Collaboration will help early tech companies overcome their largest hurdle: commercializing and scaling ideas
TORONTO, May 11, 2017 /CNW/ - Canada's innovators and technology startups are set to play an increasingly important role in the future of Canada's economic prosperity as emerging technology such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and big data transform the global economy. A key factor determining their success will be how effectively they deliver their ideas to the market and scale. To help bridge this gap, RBC is proud to announce its new multi-year investment and collaboration with OneEleven, an innovation hub focused on helping high-growth tech startups commercialize their ideas and scale their operations.
This new collaboration will help OneEleven improve its ability to support the country's top startups. As a direct result of RBC's investment, OneEleven can increase accessibility to its environment, services and networks. Other elements of the collaboration include joint events and programming, startup support services, networking and investment opportunities.
"Enabling and empowering Canada's innovators is critical to our country's long term prosperity, which is why we're proud to collaborate with OneEleven and support Canada's fastest growing tech companies", says Greg Grice, Executive Vice-President of Business Financial Services at RBC. "RBC understands tech companies have a unique set of needs and one of the greatest challenges they face is scaling ideas. Through this collaboration with OneEleven, we're pleased to be able to support these entrepreneurs and help position Canada as a global leader in technology and innovation."
With the grand opening of its new 250,000 square foot innovation hub at 325 Front Street West in Toronto, OneEleven has increased its capacity by nearly four times. From this site, Canada's most promising technology startups, influential thought-leaders and disruptive corporate associates receive help with business development, additional fundraising and talent recruitment and retention.
"This collaboration between RBC and OneEleven will contribute directly to Canada's future positioning as a leader in the global innovation ecosystem," says Bilal Khan, Managing Director of OneEleven. "With the support of our allies, OneEleven is providing talented individuals with the resources and connections they need to grow and scale successful tech companies and create real impact."
RBC has a long standing focus on the technology sector in Canada. For more than 30 years, RBC has provided tailored advice to help innovators start, manage and grow their business.
"We're excited to see RBC support startup ecosystem players like OneEleven," says Albert Lai, co-founder and CEO of OneEleven alumni company Big Viking Games. "Our recent debt financing round from RBC is just one example of how a top-tier bank can support high-growth technology companies. RBC is definitely one of the front-runners when it comes to corporate innovation."
Innovation at RBC
Innovation is core to our thinking at RBC. We're building a digitally-enabled relationship bank that reflects our clients' expectations and preferences in the digital age. From inside-out we're changing how we work, including collaborating with a diverse set of technology partners, to quickly deliver exceptional, convenient and secure client experiences. We're also investing in the wider Canadian digital ecosystem to help drive the future prosperity and economic success of the country. Here are a few recent highlights:
- In March 2017, we were the first Canadian bank to launch Interac e-Transfer using Siri voice commands.
- In March 2017, we introduced MyAdvisor, an online advice platform that connects clients to an advisor using live video and enables real-time collaboration on a dynamic "dashboard" reflecting the client's savings and investment goals.
- In September 2016, we became a member of the Global Payments Steering Group, the first interbank group for global payments based on blockchain technology.
- We're one of the leading voices on artificial intelligence in Canada:
- We've established RBC Research in machine learning with labs at the University of Toronto and the University of Alberta, to push the boundaries of the science around machine learning.
- We're investing in initiatives such as NextAI and the Vector Institute to help ensure Canada remains a leader in these emerging technologies.
- We're working with leading universities to partner with the best, brightest and boldest minds that we can find. This includes building a $3 million start-up accelerator at the University of Toronto for student and graduate entrepreneurs to develop commercial ideas.
About RBC
Royal Bank of Canada is Canada's largest bank, and one of the largest banks in the world, based on market capitalization. We are one of North America's leading diversified financial services companies, and provide personal and commercial banking, wealth management, insurance, investor services and capital markets products and services on a global basis. We have over 80,000 full- and part-time employees who serve more than 16 million personal, business, public sector and institutional clients through offices in Canada, the U.S. and 35 other countries. For more information, please visit http://www.rbc.com/.
RBC helps communities prosper, supporting a broad range of community initiatives through donations, community investments and employee volunteer activities. For more information please see: http://www.rbc.com/community-sustainability/.
About OneEleven
OneEleven is a scaleup innovation hub focused on helping Canada's most promising, high-growth startups commercialize their technologies and scale their operations. Their mission is to enable Canada's best startups to relentlessly focus on value creation and business growth. OneEleven's vision is to help the next generation of Canadian tech companies compete and win on the global stage. For more information about OneEleven, please visit http://oneeleven.com/.
SOURCE RBC Royal Bank
