Eight high-potential startups have been selected to participate in the GrindSpaceXL-Kingston program at Innovation Park after participating in a competitive pitch on Sept. 2. This is the third cohort of the GrindSpaceXL program to take place in Kingston.

“Queen’s University is delighted to continue its support of GrindSpaceXL,” says Dr. Steven Liss, Vice-Principal (Research). “Through this partnership we are helping to expand the programs and services available to accelerate innovative startups emerging from our campus and across the region.”

The accelerator program offers early-stage ventures the opportunity to work in a group environment with assistance from mentors and advisors. Participants are given a personalized development plan that is created following a company-specific needs assessment, and have set deliverables and checkpoints to assess progress. Content focuses on helping startups become customer-focused and investor-ready.

Two of the teams selected for this fall’s cohort are graduates of Queen’s Innovation Connector programs.  Glynt, a mobile application that provides a live feed of what people are thinking, seeing and doing, was referred to GrindspaceXL-Kingston after completing the Queen’s Innovation Connector’s QYourVenture program.

The team behind Atria, a mobile platform that motivates you to get active by letting you raise money for charity through exercise, took part in this past summer’s Queen’s Innovation Connector Summer Institute (QICSI) and received seed funding from Launch Lab.

“The QICSI program provided us with pivotal resources and mentorship to start our own company and get to where we are today,” Said Victor Li, Sc’15, co-founder and CEO of Atria. “We are extremely excited by the opportunity to further surround ourselves with experienced entrepreneurs and industry experts through the 2015 GrindspaceXL program.”

GrindSpaceXL-Kingston was born out of the earlier Invest Ottawa program and is delivered by Queen’s University with funding assistance from the Canada Accelerator and Incubator Program (CAIP) administered by the National Research Council – Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP), and in collaboration with PARTEQ Innovations, L-Spark and Launch Lab.

Participants have access to numerous resources including partnership development support and shared lab and office space at Innovation Park through interaction with Queen’s. They also benefit from intellectual property and financial expertise available through PARTEQ Innovations and mentoring and coaching services provided by Launch Lab. Queen’s, PARTEQ and Launch Lab also provide support to participants following their graduation from GrindSpaceXL, including facilitating access to funding opportunities. Selected graduates have the opportunity to pitch their business to the Southeastern Ontario Angel Network.

The successful companies gathered for an orientation day followed by individual intake meetings on Sept.  14 and 15. Regular programming will commence on Sept. 22 and run until early December. For more information on the GrindspaceXL program, visit the website.