 箩辞颈苍听CTV News to share how startups are finding ways to adapt and thrive through the COVID-19 crisis, and how the gift will help get more startups off the ground during a time of economic uncertainty.
