MaRS

Jolt Demo Fest Showcases Six Startups: Hypejar, Stylekick, Flee, PUSH, Singspiel, and FlyerFlo

From wearable technology products to reimagining advertising flyers, tech-driven entrepreneurs gave their best pitch last night  at the Jolt Demo Fest in Toronto as the accelerator showcased its most recent cohort of early stage startups.

"The surge of interest in impact investing is a relatively recent phenomenon, although the practice of deploying capital with the intent to create measurable social and environmental benefits encompasses and builds on decades of market-oriented international and community development, and microfinance. "

"The Scotiabank EcoLiving Innovators Award valued at $15,000 was awarded to Quinzee from Toronto , Ontario, a company that built a web and mobile application to enable Ontarians with smart meters to be smarter homeowners. Using consumer social benchmarking as a motivator for influencing efficient energy choices and behaviours, consumers can easily track and compare their energy use for free."

On June 6, MaRs Data Catalyst announced it would be releasing a report on June 20, featuring information gleaned from the data of 34 different accelerators and interviews with 11 accelerator managers.

"A new convergence of startups and Internet companies has come together to provide other early-stage companies with the tools required to get up and running quickly, and most importantly, cheaply. It's sort of like a Humble Indie Bundle, except instead of gaming, GetStartupTools.com offers software from Wave, Box, MailChimp, Zendesk, Uberflip and General Assembly that most brand new internet companies would need or at least appreciate."

"Figure1 is a new photo-sharing network specifically for health professionals: cute cats, vacation scenes and other mainstays of social media are nowhere to be found."

"Dr. Joshua Landy is envisioning a new way for doctors to learn from one another. A Toronto-based intensive care physician by trade, Landy is the co-founder of Figure 1, a "crowdsourced photo sharing app for health care professionals." Launched just two weeks ago, the iPhone app is already populated with images both clinically significant and arguably beautiful -- without even the benefit of a filter."