Technoël 2016 & the Last Demo Night of the Year
Montreal NewTech Closes Out 2016 in Style
December 15 marked the final DemoNight of the year for Montreal NewTech. This time around, Sonder hosted the proceedings at their Saint-Urbain street offices, with delicious sustainable food from Kiffin.
The evening kicked off with a word from our fearless leader, Mr. Ilias Benjelloun, who thanked everyone for packing the house despite the frigid -18 degree weather that night!
And after his year end address it was time for the first demo of the night; Gift-Time.com. It’s a powerful tool especially for this time of year. You can make lists of items that interest you as gifts, in many cases with just one click. Rack up all the items you’re interested in and share them easily with friends and family by email or Facebook to make holiday shopping easy.
Gift-Time has partnered with Amazon, Hudson’s Bay, Etsy and Ebay allowing direct integration from those popular shopping sites to their platform. They even offer the option to crowdfund gifts in the event their users have expensive taste! Check them out before you finish your Christmas shopping this year.
Second on the docket; Local Logic. This is a tiny startup with big potential based in Pointe St-Charles. They define themselves as data services company that provides location scores, urban metrics and heat maps to real estate companies and online travel websites.
This is particularly useful when relocating to a new city, or just visiting one, as they score different neighbourhoods with a walk-rating. That helps people determine what area they will stay in based on access to schools, restaurants, public transit and more. Check them out here.
On to our next presenters who offer a really cool new product for motorcycle enthusiasts, RideMetry. Their product is called RideBox, and it’s simply a small electronic device riders add to their motorcycle. Powered by the vehicle’s battery, the device sends a signal to authorities automatically in the event that the rider goes off the road or has an accident.
This device also has multiple uses beyond the safety aspect. It alerts the vehicle owner if their bike is stolen or tampered with. It records user data and telemetry for the riders. RideBox can also act as a navigation system and help with the maintenance of the motorcycle through its diagnostic capabilities. The product is currently in beta testing, so if you’d like to test it out with them come spring you can sign up to do so on their website.
Next up, Blocksense. They are currently researching, developing and building applications for the next generation of network software using Blockchain and other peer2peer technologies.
It’s complicated stuff, and a number of people in the crowd asked for clarification on just what the endgame is for Blocksense.
Essentially they are trying to help large ecosystems create some standardization using BlockChain technology. I was reminded of a talk I once saw Malcolm Gladwell give on the standardization of containers in the shipping industry. So, it’s a bit like that but for the digital age!
Last but certainly not least, our gracious hosts Sonder gave us their presentation. As you may know by now, Sonder brings hotel hospitality to the sharing economy. Rent one-of-a-kind dwellings in unique neighborhoods and find the same consistent standard of quality inside: high-end kitchen and bath essentials, and 24/7 concierge service. They differentiate themselves from their competitors in this space because they have a strong emphasis on quality and comfort during your stay.
They recently raised a significant series A round of funding and are growing by leaps and bounds.
After these presentations there were a few words from other members of the community including Les Pitonneux, Ferst Capital Partners FinTech Studio and a number of others who briefly explained what they’re working on. In the case of Les Pitonneux, it’s a skills incubator in Montreal for people learning to code online. They help you on your way to your first job as a developer.
Ferst Capital on the other hand provides early stage venture capital and support to Canadian founders building disruptive FinTech companies. The studio itself offers entrepreneurs expertise in operations and investing as well as a strong network, useful resources and other services.
Once the presentations were all done it was off to Le Drink for an evening of celebration. It seemed like turnout was in the hundreds, which was amazing for such a frigid night. The place was packed and a good time was had by all. There were many networking opportunities both at the club and at Sonder thanks to the presence of investors, entrepreneurs, coders, marketers and other enablers of Montreal’s vast startup ecosystem. It’s been an amazing year in Montreal, in fact the day of the party Hopper announced $82M in new funding raised. Just the latest big win for the city, and the best is still to come in 2017!
Happy holidays to all from the entire Montreal NewTech team, and see you in the new year!
