Innovation Saskatchewan is responsible for implementing the province’s innovation priorities and helping grow Saskatchewan’s tech sector. Effective April 2022, this includes operation of the Innovation Place technology parks in Saskatoon and Regina.
Women in Saskatchewan Tech are set to make a big splash in 2020! Coconut Software and SalonScale, both tenants at Innovation Place in Saskatoon, were selected to participate in the Women in Tech Silicon Valley Program, and Kristy Ehman, founder of Hyon, a startup from Cultivator, a tenant at Innovation Place in Regina, was accepted into Communitech’s 2020 Fierce Founders Bootcamp. Whew, congrats ladies!
Coconut and SalonScale will join 10 other Canadian women-led technology companies in San Francisco and Silicon Valley at the end of February for an intensive three-day program that aims to support women tech leaders. The program, a partnership between the Canadian Consulate in Palo Alto and BDC Capital’s Women in Technology Venture Fund, focuses on expanding growth opportunities for these companies and identified the need to make strategic connections outside of Canada as a key element to help accelerate growth. Read more about the Women in Tech Silicon Valley Program here.
Ehman will join 24 other women entrepreneurs from across Canada at the Communitech Hub in Kitchener for the business and personal growth program geared towards building business models and refining pitches. The top eight participants will pitch their startup ideas for a chance to win the $100,000 grand prize and we’re sure we’ll see Kristy in the finals! Read more about Communitech’s 2020 Fierce Founders Bootcamp here.
The success of these women-led companies comes as no surprise to us!
Coconut, an appointment scheduling and lobby management solution platform, was founded by Katherine Regnier and has been a huge success story for Saskatchewan tech. The company was recently named one of Canada’s Top Tech Companies to Watch in 2020 and closed a $6.5 million CAD Series A-2 round in November 2019.
SalonScale is an app created by Alicia Soulier that allows salons to accurately price the cost and usage of hair colour and has been creating a lot of buzz in both the tech and salon worlds. The company is a recent graduate of the Co.Labs program and was also named one of the Top Eight Prairie Startups to Watch in 2020.
Hyon is a software platform created by Ehman that enables sellers and buyers in Saskatchewan communities to connect and keep items in circulation rather than ending up in landfills. Hyon was a finalist in Cultivator’s 24-hour Startup in Regina and won the Co.Launch finale in Saskatoon at Co.Labs.
Congrats to all these companies on their successes and we can’t wait to see what they do next in 2020!
- February 3, 2020