SaaS Startups CounterCrisis and FanSaves Win at Bootstrap Awards 2023
OTTAWA, March 8, 2023
What a night celebrating bootstrapping entrepreneurs in Canada’s Capital City at the #BootstrapAwards2023, including two standout Canadian SaaS startups. Heard stories of innovation hatched at the kitchen table, on a challenge from a spouse, and because of an all consuming need to solve a huge problem with deeply personal roots.
Warmest congratulations to the winners, from left to right:
Rod Costain, Green Award Winner, from RoCo Industries.
They’ve developed a high efficiency, semi-flexible solar panel product using plastics instead of tempered glass and metal. It’s greener because it’s recyclable with existing recycling infrastructure and has higher throughput manufacturing than the alternatives.
Ben Seaman, Innovation Award Winner, from Convergence Design Services.
Their team of electronics product engineers has become an industry leader in rugged electronics, aerospace and defence, robotics and electric vehicles, AI and vision that specialises in mechanical and hardware engineering.
Don Williams and Melanie Williams (not pictured), SaaS Award Winner, from CounterCrisis Tech.
Their SaaS solution helps customers prepare for any crisis – whether natural or human-induced. They integrate with software commonly used by emergency management groups, public safety orgs, the military, and volunteer search and rescue groups. They’re currently working on national Ground Search and Rescue Incident Command System (GSAR ICS), and have a multi-year runway!
SaaSCan founder Lauren Thibodeau was honoured to present the SaaS Award to CounterCrisis Tech co-founders Don and Melanie Williams.
Benji Bloom, Shannon Ferguson (not pictured), and Kris McCarthy (not pictured), Marketing Award Winner, from Fansaves.
They provide a business-to-business SaaS platform helping sports teams and other orgs increase fan engagement, activations and sponsorship revenue while tracking important customer demographics for both their team and their partners.
Nate Beacham and Jason Flick (not pictured), Bootstrap Capital Award Winner, from Northern Forge Studios.
They create mobile games. Their first product, Orna, has almost reached two million downloads since launching four years ago. Their follow-up title, Hero of Aetheric, is fast approaching the million-download milestone. They have customers in 230 customers – and the co-founders met – you guessed it – through the game platform!
Dave McIlhagga, Disruptor Award Winner, from MapSherpa.
MapSherpa used tech to disrupt a very traditional industry – printed wall maps. The figured out how to deliver a wide range of mapping products in near real-time through secure print-on-demand technology and an international retail network. MapSherpa represents major international brands in the map industry including National Geographic, Harper Collins, TomTom and more.
Ingrid Gayle, Community Impact Award Winner, Stem the Gap Academy.
STEM the Gap Academy is committed to eliminating the gender divide and ensuring that girls take their rightful places in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields, which have long been male-dominated. It teaches girls the tangible skills they need for tomorrow, as well as the confidence to own their power to step out, speak up and STEM the Gap.
Anusha Gandhi, Founder of the Year Award Winner, Femade.
Femade is a pain management centre for women, those assigned female at birth, and those who have transitioned. By omitting the need for a doctor’s referral and avoiding long wait times, patients are being seen and heard, provided tools to manage their health and wellness, and feel a part of a much larger community of individuals. Femade offers manual therapies, lifestyle services and mental health services.
Took a small army to put on this event. Hats off to The Ottawa Network and Erin Engelhardt of Ovodenovo, Jamie-Lynn Kraft of Smart & Biggar, as well as Veronica Farmer and Wesley Clover’s Tech Tuesday crew. Also supported by Invest Ottawa – well done Nick Quain- and The Ottawa Business Journal.
Descriptions above use or paraphrase content from this OBJ article:
https://obj.ca/meet-ottawa-gatineaus-2023-bootstrap-award-winners/