BY SYDNEY SAVAGE
Toronto has become a hotspot for new ventures. While the city has always seen a lot of acclaim, in recent years there has been an influx of success in the business world. Here are five of Toronto’s most successful and buzzworthy startups to watch.
Drop
Drop is a finance tech company that helps people to get more out of using their debit and credit cards. Users can link their cards to the Drop app and get points every time they make a purchase at one of the participating businesses. These include popular establishments such as McDonalds and Starbucks. The app is free and once set up, all there is left to do is earn. Last year, Airbnb’s former director of engineering, Ian Logan joined the Drop team. Users may see some changes in the next year.
Ritual
Ritual is a food ordering app that makes work lunch breaks easy peasy. Users order and pay to have their food ready to pick up when they arrive. What makes Ritual different is it gives friends and colleagues the ability to add their own orders onto the original one. The person who chooses to pick up the order obtains points which can go towards a future order. Ritual has signed with over 100 restaurants across Toronto, and that number continues to grow. Recently, the team has mentioned plans of expanding into the U.S.
Rumie
Rumie is making history by combining technology and kind hearts. It is a non-profit company that curates free online education for underprivileged children. It utilizes an army of volunteers who find the best free and available content to add to Rumie’s Learn Cloud. The platform has been instrumental in giving refugees in places such as Turkey and Syria the ability to gain basic education. The Rumie initiative has won awards including the MIT Solve award and the Google Impact challenge award.
Set Scouter
Set Scouter is an online marketplace that connects filmmakers to their perfect set location. It’s essentially an Airbnb for film crews. The founder, Alex Kolodkin, created the company because of his past struggles finding locations while working in the film industry. One of their biggest clients was production company, The Field Inc, who were able to secure a location in record time for its client Hedley. The location was used in the pop-rock band’s music video for their song, “Anything”.
Koho
Koho is an app and card service that makes keeping money easier with a variety of savings and monitoring options. The service is partnered with Visa and The People’s Trust and works similar to a regular debit card, but includes far more perks. The app allows users to create savings plans for whatever they desire, choose an amount and how much they would like the app to automatically contribute weekly, daily or monthly. This is just one of the many features Koho offers and it is always adding new ways to help users manage their money effectively.
Vancouver born creator, Daniel Eberhard has been working in the last two years to launch Koho and has gained funding from some of the biggest names in business. A couple of notable mentions are David Tedman from Hootsuite and Scott Lake of Shopify.
ALPHA Collision Startup is a program for early-stage startups, typically within the software or connected hardware spaces. If you’re selected, you’ll get three tickets to Collision, and therefore the opportunity to access Investor Meetings, Mentor Hours, PITCH, pitching masterclasses, startup workshops, talks on our Startup University stage and far more – all for CAD $790 excluding taxes.