From the Waterloo Region Record
By Terry Pender
KITCHENER — Jim Moss knows from experience how hard it can be to build a thriving technology company out of a promising startup.
So Moss, co-founder and chief executive officer of Plasticity Labs, was very happy Tuesday to hear that the federal government will pump up to $9.7 million into the region’s technology ecosystem over the next five years to help startups scale into $100-million corporations.
The funding was announced Tuesday by Cambridge MP Gary Goodyear.
Plasticity Labs developed a mobile and web app that measures the happiness of a company’s employees, and helps them stay connected on the job, offsite and from home.
Now 2 1/2 years old, the company went through all of the incubator and accelerator programs in the Tannery building in downtown Kitchener. When it left the programs, it struggled to find financing until a round of investments led by local telecommunications company Fibernetics Corp. put it on the growth track.
“We are looking at about $1 million in annual revenue,” Moss said.
Plasticity Labs now has 12 full-time employees, eight part-time employees and four additional researchers through partnerships with Wilfrid Laurier University. It plans to hire another 24 employees.
“We are just getting ready to expand our sales efforts into the United States and then globally from there,” Moss said.
The money announced Tuesday will be shared among Communitech, the Accelerator Centre in Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University’s LaunchPad program and the University of Waterloo’s Velocity program. It will be used to help startups scale and expand into foreign markets.
“It is investments like this that will allow us to scale to the next level, and build more $100 million and billion-dollar enterprises that fuel global success and keep them right here in Waterloo Region,” Moss said.
Read the entire article HERE.
So Moss, co-founder and chief executive officer of Plasticity Labs, was very happy Tuesday to hear that the federal government will pump up to $9.7 million into the region’s technology ecosystem over the next five years to help startups scale into $100-million corporations.
The funding was announced Tuesday by Cambridge MP Gary Goodyear.
Plasticity Labs developed a mobile and web app that measures the happiness of a company’s employees, and helps them stay connected on the job, offsite and from home.
Now 2 1/2 years old, the company went through all of the incubator and accelerator programs in the Tannery building in downtown Kitchener. When it left the programs, it struggled to find financing until a round of investments led by local telecommunications company Fibernetics Corp. put it on the growth track.
“We are looking at about $1 million in annual revenue,” Moss said.
Plasticity Labs now has 12 full-time employees, eight part-time employees and four additional researchers through partnerships with Wilfrid Laurier University. It plans to hire another 24 employees.
“We are just getting ready to expand our sales efforts into the United States and then globally from there,” Moss said.
The money announced Tuesday will be shared among Communitech, the Accelerator Centre in Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University’s LaunchPad program and the University of Waterloo’s Velocity program. It will be used to help startups scale and expand into foreign markets.
“It is investments like this that will allow us to scale to the next level, and build more $100 million and billion-dollar enterprises that fuel global success and keep them right here in Waterloo Region,” Moss said.
Read the entire article HERE.