Since its beginnings in 2011, DemoCamp Halifax has been home to product demos from some of the region’s hottest startups. In 2011, founders of Volta Alumni company Proposify demoed a prototype of their web-based proposal software. A few years later in 2014, local startup and Volta Resident, Harbr demoed their platform that provides data analytics for construction companies.

This year, DemoCamp Halifax featured live demos from 10 Atlantic Canadian tech startups in a variety of industries. The event’s MC, George Kashap, Customer Success Manager at Leadsift and Venture for Canada Fellow, warmed up the crowd and welcomed each demoer to the stage. The event also included an informative product-focused lightning keynote from Debbie Fougere, Director of Product Management at STI Technologies.

 

What is DemoCamp?

DemoCamp Halifax is an event for the regional technology and startup community to come together and share what they’ve built as a live demo (no PowerPoints), give each other feedback, learn from speakers, and connect with one another.

The concept for DemoCamp began in Toronto when organizers, David Crow and Albert Lai wanted a casual monthly gathering for designers, developers and entrepreneurs to connect and show off the interesting products they were working on. The first DemoCamp was in December 2005 at the Bubbleshare offices in Toronto. Toronto’s DemoCamp has since grown from the original 28 attendees to over 300 at more recent events.

Other cities have also adopted the event for their own startup communities. DemoCamp host cities include Boston, Edmonton, Dubai, Hamilton, Montreal, Vancouver, Halifax, and more.

DemoCamp was brought to Halifax in 2011 by Milan Vrekic, former Executive Director of Volta Labs and a serial entrepreneur. 2017 was Volta’s first time hosting the event and the goal was to make this year’s the best one yet!

 

How was this year different?

Awesome Venue

This year, the event took place at the beautiful Pier 21 Kenneth C. Rowe Hall at the Canadian Immigration Museum at Pier 21. Audience members may have thought they were witnessing an Apple keynote, with top notch show quality and a stage fit for a star.

Networking (with appetizers!)

We kicked off DemoCamp Halifax 2017 with a power networking session that saw entrepreneurs, investors, students, and members of the regional startup community connect over light appetizers.

More Live Demos

DemoCamp Halifax 2017 was action-packed with a great lineup of LIVE demos (no PowerPoints!). We saw some incredible demos of innovative tech products being developed right here in Atlantic Canada – from software to hardware, enterprise apps to clean tech. This year’s event had it all.

 

Who demoed this year?

• Trip Ninja showed the DemoCamp crowd that flexible travelers now have a new way to find the most affordable route on their multi-city trip.
• Bean Counter Technologies proved that paperless management of gourmet brew-on-demand coffee machines is a streamlined path to the future.
• Bereda Training demonstrated how easy and flexible building customizable training plans for athletes can truly be – no more spreadsheets!  
• Graphite Innovation & Technologies displayed samples of their proprietary graphene products and explained how they have commercialized their cost-effective method for creating the material.
• Green Power Labs showcased how their technologies help create a greener world by using predictive analytics to optimize energy efficiency.
• Kognitiv Spark wowed the crowed with their cutting edge worker support platform that uses holographic AR visualization to help offsite experts troubleshoot, inspect, or repair objects on the worksite.
• Kilo Communications proved how cool soccer goalkeeper analytics are with their Stopper app that tracks keeper game performance.
• Site 2020 demonstrated their commitment to improving traffic control efficiency and safety with a demo of their smart networked portable traffic lights that save lives, time, and money.
• Ocean Executive showed that “sea-commerce” is the new e-commerce with their online marketplace that connects seafood producers and buyers through a live online bid/offer software system.
• Swept closed the show with a demo of their communication-driven SaaS platform for the janitorial industry, noting that Disney recently made use of Swept a requirement for their cleaning service providers.

 

What was the BIG announcement?

After 10 fantastic demos and one fascinating lightning keynote, Volta made a major announcement about a new program aimed at helping early-stage tech startups attract and secure venture capital sooner. Jesse Rodgers, CEO of Volta Labs, announced that Volta Cohort will provide up to five companies each cohort with $25,000 in investment, mentorship and resources to help high calibre founders grow their startups faster.

 

Related articles categorized under Blog, Events, General