A Magazine for Alumni and Friends
The Lazaridis Institute for the Management of Technology Enterprises at Laurier has launched a national scale-up data platform to capture and track growth metrics for Canadian companies. Powered by Hockeystick, the platform offers free memberships for every innovation organization – incubator, accelerator, scale-up and start-up – across Canada.
“For the first time, it will be possible to obtain a comprehensive picture of the evolution of Canadian companies from early to late stages, giving Canada a world-leading competitive advantage in innovation and invaluable insights into why companies fail or succeed,” said Kim Morouney, executive director of the Lazaridis Institute and associate dean in the Lazaridis School of Business and Economics.
The platform will also provide an effective tool for resource-strapped start-ups and scale-ups to more quickly find programs and apply for funding opportunities. The platform is intended to make it easier for accelerators to identify start-ups that meet their program parameters and provide provincial and federal governments with requisite detailed metrics.
“This will have far-reaching benefits to enable innovation and growth in Canada,” said Raymond Luk, founder and CEO of Hockeystick, a financial market data network that provides insight into private companies.
The platform will capture comprehensive, standardized data – facilitating application, selection and reporting processes for a wide variety of programs – and will provide a direct feedback loop to its users over a secure network. Users will have the option to share private data in order to gain visibility with potential sources of support and investment with no added cost in time or effort.
Bardish Chagger, Minister of Small Business and Tourism and Member of Parliament for Waterloo, announced that the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario will provide funding of up to $2.5 million to the Lazaridis Institute for the national scale-up data platform. The Lazaridis Institute, part of Laurier's Lazaridis School of Business and Economics, aims to create more globally competitive technology companies in Canada.
“In addition to creating over 150 jobs in our communities, the platform will help provide entrepreneurs across Canada with the tools they need to reach their full potential, become investment-ready and compete on the global stage,” Chagger said.
– Daniel Rankin