Some members of the Index Exchange Team.
We are beyond thrilled to bring you part three of 20 tech companies to watch for in 2021. This post also features three additional incredible companies to our list. These teams are tackling big problems in advertising, marketing, education, insurance, and many more. Be sure to check them them and many are hiring.
20) Index Exchange
Index Exchange is a digital marketplace – their technology connects media buyers and publishers to buy and sell advertising space, all within milliseconds. Their mission is to democratize digital advertising, ensuring ad revenue and premium content are accessible to everyone. With over 500 employees and offices in North America, EMEA, and APAC, Index Exchange is an engineering-first organization focused on learning, collaboration, and innovation.
19) ISARA
Today’s organizations rely on cryptography to an extent that few people realize. When cryptography updates are required, history shows that organizations struggle with transitions, which are costly, disruptive, and take much longer than expected. With the development of large-scale quantum computing, it’s now only a matter of time before today’s cryptography will be broken and need to be replaced. Moving from classical public-key to quantum-safe will be the biggest cryptography transition in history. ISARA is a security solutions company specializing in creating crypto-agile and quantum-safe security solutions for today’s information technology ecosystems. Working with customers in the US Military, Security Agencies, and Fortune 1000 organizations, it’s clearing the path to quantum-safe security by delivering practical, standardized solutions for a seamless migration.
18) Encircle
Encircle is disrupting the P&C insurance industry with game-changing field documentation solutions for insurance professionals and restoration contractors. Connecting the claims process from first notice of loss to claim closed, Encircle enables all stakeholders to work collaboratively on one easy-to-use platform. Insurers, TPAs, restorers, and policyholders alike can instantly share pictures, videos, reports, sketches, and more, improving communication and customer satisfaction. Beyond field documentation, Encircle is integrated with leading claim management platforms Guidewire and Duck Creek, helping insurance carriers reduce claim cycle times and deliver an outstanding customer experience. As a result of its achievements to date, Encircle was named as one of Canada’s 2019 Companies-to-Watch in Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50™ Awards and placed No. 33 on the 2020 Report on Business ranking of Canada’s Top Growing Companies.
17) MAJiK Systems
From left, MAJiK’s Founders, Michael Tatham (CEO), Adam Singer (VP, Eng),
Jared Evans (COO) & Kamal Aman (CTO).
MAJiK Systems is on a mission to provide manufacturers with real-time information to Monitor, Analyze, and Optimize their operations. This is done through MAJiK’s proprietary IIOT software solution which seamlessly connects directly to capital equipment in plants for customers such as Magna, Mother Parkers, and many more. Launching soon this year will be the highly anticipated Quickstart package for the MAJiK Visual Factory which will enable manufacturers to achieve operational excellence faster than ever before. Founded in 2013, MAJiK still maintains a vibrant start-up feel and environment where every employee has the opportunity to contribute to the company’s ongoing success in revolutionizing the state of manufacturing.
16) Rupa
Rupa is building infrastructure for functional and integrative medicine, starting with speciality lab testing. They have had impressive growth since launch – growing from zero to multi-million annualized GMV in just a couple months. They are on a mission to make root cause medicine the standard of care, and are backed by First Round Capital, Floodgate, SV Angel, Joe Montana, and other incredible investors.
Additional) Neophyto Foods
Neophyto Foods is an award-winning FoodTech startup that uses food science ingenuity to create plant-based versions of everyone’s favourite foods. Having pivoted away from its initial soy-based cream cheese product as a result of Covid, the company has recently introduced the first plant-based meat kit in Canada – Neokit. Neokit uses only 5 ingredients and is uniquely shelf stable with no preservatives, empowering consumers to be in control of what they eat. In the short period of time since the launch last November, Neokit is currently in over 40 stores across Canada.
15) Crave It
In the top left corner are Crave It’s Founders, Bomani Mintz (CEO) and Winston Galas (Lead, Eng) alongside their team.
Crave It is a social app for food lovers, that makes it easy to find and share what to eat, where to eat, and what to cook through photos and video reviews. Crave It is building the next generation social app for the food community redefining how we connect, recommend, share, and order the dishes we love. Crave It has got some serious traction with 3.2k+ beta users, 6k+ curated restaurants on the app in 7 cities and counting. Additionally, this social app for food lovers has partnered with 150+ restaurants, 100+ influencers in 2020, and hosts monthly events for members of the globally food community.
14) Talk Howdy
Alex Friedman is the CEO & Founder at Talk Howdy.
Talk Howdy enables communities of people with similar interests and experiences to connect through peer-led virtual meetups. It has waitlist of over 1,000+ people and currently, over 90 communities signed up for the private beta. Talk Howdy aims to create an inclusive and welcoming space for anyone seeking authentic human connection online.
Additional) imaware™
Headquartered in Houston, Texas, imaware™ is a digital health platform that provides advanced home-based health tests with telemed physician oversight to empower people to take control of their health. With over 20 tests including screening for Covid-19, imaware has provided an essential healthcare service to thousands of Americans for conditions such as cardiovascular disease, prostate cancer, and autoimmune disorders.
13) Foxquilt
In the middle are Mark Morissette, CEO & Co-Founder, and Karim Jamal, CFO & Co-Founder, of Foxquilt along with other members of the team – from left to right: Scott Wilson, Roshni Wijayasinha, Joyce Wong and Jason MacDonald.
Foxquilt is an Insurance technology company focused on empowering small businesses and B2B networks to save on Small Business insurance. The insurance-as-a-Service platform is complemented by a unique data and machine learning underwriting infrastructure. Leveraging innovative technology and creating unique products, we make life easier for business owners. Foxquilt was founded in 2017 by Mark Morissette and Karim Jamal. The company recently partnered with Digital Partners, a Munich Re company and launched as a full-service provider of small business insurance. Foxquilt has also launched as the first in Canada to provide small business insurance all online to select professions using their new full-stack underwriting platform. They plan to expand the service to 6 U.S. states this Spring 2021.
12) Justo
Justo is a tech-enabled real estate brokerage bringing excellent service, fairness and transparency to the Ontario market. Justo was founded by Daphne de Groot when she realized that the current way that real estate agents are helping people to buy or sell their home is inefficient and with limited accountability, which can lead to low client satisfaction. With most of the information about homes for sale and sold available to everyone, the needs of clients are changing. Justo believes that this, combined with the fast rising prices of homes, means that traditional models are overcharging with a structure that stems from an era when homes were a lot less expensive. This is why Justo is committed to providing excellent service to home buyers and sellers for a fair price, 50% of the typical commission.
Additional) Perfect Recall
From left Amanda Zhu and David Gu are the co-founders of Perfect Recall.
Perfect Recall records, transcribes and lets you share the most important parts of your Zoom calls as video clip highlights. Now you can easily recall and share ‘what happened’ on your Zoom calls without hurriedly taking notes. Perfect Recall is used by companies big and small from YC backed startups to companies like Quora.
11) YourTable
67% of Canadians eat alone, which often leads to social problems, including depression and loss of work productivity. YourTable app connects people to eat and network together through their shared interests in food and work industries, the Linkedin for food. You can use the online video option to eat and network virtually with others, and in-person dining at restaurants when it’s safe. YourTable is a proud partner of the Upside Foundation of Canada and one of the UofT Entrepreneurship x Lo Family Social Venture Fund winners. Their mission is to end loneliness, building professional relationships and friendships through food, delivering happiness, one table at a time.
10) Quantigo AI
From the top left, Nasib Ahmed (Founder and CEO), Farha Khan (Director, Marketing and HR), Afnan Rahman (Director, Business Development and Sales), and Ethan Byun (Manager, Communications and Customer Success).
In recent years, countless companies have been diving into the rapidly growing AI market, developing innovative AI-powered products that are revolutionizing the world we live in. Behind the development of these products are vast amounts of training data that allow artificial intelligence to learn and process information as intended. Quantigo AI is a Toronto-based start-up that provides end-to-end training data solutions to companies in the AI space. The company brings in the combination of people, technology, and experience to not only help clients minimize their cost of data acquisition, but also expedite the overall model training process. Quantigo AI has worked with clients globally from 20 different countries, covering every continent around the world.
9) EssayJack
Cofounders Drs Rueban Balasubramaniam and Lindy Ledohowski, who is also the CEO of EssayJack.
EssayJack was a passion project created by two professors to unlock the mystery to success in Academic Writing for their students, and now it’s a full EdTech startup. It’s won awards; it’s patented; it’s grown year-over-year, but most importantly, the EssayJack platform improves grades, reduces time to write, and diminishes writing anxiety.
8) MangoVisa
Kushi Kaur is the CEO & Founder at MangoVisa.
MangoVisa is a community hub where International students use to connect, learn and explore resources. It is bridging the gap between geographical challenges of community building. Its members empower one another regarding how to navigate the complex problems faced by Canadian and US students. MangoVisa enables international students by equipping them with the right content through weekly newsletters, fostering connections, and exploring new ways to increase their quality of life.
7) Node App
Node App team from the right Armin Faraji, PK Rawal, Alexa Tang, Kevin Cheng and Mackenzie Derival.
Node is a private platform that lets brands turn their inventory into photos and videos. They operate a gifting marketplace that rewards influencers and photographers with complimentary products in exchange for creating social media posts. Over 100+ brands are currently using Node for content creation. The team is backed by alumni from Shopify, Shutterstock, Bain & Capital and Udemy, among others.
6) RouteThis
Part of the RouteThis team at their office, a converted Firehall, in 2019
RouteThis is a SaaS company that is working to automate the world’s tech support to ensure you never have to call support for your wi-fi problems. RouteThis offers both tools for support agents to better troubleshoot issues as well as proactive self-help tools for both ISPs and Smart Home companies. Organizations all over the world such as Facebook, Amazon, Spark NZ, and Wyze, are all using RouteThis’s platform, Resolve, to ensure seamless connectivity for their customers.
5) Simply Eloped
Simply Eloped makes the process of getting married stress-free, high quality and cost-conscious. Using their software platform, which they lovingly call Central Station, they have been able to perform over 6500 ceremonies since their inception in 2016. They’re currently located in 35 destinations around the US, have a community of over 250 vendors and have a team of 25 employees scattered throughout the world. The team feels pretty lucky to be bringing the happiest day ever to couples all over the nation.
4) Tealbook
Stephany Lapierre is the CEO & Founder at Tealbook.
Tealbook is a Big Data company that provides a platform to fix enterprise supplier data forever. Tealbook does this through proprietary Autonomous Data Enrichment technology which proactively captures and maintains changing supplier information. In addition, Tealbook provides a data foundation that can be leveraged by other eProcurement solutions to ensure these larger investments are successful. Tealbook has been adopted by Fortune 100 companies across multiple sectors and is the winner of many prestigious awards including Spend Matters 50 Vendors to Watch, Gartner’s Cool Vendor, CIX Most Innovative Company and Most Upside Potential by C100. Tealbook’s mission is to deliver a ‘Trusted Source of Supplier Data’ to an ever-growing procurement space.
3) Lobby
From the bottom right Erica Pearson, Director at Lobby along with the founders and team.
Lobby helps people build better relationships remotely. Despite being in private-beta, Lobby is already being used regularly by law firms, technology companies, and professional services firms for networking, recruiting, and community-building. Lobby is different from other platforms because each event consists of a series of smaller group conversations; people can move freely between groups, join recommended conversations, and even continue connecting while someone gives a stage presentation.
2) BioBox
Founders: Hamza Farooq (Top left), Julian Mazzitelli (Bottom center), Chris Li (Top right) Team: Lauren Phillips (Bottom left), Zoe Chung (Top center), Alireza Tajadod (Bottom right)
BioBox Analytics Inc. is a venture backed, early-stage biotech software startup that empowers scientists with the tools to support their research from start to finish. BioBox is a data analytics platform designed for scientists and clinicians working with NGS (next-generation sequencing) data.
1) Copysmith
From left Jasmine Wang and Anna Wang are the Co-founders of Copymith.
Copysmith is building a platform that enables a new, intuitive way of doing marketing, powered by GPT-3. They reached $38K MRR after launching on Oct 26, and are piloting a partnership with Clearbanc to better serve e-commerce and SMB customers.
It’s been an absolute delight covering these tech stories. We are always looking for compelling stories to cover. Do you know any great tech companies we should chat with? Let us know here.
Check out the whole series:
20 Tech Companies to Watch for in 2021 Part I
20 Tech Companies to Watch for in 2021 Part II
About the Author
Eric Rafat is a passionate founder with wealth of expertise in startups, building high-performing teams, and growth marketing. He is a top ranked tennis player and always up for a conversation about startups and tech. Connect with Eric here.