The Ontario Centres of Excellence invests in projects and people to accelerate industry R&D to impact the Ontario economy through the commercialization of leading edge research.  OCE invests in - Industry-Academic collaborative research - Commercialization of academic research through licensing and spin off companies - Early stage seed financing of start-ups - Skills development for high quality personnel  The Ontario Centres of Excellence is a not-for-profit corporation founded in 1987. Core funding is provided by the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation

Ontario Centres of Excellence

The Golden Triangle Angelnet is a not-for-profit corporation operating under the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation's Angel Network Program. It is a members-only organization comprised of Angel investors seeking investment opportunities in promising, early-stage businesses. In addition to the financial support, as part of their all-encompassing commitment to assist the companies they invest in, its Angels often provide valuable mentorship and access to strong relationship capital networks to their investee companies. It is this priceless assistance that aids in the facilitation of learning, networking, and growth.

Golden Triangle Angel Network

Felicis Ventures is a venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, California. The firm invests in seed through Series C stage companies across multiple sectors and industries reinventing core markets, as well as those creating frontier technologies. Felicis currently manages over $2B in capital across 8 funds. The firm is an early backer of more than 40 companies valued at $1B+. More than 90 of its portfolio companies have been acquired or gone public since the firm was founded by Aydin Senkut in 2006.

Felicis

Emergence is a venture capital firm that focuses on early-stage enterprise companies. Its mission is to be the most valuable partner to the companies changing the way the world works. In 2017, the firm was named Venture Firm of the Year by the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). Business Insider named Emergence one of the Top 10 Best Performing Venture Funds that launched at the turn of the decade, and posted returns as high as 50%. The firm’s investments include companies such as Salesforce (CRM), Veeva Systems (VEEV), Box (BOX), Zoom (ZM), SuccessFactors (SFSF, acquired by SAP), Yammer (acquired by Microsoft), Zoom, ServiceMax (acquired by GE) and Intact (acquired by Sage). For more information on Emergence, visit http://www.emcap.com and follow @emergencecap.

Emergence

Inovia Capital is a venture capital firm that works with founders to create influential and permanent businesses. The team leverages an operator mindset to provide founders with support, mentorship, and access to a worldwide network. Inovia manages over US$2.2B with operations in Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, San Francisco, and London.

Inovia Capital

Uncork Capital is a seed-stage venture capital firm that focuses on SaaS, consumer, marketplaces, hardware, and new technology startups. The firm currently investing out of two funds: a $200M Seed fund (Fund VII) and a $200M Opportunity fund (Plus III) earmarked for larger investments in mature, existing portfolio companies. Uncork Capital, formerly SoftTech VC was founded in 2004 and is based in Palo Alto, California, United States. Uncork Capital has adopted the Diversity Term Sheet Rider.

Uncork Capital

Golden Ventures is a leading seed-stage venture capital fund, based in Toronto and investing across North America. We're here to support founders who are building the future. It is our job to take big risks on the world's most talented, driven and resilient founding teams who want to change the world.

Golden Ventures

Version One Ventures backs mission-driven founders at the earliest stages. Full thesis here: https://versionone.vc/updated-thesis/

Version One Ventures

Georgian is a fintech company that invests in high growth software companies that harness the power of data in a trustworthy way. They're building a platform to provide a better experience of growth capital to software company CEOs and their teams.  Georgian's platform is designed to identify and accelerate the best growth-stage software companies, taking an intelligent, data-first approach to solving the key challenges CEOs face as they grow their businesses. They invest in companies across North America that harness the power of data in a trustworthy way. Based in Toronto and founded in 2008, Georgian’s team brings together software entrepreneurs, machine learning experts, experienced operators, and investment professionals.

Georgian

MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund (IAF) is an early stage venture capital firm based in Toronto. Since 2008, we have partnered with over 150 companies built by extraordinary founders. For more information, please visit www.marsiaf.com

MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund

Union Square Ventures is a private equity and venture capital firm focused on early-stage, growth capital, late-stage, and startup financing. The USV portfolio companies create services that have the potential to fundamentally transform important markets.  It exclusively invests in the internet world, focusing on the applications layer of the web, internet services, and web services that create large networks as well as the mobile sector. Some of its invested companies are based in New York, San Francisco, London, Berlin, and places in between. It typically makes a starting investment in portfolio companies of $1 million. In certain Series Around cases, the firm may make a starting investment between $2.5 million to $3 million. It typically invests up to $20 million in any single company. Union Square Ventures was founded in 2003 and is based in New York, United States.

Union Square Ventures

Leaders Fund is a venture capital firm that invests in early stage companies taking advantage of the shift to cloud, mobile, and machine learning in the enterprise software sector. The firm was founded by an experienced team of operators who have founded and scaled multiple enterprise software companies, achieving successful public and private exits. It is based in Toronto, Ontario with an office in Atlanta, Georgia.  Our fund’s evergreen, flexible structure enables us to partner creatively with other investors while ensuring deep alignment with our portfolio companies on deal structure, growth strategy and long-term goals.

Leaders Fund

Innovation Banking Group

BMO’s Technology

The Employee Stock Option Fund provides current and former employees of venture-backed companies with financial help needed to exercise options and cover associated taxes. It has a due diligence strategy and transaction protocol to evaluate and close transactions very quickly. The ESO Fund provides a new approach to exercising stock options that provides superior ROI potential through leverage and tax optimization. The fund also provides individuals who have already exercised private stock options with partial liquidity on the same terms that allows the owners to recover capital and eliminate downside risk while still retaining the potential upside from the stock.  ESO Fund was formed by Stephen Roberts, Jimmy Lackie, and Scott Chou in 2012.

Employee Stock Option Fund

Top Hat

As a student engagement and interactive teaching platform, Top Hat’s software helps college professors activate classrooms. In a world of digital distractions, countless academic studies have reinforced the reality that students better understand the day’s lesson if they’re asked to engage with peers, interact with complex material and participate in class. In Top Hat, students use their personal devices for quizzes, polls, and difficult simulations, transforming lecture halls from passive to active learning environments. As an advocate for traditional, on-campus education, Top Hat not only modernizes established teaching methods but also facilitates new approaches including the ‘flipped classroom,’ ‘group learning.

Top Hat is a dynamic courseware platform for higher education, founded in 2009 by Mike Silagadze and Mohsen Shahini. The company's mission is to make higher education more engaging, affordable, and equitable. Top Hat's platform enables educators to create interactive learning experiences that resonate with students both during class and throughout the course. The company's technology allows instructors to take attendance, administer quizzes, and create collaborative spaces focused on course material. Top Hat's platform is used at 75% of the top 1,000 colleges and universities in North America. In December 2022, Top Hat acquired Aktiv Learning, a STEM education startup, to enhance its offerings in science and mathematics disciplines. This acquisition expanded Top Hat's reach to over 700 additional institutions. The company's platform integrates smartphones into the classroom and allows students to take exams remotely, adapting to changing educational needs.

Top Hat Story

Top Hat Named One of Canada’s Top Growing Companies by the Globe and Mail for Second Year

Top Hat acquires STEM EdTech startup Aktiv Learning

Top Hat is Acquiring Aktiv Learning to Transform STEM Education at Scale

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Educational technology plays a pivotal role in driving and enabling the revolution in post-secondary learning

Higher EdTech

Top Hat headlines another slew of #CDNtech C-suite changes

Top Hat is a dynamic courseware platform for higher education, founded in 2009 by Mike Silagadze and Mohsen Shahini. The company's mission is to make higher education more engaging, affordable, and equitable. Top Hat's platform enables educators to create interactive learning experiences that resonate with students both during class and throughout the course. The company's technology allows instructors to take attendance, administer quizzes, and create collaborative spaces focused on course material. Top Hat's platform is used at 75% of the top 1,000 colleges and universities in North America. In December 2022, Top Hat acquired Aktiv Learning, a STEM education startup, to enhance its offerings in science and mathematics disciplines. This acquisition expanded Top Hat's reach to over 700 additional institutions. The company's platform integrates smartphones into the classroom and allows students to take exams remotely, adapting to changing educational needs.

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 Udemy is one of the largest online learning platforms globally, offering over 210,000 courses to more than 67 million learners worldwide. Founded in 2010, Udemy operates as a marketplace that connects independent instructors with students seeking to learn new skills or enhance existing ones.
 
 
 
 
 The platform covers a wide range of categories including business, technology, personal development, design, marketing, and more. Courses on Udemy are self-paced, allowing learners to start and complete them at their own convenience. Content is primarily delivered through on-demand video lectures, though some courses also include quizzes, assignments, and downloadable resources.
 
 
 
 
 Udemy uses a pricing model where individual courses can be purchased for a one-time fee, typically ranging from USD 11.99 to USD 199.99, though frequent sales and discounts bring many course prices down significantly. The platform also offers a subscription option called Udemy Personal Plan, which provides access to over 11,000 top-rated courses for USD 20 per month.
 
 
 
 
 One of Udemy's key features is its accessibility - courses are available in over 65 languages, and the platform can be accessed via web browsers as well as mobile apps for iOS and Android devices. Upon completing a paid course, learners receive a certificate of completion, though these are not accredited or officially recognized by external institutions.
 
 
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 
 
 
 Udemy caters to both individual learners and businesses. Through its Udemy for Business program, the company offers tailored learning solutions for organizations of various sizes. These business offerings provide access to curated course libraries and additional features like analytics, custom branding, and learning path creation.
 
 
 
 
 Udemy has also partnered with various organizations to expand its reach. For instance, the platform collaborates with the Linux Foundation to offer courses in cloud computing and related technologies. Additionally, Udemy works with numerous instructors who are subject matter experts in their fields, allowing them to create and publish courses on the platform.
 
 
 
 
 As of 2023, Udemy reported having over 67 million learners and more than 75,000 instructors on its platform. The company continues to grow its user base and course offerings, solidifying its position as a major player in the online education market.
 
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Udemy

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 Coursera is one of the largest online learning platforms, offering over 7,000 courses, specializations, professional certificates, and degree programs. Founded in 2012 by two Stanford University computer science professors, Coursera partners with over 300 leading universities and companies to provide flexible, affordable online learning.
 
 
 
 
 Coursera's catalog covers a wide range of subjects including business, computer science, data science, health, social sciences, and more. Courses are primarily asynchronous, allowing learners to study at their own pace. The platform uses evidence-based online teaching strategies and has an average course rating of 4.7 out of five stars.
 
 
 
 
 Coursera offers various types of programs:
 
 
 - Free courses that can be audited
 
 
 - Paid individual courses with certificates (typically USD 49-USD 79)
 
 
 - Specializations and Professional Certificates (starting at USD 49/month)
 
 
 - MasterTrack Certificates (starting at USD 2,000)
 
 
 - Full online degree programs (starting at USD 9,000)
 
 
 
 
 In 2022, Coursera reported USD 524 million in revenue. The company went public in 2021, raising nearly USD 520 million in its IPO. As of 2022, Coursera had 118 million registered learners and employed 1,401 full-time staff.
 
 
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 
 
 
 Coursera's university partners include institutions like Yale, Stanford, Duke and the University of Michigan. The platform also partners with major companies like Google, IBM, and Microsoft to offer professional certificates and other programs.
 
 
 Coursera's enterprise business provides online learning programs for organizations, with offerings for businesses, governments, and universities. Google's programs are estimated to generate around USD 100 million in annual revenue for Coursera. The company's user base spans 47% female and 53% male learners, with an average age of 31. Nearly half of Coursera's revenue comes from learners outside the US.
 
 
 
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Coursera

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 The Glimpse Group, founded in 2016, is a diversified virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) platform company headquartered in New York. The company operates as an ecosystem of enterprise-focused software and services subsidiaries, providing solutions across various industries. Glimpse owns and operates multiple subsidiary companies specializing in different aspects of VR/AR technology, including QReal, Immersive Health Group, Foretell Reality, XR Terra, Sector 5 Digital, and Brightline Interactive.
 
 
 
 
 The company's offerings include photorealistic 3D interactive digital models, evidence-based healthcare solutions, social VR platforms for behavioral health and soft skills training, immersive technologies for education and corporate experiences, and AR try-on technology for the beauty and cosmetics industry. Glimpse has also developed capabilities in artificial intelligence, facial recognition, and virtual try-on technologies through its acquisition of PulpoAR in June 2022.
 
 
 
 
 Glimpse's business model centralizes resources while allowing each subsidiary to specialize in particular use cases of immersive technologies. This approach enables the company to leverage its expertise across all subsidiaries while fostering innovation and collaboration. The company went public in July 2021, trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol VRAR.
 
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The Glimpse Group

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 Amesite Inc. (Nasdaq: AMST) is an artificial intelligence software company that offers a cloud-based learning platform for business and education markets. The company provides a single system that combines ecommerce, instruction, engagement, analytics, and administration using advanced infrastructure to serve multi-billion-dollar online learning markets. Amesite's platform enables businesses, universities, museums, and government agencies to deliver customized, white-labeled online learning programs. The company's technology leverages cutting-edge AI to offer an innovative out-of-the-box, AI-powered learning ecosystem, complete with 24/7 learner support, up-to-date content, and ready-to-go programs for quick deployment and revenue generation.
 
 
 
 
 Amesite's platform is designed to be easily integrated with existing educational tools and systems, including leading Learning Management Systems (LMSs). The company's solutions are scalable and flexible, allowing for rapid launch and implementation without requiring additional IT resources or expensive training. Amesite's V6 platform, launched in April 2023, incorporates expanded AI capabilities powered by GPT-4, enabling enhanced AI-assisted learning and new AI-driven, purpose-built features for users.
 
 
 
 
 In addition to its core platform, Amesite has ventured into the B2C AI mobile applications market with the beta release of NurseMagic in April 2024. This app is designed to provide AI-powered tools and continuing education programs for over 5.2 million nurses, aiming to make their daily tasks more efficient.
 
 
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 
 
 
 Amesite has established partnerships with various educational institutions and organizations. In February 2023, the company launched its first pilot program at Benedict College in South Carolina. This program offers upskilling in technology, including internet protocols, data privacy and security, and cloud computing.
 
 
 
 
 In March 2024, Amesite announced a strategic five-year partnership with Joliet Junior College to expand workforce development. The company has also collaborated with Michigan Works! Southeast, launching 12 new courses focused on training in artificial intelligence technologies and their applications in the modern workplace.
 
 
 
 
 Amesite's partnership with Microsoft enables the company to deliver customized learning systems for organizations in as little as 24 hours. In January 2024, Amesite entered into a contract with Scottsdale Unified School District to provide teacher training on AI technology use, further expanding its reach in the education sector.
 
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Amesite

Meazure Learning is a provider of high-stakes online testing services for the higher education and professional testing markets. The company offers a comprehensive suite of exam services, including test development, psychometric analysis, and secure exam delivery through both online proctoring and physical test centers. Meazure Learning's platform allows for multi-modal exam delivery, giving test-takers the flexibility to take exams remotely or at a traditional test center. The company's services extend to certification and licensure organizations, corporations, educational institutions, government agencies, and trade and professional associations.
In June 2022, Meazure Learning acquired Scantron Corporation's Certification and Licensure business, expanding its global test center network from 300 locations in Canada to over 1,600 sites worldwide. This acquisition also strengthened Meazure Learning's exam development and psychometric services by doubling the size of its expert team. The company emphasizes the security and reliability of its testing solutions, with a focus on safeguarding intellectual property and providing convenient options for test-takers.
Meazure Learning's approach involves understanding each client's program needs, goals, and challenges to curate tailored solutions. The company offers various resources to prepare test-takers, including information about test center locations, exam delivery previews, and access to practice exams where available. Meazure Learning's services are designed to support educational and professional credentialing programs, with the stated purpose of helping to move people forward in their educational, professional, and personal pursuits.
Key customers and partnerships
Meazure Learning serves a diverse range of clients across various sectors. The company's customer base includes higher education institutions such as Temple College and the University of Texas at Tyler, where it provides online proctoring services for students. In the professional certification realm, Meazure Learning works with organizations like the Global Information Assurance Certification Program and the Canadian Organization of Paramedic Regulators. The Society of Augmented Engineers & Scientists has also partnered with Meazure Learning for their certification program. Additionally, Meazure Learning collaborates with educational institutions like Thomas Edison State University to facilitate online degree completion for working professionals.

Meazure Learning

Designers of learning programs and creators of learning content, aggregators and libraries of learning content and program, massive open online course (MOOC) platform operators, and providers of content development tools for authoring and course-building.

Providers of tools and features to improve learner engagement and learning effectiveness such as AR/VR platforms, interactive software, memory aids, and personalized student support platforms.

Technology platforms such as learning management systems (LMS), learning experience platforms (LXP), and learning content management systems (LCMS) that host in-house or third-party content, track progress, and generate analytics.

Providers of testing and assessment, identity authentication, proctoring, plagiarism-checking, digital credentialing, and feedback-gathering solutions.

Platforms that connect students with experts, specialists, and near-peers who provide academic coaching, development support, college admissions and career guidance, and career readiness support.

Platforms that facilitate communication and networking among students/faculty/alumni/institutions and those providing search, reference, and marketplace solutions.

Providers of campus operating infrastructure including enterprise resource planning (ERP), student information system (SIS), and data analytics solutions and those that support enrollment and marketing processes. Also includes technology solution providers offering security, communication, cloud, and managed services.

Companies that use GenAI as a core part of their higher EdTech product offering

Learning platforms and tools provide students with equitable access to education and improve career readiness

Higher EdTech companies use GenAI to enhance learning experiences, personalize education, and streamline administrative processes

AI technologies enable personalized learning and automation

Used for immersive campus experiences including learning, discussions, and simulations

AI and ML technologies are applied across learning management systems, student information systems, and assessments

Top Hat

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