Ottawa, Ontario, [October 21, 2020] – Today Invest Ottawa announced the graduation of four scaling firms from its flagship program, the IO Accelerator. After demonstrating exceptional growth, GoFor, Knak, Relogix, and RVezy and have been accepted to Invest Ottawa’s Scale-Up Program. 

With an aggregated $35 million raised in venture capital, these four technology firms have helped create skilled job opportunities and contribute to Ottawa’s economic growth. They lead some of Canada’s fastest-growing SaaS businesses in logistics solutions and delivery services (GoFor), email creation (Knak), IoT and workplace data insights (Relogix), and peer-to-peer RV rental marketplaces (RVezy). Together, they have reached global markets in the US, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. 

Here is a snapshot of each of the graduating ventures: 

GoFor  

GoFor is a leading last–mile logistics solutions provider. GoFor’s SaaS platform matches retailer and supplier needs with a marketplace of fleet operators and professional drivers. It provides fast, flexible, and reliable delivery to customers without fixed asset logistics’ traditional inefficiencies. GoFor’s model allows businesses to supplement their busy fleets or act as a complete outsourced solution. 

Knak 

Knak is the first email creation platform built for enterprise marketing teams. It allows marketers to collaborate and create beautiful, responsive, on–brand emails, no coding required. Built by marketers, for marketers, Knak integrates with top marketing automation platforms, including Marketo, Eloqua, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Adobe Campaign, Responsys and Pardot. Knak has proudly bootstrapped its operation and expansion, relying on its revenues without venture capital or outside investment.  

Relogix 

As a leading provider of workplace performance data, Relogix uses IoT sensors to collect and aggregate data for workspace utilization, workplace design validation, and employee engagement. Relogix recently launched Conexus to help inform real estate decisions, optimize the supply and demand of office space, and transform the experience of work.  

RVezy 

As Canada’s first RV sharing marketplace, RVezy brings RV owners and aspiring vacationers together. Since its inception in 2016, RVezy has seized a tremendous commercial opportunity in RV sharing and fostered a continuous pattern of growth and fiscal success.  

Despite the impact Covid-19 has had on the startup community worldwide, all four graduates have swiftly evolved their strategies to seize new opportunities—the results: innovations, new customers, new revenues, and continued growth.   

• GoFor scaled its operations to capitalize on the increased demand in its platform for delivery services. 
• Knak is introducing new product features to appeal to businesses’ needs for more effective and frequent email marketing and more powerful collaborations capabilities during work-from-home times.  
• Relogix re-aligned its expertise to provide data insight in commercial real estate based on its customers’ needs for safe return to work protocols.  
• RVezy catered to consumers’ evolving needs for RV rentals, from using RVs as a safe place for self-isolation during lockdown periods to embracing RV travels as summer vacation options in stage 3 recovery. 

“It is really exciting to see four very different but equally amazing early–stage firms graduate from the IO Accelerator. It’s been a lot of fun to not only work with each of them but to watch how far they have come over the last year or so,” said Nick Quain, Vice President of Venture at Invest Ottawa. “The fact that each of them has been able to make adjustments and in many cases accelerate their growth during COVID-19, is a testament to the founders and executive teams. I have little doubt they’ll be four stand-out companies as part of our Scale–Up program.” 

While COVID-19 has taken a toll on many businesses, it is also a catalyst for new ideas and innovations. The IO Accelerator is part of Invest Ottawa’s milestone-based venture acceleration programs designed to help entrepreneurs start, grow and scale their ventures. Invest Ottawa offers programs for founders in every stage of their technology startup journeys: IO Pre-Accelerator program (ideation stage startups), IO Accelerator program (growth stage startups), and Scale-Up program (scaling startups). To learn more about these programs, visit https://investottawa.ca/programs/. 

About the IO Accelerator 

The IO Accelerator is designed to rapidly and systematically accelerate the development and commercial success of high growth technology startups. In a phased and milestone-based approach, founders push themselves over 12 to 18 months to create a scalable and globally competitive technology company. Companies receive a minimum of 10 hours of advisory services per month from experts in a variety of management fields, guidance and introductions to investors, curated market research, as well as access to the IO Accelerator co-working space and startup community.  

About the Scale-up Program 

Designed for high-potential product-based technology firms, the Scale-Up Platform provides advisory services, networks and programming to help overcome three key challenges to rapid growth and market success – customers, revenue and talent. The platform is jointly delivered by Invest Ottawa, Communitech, and MaRs Discovery District to help scale-up firms rapidly scale revenues or teams and increase their potential of becoming $100 million companies. 

Media contact: 
Lucy Lai 
[email protected] or 613-290-8464