Canadian Film Centre’s ideaBOOST Announces Cohort 4 Companies
Summary
Through an intensive four-month program, ideaBOOST offers entrepreneurs access to global mentorship and valuable insights in product development, audience acquisition, financial modeling, pitch and packaging, $15,000 in capital, and the potential for direct investments from Corus Entertainment and Shaw Media, among other investors. Graduating companies are considered eligible to join the ideaBOOST Portfolio program, which provides further opportunities for the startups to secure corporate partnerships or equity investment. Since its inception in 2012, ideaBOOST has accepted 19 early-stage startups and SMEs into their portfolio, including Bubl Technology, the creators of the Bublcam – the only fully spherical consumer camera in the world, whose current collaboration with Google allows anyone with a Bublcam to upload spherical photos directly to Google Maps, StreetView and Google+; ApprenticeA Productions, the largest online video production company in Canada with more than 280,880 subscribers on their network, and the founders of Canada’s first YouTube festival Buffer Festival; AsapSCIENCE, a leading YouTube channel with more than 2,800,000 subscribers, who partnered with the CBC last winter for a series of Olympic-related shorts, and plan to release an AsapSCIENCE book in March (Simon and Shuster, 2014); and RAUR by Instaradio, an app to live stream and record audio from a mobile phone, which has received two rounds of seed funding from three investors to date; among many other successful companies. A charitable organization, CFC is committed to promoting and investing in Canadas diverse talent; providing exhibition, financial, and distribution opportunities, and fostering industry collaborations and creative partnerships. Companies selected to participate in ideaBOOST get the budget, tools, training, and mentorship designed to help bring their product to market and improve their chances of success with audiences, investors, and partners.