Waterloo, October 25, 2017 – Canada’s Open Data Exchange (ODX) has launched their second investment into the Ontario startup ecosystem through the ODX Ventures program. Through a planned $438,000 investment into 10 Ontario-based companies, the program aims to accelerate data-focused projects which have traditionally struggled to secure funding.

ODX Ventures is a non-repayable contribution of $50,000 that is applied to projects involving the commercialization of open data. ODX is focused on companies who use open data to create a product or service.

Ten companies out of over 80 high-quality applications were chosen to participate in the program’s second cohort, and include: Apply Board, Borealis Wind, Surgically Clean Air, Flyte, Focus21, Intellizence, Knowledgehook, Sherpa, Tabnex, and Ukko Agro.

"We’ve seen huge growth in the number of Canadian companies using open data in their projects. More and more entrepreneurs are capitalizing on using open data to create better products and services. Because of this, it is imperative we support them with resources they might not otherwise have access to,” said Kevin Tuer, Managing Director, ODX. “ODX Ventures has one clear mission: get resources into the hands of those who can use it to accelerate their ideas, and ultimately help Canadian companies compete on a global stage."


In December 2016, the first ODX Ventures cohort included $400,000 worth of investment across eight startups, and to date, has led to 26 unique contractors developing work in the open data space.

“The ODX Ventures program enabled us to invest in the development of a piece of technology that we knew the market needed, but wasn't willing to purchase until a working prototype was deployed,” said Bryan Smith, CEO of ThinkData Works, who participated in the program’s first cohort. “Open Data is a very new sector with fresh problems and solutions. ODX Venture funding allowed us to build out what we knew was needed to get large corporate clients to start investing in public data.”

For more information please contact:

Samantha Clark
Manager, Public Relations, Communitech
519-221-3466
Samantha.clark@communitech.ca

About Open Data Exchange


ODX is a public-private-academic partnership based in Waterloo Region serving all of Canada. The initiative presents an opportunity for entrepreneurs to multi-national companies to be a global leader in the commercialization of open data. Founding partners include University of Waterloo, D2L (Desire2Learn), CDMN (Canadian Digital Media Network), OpenText and Communitech — with funds matched by the Government of Canada.