Techstars Toronto has chosen Quidax, a Nigerian cryptocurrency startup to join the accelerator program’s third cohort, which will now begin on June 8, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
With a focus on Africa, Quidax allows businesses and individuals to buy and sell cryptocurrency with their local currency while making it possible for FinTechs to offer cryptocurrency services to their customers.
Launched in Canada in 2018, Techstars Toronto is run in partnership with Real Ventures.
The program typically runs for 13 weeks out of WeWork in downtown Toronto, and unlike Techstars’ proptech and AI accelerators in Toronto and Montreal, respectively, this program doesn’t focus on one specific industry.
Techstars invests $120,000 in each company for six percent common share equity and provides hands-on mentorship as well as unlimited access to the Techstars global network.
In light of recent developments regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, Techstars Toronto has decided to delay the “official” start date of Techstars Toronto to June 8, in order to ensure the safety of its founders and mentors. From now until June, Techstars is having a “soft-start” for its new cohort, offering support and resources from its teams, founders, portfolio companies, and partners.
Sunil Sharma, managing director of Techstars Toronto said because of this he feels the 2020 program will be a uniquely elongated program that will span more than five months instead of the usual three.
According to a spokesperson for Techstars, the accelerator plans to run on a remote format. It is relying on updates from health officials to determine the best courses of action and will asses whether its demo day will take place in-person or remote on or before July 15.
Techstars highlighted that forty percent of the new class has at least one female founder. Notably, last year’s cohort had no female CEOs and the accelerator announced plans at last year’s demo day to begin working with more female-focused organizations like StandUp Ventures, The Big Push, BDC Women In Tech, and Dream Maker Ventures.
Countries of origin for the latest cohort include Iran, Turkey, Poland and Nigeria, as well as Toronto, Vancouver, and Calgary. Twenty of Techstars Toronto’s alumni have collectively raised over $50 million dollars and hired more than 300 people, according to the accelerator.
