MONTREAL, Oct. 7, 2016 /CNW Telbec/ - InnoCité MTL, Canada's first smart city accelerator, is proud to announce that four startups will form its third cohort: MLDB.ai, City Parking, Give-A-Seat and We Grab It. More than a year after its launch, and proud of the accomplishments of its previous cohorts, InnoCité MTL is expanding its horizons, adding urban innovation startups from sectors other than those of the Montreal Smart and Digital City action plan which, at the same time, remain the accelerator's priority.
MLDB.ai
mldb.ai uses artificial intelligence to create a 3D real-time index of urban environments, making open data actionable by citizens, cities and businesses - mldb.ai
City Parking
CityParking is a SaaS platform providing modular white label solutions to solve parking. The Mobile app lets spot owners rent their driveways and private parking spots by the hour to drivers who can book weeks in advance with the flexibility to cancel a day before. - cityparking.guide
Give-A-Seat
Give-a-Seat is a charity platform that sells tickets at a good price, for a good cause. Give-a-Seat democratizes access to events and creates a new source of revenue for charities by selling tickets donated by the events' organizers or their sponsors. - www.giveaseat.ca
We Grab It
We all know that we live in a world where people waste more than they consume. We Grab It discovered that tons of objects or materials are thrown away everyday around the world for no reasonable reason when they could be recycle or reuse for someone who really needs It.There is no way for cities to know what goes where. We Grab It decided that it's enough, and are disrupting the waste industry one door at the time. Someone has once said, one man's trash is another man's treasure. We Grab It reduces tons of waste by connecting these treasures to the right neighbour. - we-grab-it.com
InnoCité MTL selects startups at the marketing stage whose urban innovations improve citizen quality of life. Criteria for selection included the quality of the business plan, the potential for growth as well as the relevance to the urban challenges addressed by the six priority programs of the Montreal Smart and Digital City 2015-2017 Action Plan: public Wi-Fi, ultra high-speed multiservice network, smart city economic cluster, smart mobility, participatory democracy, digital public services. InnoCité MTL leverages the power of its network of mentors and of public- and private-sector partners who have the potential to partner with these startups in order to accelerate the market readiness of their products and solutions.
The four startups of InnoCité MTL's third cohort will participate in an intensive twelve-week program focusing on product market fit. This includes training and practical workshops, an access to a diverse ecosystem of mentors, prototyping and the development of a local and international commercialization strategy.
"The Montreal Smart and Digital City project welcomes the creativity and vibrancy which characterize the Montreal startup community", states Harout Chitilian, Vice-president of the executive committee, in charge of administrative reform, smart city initiatives and information technology. "These same qualities led to the recognition of the Greater Montreal as Intelligent Community of the Year last June. The contribution by city employees to InnoCité MTL's mentorship program and to the development of its cohorts clearly illustrates our commitment to openness and our hope for the development of innovative projects which will improve the lives of Montrealers."
"Already, only a year after launch, InnoCité MTL has managed to establish itself at the heart of Montreal's startup ecosystem. Since the accelerator's creation, 10 startups have successfully completed our program", states Béatrice Couture, general manager of InnoCité MTL.
About InnoCité MTL
InnoCité MTL is a business acceleration program that helps participating startups meeting Montrealers' expectations. Through this program, the private sector in general and startups in particular will implement solutions to urban issues, with a focus on the City of Montréal's priority projects outlined in its Montréal, Smart and Digital City, 2015-2017 Action Plan, a complete copy of which is available online, and in accordance with the city's economic development action plan.
Proud partner of Ville de Montréal, InnoCité MTL benefits from support from the city thanks to financial assistance provided by the Government of Quebec available through the Entente Montréal 2015, administered by the Secrétariat à la région métropolitaine. Several organisations also help finance this project, including TELUS, Desjardins, Pages Jaunes, and GE Lighting, as sponsors of InnoCité MTL and Real Ventures, Pages Jaunes and Quebecor, as investors in program participating startups.
SOURCE InnoCité MTL
Image with caption: "Logo: InnoCité Mtl (CNW Group/InnoCité MTL)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20161007_C4159_PHOTO_EN_790917.jpg
Source: Béatrice Couture, General manager, InnoCité MTL, Telephone : 514 778-8503, [email protected]; Media relations: Bérengère Thériault, BéPR, Telephone : 514 999-6493, [email protected]
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