Moncton Fitness Startup Accepted Into Silicon Valley Program
MONCTON— Moncton’s FITIV, a company that offers fitness tracking app FITIV Pulse, is among nine companies accepted into the February 2018 cohort of the Canadian Digital Media Network’s (CDMN) Get There: San Francisco program.
“This is a unique opportunity for Canadian technology startups to get hands-on experience in San Francisco, broaden their networks, meet investors and connect with a massive pool of potential clients,” said CDMN, in a press release.
The FITIV app uses its heart rate monitor to show the intensity of a user’s workout in an engaging way by using an “intensity halo” to help them meet their goals by tracking their space, speed and heart rate. The app currently has over 330,000 users with over 1.3 million workouts tracked.
The app is designed for people who take fitness serious want a tool to help them improve their performance, founder and CEO Sylvio LeBlanc told Huddle in an interview last spring.
“The [FITIV] user is definitely not somebody who doesn’t know anything about fitness,” he said. “It’s somebody who cares and somebody who might want to optimize their time in the gym or optimize their results.”
LeBlanc told Huddle on Friday that he’s excited about the CDMB program because it would help establish contacts in Silicon Valley and potentially help grow the business.
“My initial goal is to try to find partners that we can either pair with or help each other, or potentially maybe a big firm that might be interested in investing in FITIV,” he said. “That’s one of the things that we have to figure out before we go and make sure to target those goals during the trip.”
LeBlanc said the Canadian companies in the program will have similar challenges because only companies that haven’t been to Silicon Valley can take part. There will be coaching sessions in January before the trip about the approach to meetings. There’s no fixed goal, but it’s mostly to try to figure out what’s best for each business.
“The main thing is trying to get a network, being comfortable doing future trips and having people that you can talk to or get advice from that are already in the valley,” he said.
The CDMN program provides up to $2,000 to Canadian startups to help them travel to Silicon Valley and make connections there. Selected companies can use their travel reimbursement for transportation and accommodation, pre-landing support, on-site mentorship, as well as programming.
“San Francisco is a critical U.S. market for technology companies. This program will give nine Canadian founders the social capital, experience, network and confidence necessary to harness the rapid growth potential that exists in San Francisco and the greater Bay Area,” the CDMN said.
Other companies accepted to the program are:
- Home Investment Advisors – Innovate Calgary, Calgary, AB
- Powerball Technologies – WEtech Alliance, Windsor, ON
- NextUp Care – ventureLAB, Newmarket, ON
- JAUNTIN’ – DMZ, Toronto, ON
- Comfable – MaRS Discovery District, Toronto, ON
- Fintros – MaRS Discovery District, Toronto, ON
- Guild Software – Innovacorp, Bedford, NS
- Zambara – Genesis Centre, St. John’s, NL
The CDMN is a network of 26 regional innovation hubs across Canada focused on supporting the country’s digital entrepreneurs. It is also the federal Centre of Excellence in Commercialization and Research. Venn Innovation is the CDMN hub in Moncton.
The company was originally called MotiFIT but was relaunched as FITIV with enhanced features.
RELATED: How Moncton-based MotiFIT Aims to Lead in Apple Watch Fitness