Victoria's Mediacore stepped up its game and improved upon its third place finish in the B.C. Innovation Council's regional competition earlier this year by taking home the $100,000 first prize in BCIC's provincewide New Ventures competition.
The company offers an online video platform allowing organizations to create sites to share content for education and training without having to offer it to a wider audience. Mediacore also won the $10,000 Plug and Play Tech Centre prize.
The awards were handed out at a gala in Vancouver Wednesday night to wrap the sixmonth competition.
"Each year our jury is extremely impressed with the quality of companies that enter the competition, and this year was no exception," said Bob de Wit, executive director of the New Ventures B.C. Society. "We know that all of our finalists can look forward to great business success in the future, and we take pride in the fact that the educational series, events and mentorship that we have provided them during the competition will contribute to that success."
Mediacore and Parksville-based Pixton Comics, which has created software and tools to allow anyone to create comics online, had been shortlisted to the competition's top-10 from a field of 146.
Pixton, which won the earlier regional competition and the grand prize of $30,000, missed out on the money at the provincial competition.
Second prize and $55,000 went to NaviDent Technologies, which gives dentists a simpler, safer and more accurate procedure to place dental implants.
Third prize and $35,000 went to MyBestHelper, an online solution to finding childcare.
The competition's $22,000 Bioenergy Network prize went to Mazza Innovation, a developer of low polarity water extraction technology, used to extract phytochemicals from plants to be incorporated into foods, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.
And the $15,000 Vancity Social Venture prize went to Twothirds Water, a group of engineers and entrepreneurs who develop and market innovative water treatment products in developing countries.
"These companies join an impressive list of more than 1,500 program alumni over 12 years of competition, including 140 winners who have raised $112 million in financing and created over 650 jobs for British Columbians," said John Jacobson, CEO of BCIC.
