Supporting innovative companies to start, grow, and succeed
Waterloo Region is one of the best places in the world for businesses to innovate and thrive. The area has a unique ecosystem that is creating jobs with world-class talent and producing cutting edge research and products that support the Region’s core strengths in ICT (information and communications technology), advanced manufacturing and financial services. With world leading institutions that call this Region home, such as the University of Waterloo, the Institute for Quantum Computing, the Perimeter Institute, the industry-led innovation centre “Communitech,” the Centre for International Governance Innovation and the Accelerator Centre, Waterloo Region has the talent to fuel innovation. Waterloo is inventing the future and here is just a small sample of the great successes happening in this vibrant Region over the past several months.
In September 2016, Thalmic Labs – a four year old tech wearables company – announced it had successfully raised a US$120 million Series B investment round. This was the largest single funding round secured by a Waterloo area start-up this year. The maker of the Myo gesture-control armband, Thalmic Labs is creating a new computing category and also just recently announced that it will be opening a factory in Waterloo to produce wearable tech for the consumer market.
Clearpath Robotics, a graduate from Waterloo’s Accelerator Centre, continues its momentum to raise capital and world class talent with a $30 million investment announced in early October of this year. After raising $14 million in March 2015, Clearpath will use the recent funding to boost development of its OTTO Motors division to provide autonomous vehicles for the use of moving materials inside factories and warehouses.
Waterloo Region businesses are not only attracting sizeable investment funding, but are also creating jobs. ETAS, an automotive systems safety and security solutions company and subsidiary of Bosch, has recently announced Kitchener as their North American head office location. Freidhelm Pickard, President and Chair of the management board says “I see the potential in the next five years of going up to 100 people.” The combination of security expertise and access to talent in Waterloo Region provide expanding global companies like Bosch with the resources needed for successful growth.
Then there is NCC Group – global experts in cyber security and risk mitigation – who just 12 months after launching in Waterloo Region is already increasing its workforce in its Canadian headquarters. According to Ian Robertson, Vice President of the Waterloo office, talent was a key driver in the decision to locate the Canadian headquarters in Waterloo Region. “We are excited that NCC Group has chosen Waterloo Region as its Canadian headquarters and continues to thrive here,” remarked Tony LaMantia, President and CEO of the Waterloo Region Economic Development Corporation. “This office’s mandate as the global centre for embedded hardware security is a testament to our community’s global significance for applied research innovation and winning talent.”
With the word “innovation” as part of your name, being recognized as one of the 20 Most Innovative Technology Companies in Canada is very rewarding. In October, TrustPoint Innovation was named to the Canadian Innovation Exchange Top 20 Program for 2016 by a committee of technology experts and investors from across the country. TrustPoint Innovation is focusing its efforts on securing the growing Internet of Things (IoT) market, including connected car, vehicle-to-vehicle communications, and Smart Cities.
As a proud member of the Toronto – Waterloo Corridor (www.corridor. ca), Waterloo Region was thrilled when General Motors Canada – with an innovation lab in Waterloo – announced in June 2016 a two-year plan to hire up to 750 engineers and software 
developers, as part of an ambitious automotive technology strategy that will serve to boost the Toronto-Waterloo Corridor as a magnet for high-tech employment. Similarly, Thomson Reuters is also deepening their commitment to the Corridor following the successful opening of an innovation lab at the Communitech Hub. The newly announced tech centre to be located in Toronto will create 400 highly skilled jobs over the next two years and 1,500 jobs longer-term.
If you are looking to locate, relocate, or expand your business in a vibrant, innovative and collaborative community, please give Waterloo Economic Development Corporation a call at 1-866-233-5133 or visit waterlooedc.ca today.
