October has been a busy month for the WTIA Startup Programs. WTIA launched its fourth Korean Startup Market Accelerator in collaboration with the Korean Innovation Center of Silicon Valley, started a pilot Startup Accelerator program with Taiwan Tech Arena, and wrapped up its third Canadian Startup Market Accelerator in partnership with the Canadian Consulate and Trade and Invest British Columbia.

The purpose of WTIA Startup programs is to help startups evaluate their expansion into U.S. markets. The programs also provide mentorship and facilitate strategic introductions within Washington’s technology ecosystem. “Partnering with founders globally enables WTIA to expand its mission to create a thriving tech industry both within and beyond U.S. borders while helping startups to make inroads in local markets in Washington state, where they can explore new growth opportunities,” said Nick Ellingson, Startup Ambassador and Director of Products. 

Korea and Taiwan

For its part, the Korean Accelerator program provides startup owners and entrepreneurs with 25+ hours of training on fundraising, go-to-market initiatives, customer development strategies and more to help them reach their full potential. 

This was the WTIA Startup Program’s first time working with Taiwan startups. The pilot program focused primarily on providing mentoring and strategic introductions for Taiwanese founders.

Nine Korean companies participated, including:

• Waynehills Ventures. Co.,ltd: AI Software
• AIMMO: Autonomous Driving, Smart City
• Klleon: AI / Deep learning 
• Rocket to the Moon (RTM): Industrial AI
• Devunlimit Inc.: AI
• PIXELSCOPE Sports: Tech, Al, Healthcare 
• FutureMain Co., Ltd: Big Data, AI, Machine Learning, IoT
• Dtonic Corporation: AI, IoT, Big Data
• AIDOT: AI, Medical ICT

Taiwan startups participating in the pilot program included:

• AIdea
• OFAI
• RobotSmith

Canada

The Canadian Startup Market Accelerator, in partnership with Global Affairs Canada and Trade and Invest British Columbia, prepared 10 business-to-business software-as-a-service (B2B SaaS) companies for expansion into the U.S. market. 

The eight-week, virtual Startup Market Accelerator included workshops on sales, fundraising, and other stage-appropriate topics, customized to the individual organizations. The program also provided mentorship and coaching designed to help with localization efforts and U.S. go-to-market strategies. Founders received introductions to more than 50+ local companies for market validation, and local community leaders and investors. All participants also got a free WTIA membership, including access to benefits like AWS Credits, Carta Cap Table Management software, HubSpot marketing automation, Brex corporate credit cards, among others. The program was sponsored in part by Dorsey & Whitney LLP.

The Startup Market Accelerator culminated in a pitch event for local investors, where founders demonstrated their newly acquired fundraising skills in an effort to garner financial support for their companies to help them scale and expand into American markets. 

Participating startups included: 

• Boss Insights (Toronto) 
• illuxi (Montreal) 
• Boosted.ai (Toronto) 
• Panevo (Vancouver) 
• nmodes (Toronto) 
• Asset Market (Nanaimo) 
• Bandit Labs (Vancouver) 
• Wedge Networks (Calgary) 
• Locelle Digital (North Saanich) 
• Advanced Symbolics (Ottawa) 

“The positive impact of our Startup Accelerator Programs is a testament to our commitment to help founders leverage our vast network, expertise and resources,” said Michael Schutzler, CEO, WTIA. “We will traverse borders and geography to build strong connections among entrepreneurs, innovators and investors to support international startups in Washington.”