BCIC-New Ventures’ 25 round-three competitors are working on their Round 3 business overviews for submission on August 3rd.
Competition judges will announce the 10 finalists on August 31st but in the meantime let’s have a closer look at the Top 25. Here’s Part IV – five randomly selected companies from the Top 25.
ChatterBlock (Victoria)
Today’s parents are extremely active in their children’s development. In every city, more entertainment, activity and education choices for families exist than ever before, and information is available from many sources, yet parents are unable to effectively manage this information. There is no website which synthesizes this city-based information in an intuitive, accessible way for parents, and surprisingly, while there is Facebook for broad social connections and LinkedIn for professionals, there is no social network which solves the problem of families wanting to access and share information in a safe, secure environment. Instead, parents utilize multiple online and offline resources to find and discover community activities and share information. This is time consuming and does not meet the needs of parents. ChatterBlock’s vision is to provide comprehensive, well-organized city-based content for local family resources and activities, in a protected social network environment designed for the specific needs of families.
Axine Water (West Vancouver)
Axine Water has developed a sustainable wastewater treatment process for industrial outflows, especially those containing organics that are resistant to treatment. Axine’s technology is chemical-free, does not produce waste solids or hazardous by-products requiring treatment and disposal, has reduced energy consumption, and low operating and capital costs. The system recovers high purity hydrogen that is suitable for use in either energy storage, clean energy generation to offset power demand, or as a value-added product with sales offsetting operational and capital costs.
RewardLoop (Vancouver)
RewardLoop is a universal consumer loyalty network for the mobile age. Its patent-pending customer loyalty technology, which prints secure, transaction-identifying rewards program barcodes (QR codes) on bills and receipts, can measurably increase revenue 5% or more for independent and chain merchants. Consumers simply scan a QR code with their mobile phones and use the company’s mobile applications to collect and redeem reward stamps in real time, thereby eliminating the need to carry physical cards. The company’s flagship universal Point of Sale (POS) adaptor, RewardLoop Connect, enables merchants of any size to easily deploy a secure, ‘plug & play’ mobile loyalty program in minutes via their existing POS system. The device is designed to support the same functionality via Near Field Communications (NFC) beginning in 2012.
Wolf Trailer (Vernon)
In 1991 the Transportation Association of Canada reduced the amount of weight that tridem pony trailers, quadaxle full trailers and A-trains can haul because these vehicles cannot comply with basic safety standards when carrying full loads. Wolf Trailer has developed and tested a “roll-coupling” technology that enables commercial trucks and trailers to comply with safety standards in order to improve safety without reducing productivity. Trailers typically have a very high center of gravity and roll over very easily because hitches do not transmit roll stability between vehicles. This “roll-coupling” technology provides roll stability and enables the truck driver to feel how unstable the trailer unit is in time to take remedial action to prevent a roll-over accident from occurring. The BC Government is issuing letters of authorization to allow roll-coupled trucks and trailers to carry full loads to improve transportation safety, productivity and reduce traffic congestion, fuel consumption and exhaust emissions. The Saskatchewan government prohibits tri-drive trucks from pulling trailers in Saskatchewan unless the vehicles are roll-coupled for safety reasons.
