Israeli statesman joins Canada”s International Trade Minister, The Honourable Ed Fast, to announce Canadian winner of Start Tel Aviv, a global startup competition
TORONTO, July 9, 2015 – Shimon Peres, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and the ninth President and former Prime Minister of Israel, was in Toronto today to celebrate growing ties between Canada’s and Israel’s startup communities. He congratulated Ronen Benin, CEO and founder of Toronto-based software company RightBlue Labs Inc., for being selected to represent Canada at Start Tel Aviv, a global startup competition held in the heartland of Israel”s tech industry.
Minister Fast was honoured to join one of the world”s great statesmen and remarked on both the achievement of this Canadian startup and the importance of Canadian collaboration with Israel in technology: “I congratulate Ronen Benin and everyone at RightBlue Labs on being the winner of the Start Tel Aviv competition. Israel has also shown a clear determination to reach out to other countries around the world to forge new partnerships, and collaborate in a range of areas, presenting strong opportunities for Canadian firms who are world leaders in a wide range of technology sectors. Through these partnerships our companies are further cementing the strong Canada-Israel bond, which our government deeply values.
Israel”s Ambassador to Canada, His Excellency Rafael Barak, reflected on the presence of Shimon Peres and how this competition fits into the larger context of the flourishing Canada-Israel relationship: “It is only fitting to have the visionary behind Israel”s vibrant technology and R&D sectors, a man whose biography reads as a history of modern Israel, on hand for this exciting announcement. By sending a champion from Canada”s startup community to visit Israel, we are helping to deepen the growing people-to-people ties between our countries that have emerged in a range of fields from science to business and academics to culture.”
This year, the Start Tel Aviv competition opened to web and mobile startup founders, with competitions held in 21 countries. Benin came out on top in the Canadian competition held by the Embassy of Israel in Canada and Startup Canada, a national movement recognized globally as a best practice in fuelling grassroots entrepreneurship.
“Israel”s startup ecosystem is truly an inspiration,” said Ronen Benin, CEO and founder of RightBlue Labs Inc. “What they have managed to build while being a great distance apart from any other great technology hub speaks volumes about the people, the culture, and the priorities of the government. I look forward to learning more about Israeli tech”s principals, and bringing these learnings back to Canada.”
Benin founded RightBlue Labs Inc., a software company that develops apps to forecast illness, injury, and burnout risk in athletes, in 2013. The company now employs eight people and works with many of Canada’s national sports federations. RightBlue Labs is currently exploring similar application uses for the military and in the health sector.
“RightBlue Labs is a model example of a Canadian company starting, growing, and anchoring in Canada but making waves at an international level by exploring opportunities to scale and reach new markets,” said Victoria Lennox, CEO of Startup Canada. “Ronen Benin will represent Canada well in Tel Aviv.”
Benin will travel to Tel Aviv in September 2015 to network with the founders of 21 other startups from around the world, and be immersed in Israel”s world-renowned technology and innovation scenes by participating in lectures, workshops, and meetings with leading Israeli investors and professionals. He will also attend the DLD Tel Aviv Innovation Festival, Israel’s largest international hi-tech gathering.
For more information, contact:
Howard Fremeth
Director of Communications, Embassy of Israel
613-324–0400
press@ottawa.mfa.gov.il
Kathryn Forrest
Communications & Marketing Manager, Startup Canada
1-844-782-7801 ext. 106
press@startupcan.ca
BACKGROUNDER
About RightBlue Labs Inc.
RightBlue Labs Inc is a software company that is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. It was founded in 2013 to build apps that facilitate information collection, aggregation, and communication between sports organizations, coaches, and athletes. RightBlue Labs’ flagship product is the Logit app, which helps forecast illness, injury, and burnout risk in athletes (collectively know as “Ailment” risks). At scale, Logit aims to be the “Moneyball of Ailment Forecasting and Prevention.”
To date, Logit has been adopted as the de-facto athlete monitoring system by many of Canada”s most decorated National Sports Federations. Logit has successfully reduced training time missed due to illness and injury by up to 23 per cent and has a 96 per cent daily compliance rate amongst its clients.
Logit acts as a quick daily well-being check-in for performance athletes. Athletes may use their phone, tablet, or computer to respond to a few questions on a Likert scale about their day, and their responses are instantly analyzed against their own unique baseline to identify patterns and create risk profiles. Each athlete’s unique Integrated Support Team (IST) gets alerted when issues are identified or troubling patterns begin to form. The IST is then able to make real-time decisions to reduce the risk of negative outcomes for their athletes.
About Start Tel Aviv
Start Tel Aviv is a global competition held by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Tel Aviv Global. The competition brings together top technology startups from 21 countries for an intense, five-day startup experience in Tel Aviv’s unrivaled startup ecosystem. This year, the competition opened to web and mobile startup founders. The Embassy of Israel in Canada and Startup Canada held the Canadian competition, with dozens of applications judged by top Canadian entrepreneurs. A list of adjudicators can be found here: http://www.startupcan.ca/start-tel-aviv/adjudicators/.
About Startup Canada
Startup Canada (startupcan.ca) is a grassroots, entrepreneur-led movement founded in May 2012 that has become the most recognized, energized and active entrepreneurship organization in Canada. Startup Canada’s programs have mentored more than 20,000 Canadians, grown to represent more than 80,000 entrepreneurs, and increased entrepreneurial momentum, wealth and jobs in Canada while promoting Canada’s diversified economy and high quality of life. Startup Canada is recognized globally as the benchmark for fuelling grassroots entrepreneurship. It has educated the leaders of peer organizations in the United Kingdom, Malaysia, South Korea, South America and the United States.
About The Embassy of Israel in Canada
Celebrating 66 years of diplomatic ties, the Canada-Israel relationship is rooted in shared democratic values and common interests. The warm relations and close people-to-people connections provide fertile ground for the Embassy to promote greater partnerships, economic growth and friendship between the State of Israel and Canada. Based in Canada’s national capital, Ottawa, you can follow us on Twitter and Facebook or connect with us at http://ottawa.mfa.gov.il/.