Awarding main street innovation

Four regional businesses named as recipients of TechAlliance’s 5-10-15 Main Street Innovation Challenge

Photo: Chaun McLellan of Loyal Patron’s BIAPromoter, one of four 5-10-15 Main Street Innovation Challenge award recipients

FOUR SUCCESSFUL APPLICANTS of the 5-10-15 Main Street Innovation Challenge have been selected by a panel of regional adjudicators to each receive $15,000 in funding and venture coaching from TechAlliance.

The 5-10-15 Main Street Innovation Challenge, a Digital Main Street Community Collaboration Project, was created by TechAlliance of Southwestern Ontario in consultation with regional economic development partners to support the transformation of main streets and serve the small business community struggling as a result of Covid-19. The challenge enabled the discovery of innovative solutions from Elgin, Huron, Lambton, Middlesex and Oxford counties that will initiate immediate and long lasting results for main street business prosperity.

The four recipients of the 5-10-15 Main Street Innovation Challenge are:

Loyal Patron’s BIAPromoter: An opt-in text marketing tool for customers to receive instant offers and deals from all the companies in their local Business Improvement Association (BIA). BIAPromoter will pilot in Strathroy. Founder: Chaun McLellan.

Drinks With: A podcast featuring small businesses invites regional owners to talk about their entrepreneurial journey and their venture. Season one guests are business owners selected from Oxford and Middlesex county. Founders: Erica Marchand and Todd Pearson.

Locorum: An ecommerce rewards platform, piloted in London, connects small businesses with customers seeking products in hyper-local markets across Canada. Founder: Matthew Santagapita.

Seedz: A gamified business advertising platform piloted to create unique opportunities for businesses to plant offers in geographic locations for discovery in Sarnia.. Founders: Jessika Kiernan and Stephen Kiernan.

 The Digital Main Street Community Collaboration Program focuses on bringing together community members to collaboratively identify and solve one or more local main street challenges. The goal is to add resources to ongoing conversations across multiple sectors and assist with piloting solutions.

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Funding for this initiative is made available through the Digital Main Street program, with support from the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario) and the Government of Ontario.

“With innovation and technology at the core of all these solutions, we are inspired by these founders and their vision of transforming main street,” says Christina Fox, chief executive officer at TechAlliance. “Working alongside each of the Main Street Innovation Challenge recipient companies, our Venture Growth coaches will deliver on our promise to enable entrepreneurs. Investing in these four regional recipients, is to invest in Southwestern Ontario’s economic recovery.”

 Learn more about our 5-10-15 Main Street Innovation Challenge recipients by visiting www.techalliance.ca/5-10-15Challenge.