Businesses'and'Startups'in'2015' By:$UTBA$ The past two months have been very eventful for the business world. Markets worldwide were rattled on the 24th of August by the collapse in the Chinese stock markets, with the S&P 500 closing 3.9% down at the end of the day’s trading.1 Subsequently, the Fed delayed raising interest rates last month and doubt exists, as to whether it will do so this month. In other news, the world’s largest carmaker, Volkswagen has taken a serious beating both in terms of its reputation and market capitalization after the EPA announced that it had installed software in nearly 11 million “clean diesel” automobiles that masked the emission of hazardous compounds.2 Subsequent legal issues could prove to be very damaging for VW. As you would be knowing, speakers from over 12 startups in different industries will be part of the UTBA’s first speaker series on entrepreneurship. As a follow-up to the event, and to keep up your interest in the challenging start-up environment, here are three that could bring radical changes to their industries. 1)! Symphony Symphony Communication Services LLC, is a communications platform in the financial services industry that allows “financial firms and their customers to put all digital communications on a single platform”.3 For a business with more than 50 users, the platform costs just $15 (American) per user for a month and is free for smaller businesses and individuals.4 Bloomberg LP and Thomas Reuters Corp. provide similar services that can cost “tens of thousands of dollars per year for each customer”.5 Symphony is being backed by a total of 14 banks and money managers which include Group Inc., AG, Group AG, Bank of New York Mellon Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co who put in $66 million last year.6 Just this week, according to sources, Google’s holding company – Alphabet, has valued Symphony at $650 million.7 With Google’s support, this start-up seems ready to take on its competitors and dramatically change the financial services information industry.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 1 Nathaniel Popper and Neil Gough. “A Plunge in China Rattles Markets Across the Globe”. nytimes.com. August 23, 2015. Accessed October 5, 2015 2 Brad Plumer. “Volkswagen's appalling clean diesel scandal, explained”. vox.com. September 23, 2015. Accessed October 5, 2015 3 Reuters. “Google in talks to invest in chat company Symphony: source”. reuters.com. October 5, 2015. Accessed October 5, 2015. 4$Ibid.$$ 5$Ibid.$$ 6$Ibid.$ 7$Sarah$Krouse$and$Justin$Baer.$“Google$Takes$Stake$in$Messaging$Startup$Symphony$Communication$Services”.$ wsj.com.$October$5,$2015.$Accessed$October$5,$2015$ $

2)! BloomBoard BloomBoard is an education technology start-up that seeks to connect teachers with resources to achieve their goals.8 It has received a total of $16 million in funding from investors such as Birchmere Ventures, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Learn Capital.9 In the USA, it has partnerships with over 7,000 schools and as of June had around 100,000 users.10 With the financial backing it has, BloomBoard has the potential to expand further. 3)! Whirlscape Inc.

Whirlscape is a Toronto based start-up best known for the Minuum, a small one dimensional keyboard for phones operating on the iOS and Android operating systems. It began in 2012 as a University of Toronto incubated startup.11 The application is downloadable on the App Store and Google Play. More promising is the fact that it has potential to be used with wearable technology such as the Google Glass and motion sensing technology like the Kinect.12

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 8 PR NewsWire. “BloomBoard Secures $7.2 Million in Series B Funding”. prnewswire.com. June 30, 2015. Accessed October 5, 2015. 9 Ibid. 10 Ibid. 11 Murray Newlands. “8 Canadian Startups to Watch Out For In 2015”. inc.com. Accessed October 6, 2015. 12 Ibid.$ Bibliography Krouse, Sarah and Justin Baer. “Google Takes Stake in Messaging Startup Symphony Communication Services”. wsj.com. October 5, 2015. Accessed October 5, 2015 Murray Newlands. “8 Canadian Startups to Watch Out For In 2015”. inc.com. Accessed October 6, 2015. Plumer, Brad. “Volkswagen's appalling clean diesel scandal, explained”. vox.com. September 23, 2015. Accessed October 5, 2015. Popper, Nathaniel and Neil Gough. “A Plunge in China Rattles Markets Across the Globe”. nytimes.com. August 23, 2015. Accessed October 5, 2015. PR NewsWire. “BloomBoard Secures $7.2 Million in Series B Funding”. prnewswire.com. June 30, 2015. Accessed October 5, 2015.

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