#ICYMI: MaRS venture news for June and July 2015

August 11, 2015

Summer is in full swing and our local entrepreneurs are working as hard as ever, raising financing rounds, garnering big media attention, launching new products and even winning global awards!

Here is just some of the news and media coverage about startups in the cleantech, information and communications technology (ICT) and health spaces from the months of June and July.

Notable news

In early June, Universe (previously Uniiverse), an event planning and discovery startup, announced that it was acquired by Ticketmaster.

Universe provides event organizers with easy-to-use marketing and management tools. The company was recently acquired by Ticketmaster.

Health venture Xagenic, the developer of a lab-free diagnostic platform, raised a $15-million financing round in mid-July.
In early July, cleantech venture Nanoleaf was granted a Global Efficiency Medal for Lighting from the SEAD Initiative.

Media coverage

ITBusiness.ca published a great piece featuring Nanoleaf and WatrHub, two local cleantech ventures, and Wealthsimple, a local financial technology venture in MaRS’ FinTech cluster.

Startup founders — Founders from local startups Nanoleaf, WatrHub and Wealthsimple.

Cleantech

Nanoleaf’s ever-stunning LED light bulbs were featured on “Breakfast Television Toronto” for a segment on summer patio decor.
This piece on how SunFarmer is helping to rebuild Nepal using solar power is a must read.

SunFarmer provides solar energy solutions to communities around the world.

Health

eSight goes viral again with a heart-touching video of a legally blind woman from Windsor, Ontario, seeing her son for the first time. The company is now the poster child for how to make your company go viral—read more in this BetaKit article. To top it off, eSight announced in late July that it is planning to go public.
Rip n Go’s Adrian Campbell was interviewed on CBC Radio in Thunder Bay.
Figure 1 was featured in a “CTV News” segment on health apps.

ICT

The Financial Post published a great profile on Twenty One Toys.

Ilana Ben-Ari, founder of Twenty One Toys.

A great video profile of Ariel Garten, CEO of InteraXon, appeared on Bloomberg Business.
JOLT alumnus teaBOT was featured in a profile and video on TechCrunch and also on FWx.
JOLT alumnus Taplytics launched a new “smart push” feature for users—read more in this VentureBeat article.