8 ms·

Canadian Startup Lands in Y Combinator Winter 2013 Cohort

52 points by srlake 14y ago

HorizonXP 14y ago
As a UW Elec 08 alumni, it's fantastic to see fellow alumni following through on their ideas. Moreover, this is yet another win for UW VeloCity, since it's yet another startup that has made it into YC. I can't wait until I get myself into the Garage. Kudos to the team!
biot 14y ago
Gesture control without a camera. Does it involve hacking a theramin? From the Wikipedia article: It is named after the westernized-name of its Russian inventor, Léon Theremin, who patented the device in 1928. The controlling section usually consists of two metal antennas which sense the position of the player's hands and control oscillators for frequency with one hand, and amplitude (volume) with the other, so it can be played without being touched.
- steeve 14y ago
  I supposed it's based on sounds. There were a few videos out demonstrating this kind of technology.
paulgb 14y ago
This is (at least) the 3rd Velocity startup; BufferBox (S12) recently exited to Google (not a talent acquisition from reliable sources) and Pebble (W11) just announced general production yesterday. Congrats to Thalmic, you're in good company!
- vicngtor 14y ago
  Pair
  - paulgb 14y ago
    Wow, not sure how I forgot Pair and Vidyard.
- srlake 14y ago
  + Vidyard !
- boringkyle 14y ago
  also vidyard, kytephone and upverter
  - paulgb 14y ago
    Does kytephone have a UW connection? (I keep a list[1] so I'll add them if they are) [1] https://www.quora.com/What-startups-have-come-out-of-University-of-Waterloo-since-2004/answer/Paul-Butler https://www.quora.com/What-startups-have-come-out-of-Univers...
    - martythemaniak 14y ago
      Martin from Kytephone here. We're not from UW, although I did spend a bunch of time in Waterloo.
- OmarIsmail 14y ago
  It's actually quite a bit more than that. Streak, PagerDuty, and some others. Velocity -> YC seems to be a great pipeline!
  - paulgb 14y ago
    I didn't know you were behind Streak! Very cool. I know PagerDuty are UW alum but were they involved with Velocity as well?
jasdeepsingh 14y ago
Awesome news! As someone from around the area and actively involved within startup and development community in the GTA area. This is great news! :)
jacalulu 14y ago
Congrats guys! As a 2010 UW Mechatronics grad it is always awesome to read about someone from the program doing something amazing!
rdl 14y ago
Sounds interesting. I'm really interested in the YC W13 startups -- if there are half as many, maybe twice as good? And maybe a leading indicator of other startup trends (b2b vs. b2c split, which technologies, etc.)
vecinu 14y ago
This is great for the Greater Toronto Area in general. I can hardly wait until I return to Toronto from the Bay Area to try and bring back some of this startup culture. There are a lot of bright people in the GTA that are lacking the motivation or are unaware of what steps they need to take in actually getting a startup moving off the ground. YC W13 seems like it was difficult to get into. Congratulations to the team!
benologist 14y ago
Two thirds of this article including the first 3 paragraphs are about something else. Why would you waste your time on a journalist who thinks your startup is the least interesting part of your startup? Even AOL gives better treatment than that.
mindstab 14y ago
"Thalmic is being stealthy about what their [sic] working on but in short" really? :(

52 points by srlake 14y ago

As a UW Elec 08 alumni, it's fantastic to see fellow alumni following through on their ideas. Moreover, this is yet another win for UW VeloCity, since it's yet another startup that has made it into YC. I can't wait until I get myself into the Garage. Kudos to the team!

biot 14y ago

Gesture control without a camera. Does it involve hacking a theramin? From the Wikipedia article: It is named after the westernized-name of its Russian inventor, Léon Theremin, who patented the device in 1928. The controlling section usually consists of two metal antennas which sense the position of the player's hands and control oscillators for frequency with one hand, and amplitude (volume) with the other, so it can be played without being touched.

steeve 14y ago
I supposed it's based on sounds. There were a few videos out demonstrating this kind of technology.

paulgb 14y ago

This is (at least) the 3rd Velocity startup; BufferBox (S12) recently exited to Google (not a talent acquisition from reliable sources) and Pebble (W11) just announced general production yesterday. Congrats to Thalmic, you're in good company!

vicngtor 14y ago
Pair
- paulgb 14y ago
  Wow, not sure how I forgot Pair and Vidyard.
srlake 14y ago
+ Vidyard !
boringkyle 14y ago
also vidyard, kytephone and upverter
- paulgb 14y ago
  Does kytephone have a UW connection? (I keep a list[1] so I'll add them if they are) [1] https://www.quora.com/What-startups-have-come-out-of-University-of-Waterloo-since-2004/answer/Paul-Butler https://www.quora.com/What-startups-have-come-out-of-Univers...
  - martythemaniak 14y ago
    Martin from Kytephone here. We're not from UW, although I did spend a bunch of time in Waterloo.
OmarIsmail 14y ago
It's actually quite a bit more than that. Streak, PagerDuty, and some others. Velocity -> YC seems to be a great pipeline!
- paulgb 14y ago
  I didn't know you were behind Streak! Very cool. I know PagerDuty are UW alum but were they involved with Velocity as well?

jasdeepsingh 14y ago

Awesome news! As someone from around the area and actively involved within startup and development community in the GTA area. This is great news! :)

jacalulu 14y ago

Congrats guys! As a 2010 UW Mechatronics grad it is always awesome to read about someone from the program doing something amazing!

rdl 14y ago

Sounds interesting. I'm really interested in the YC W13 startups -- if there are half as many, maybe twice as good? And maybe a leading indicator of other startup trends (b2b vs. b2c split, which technologies, etc.)

vecinu 14y ago

This is great for the Greater Toronto Area in general. I can hardly wait until I return to Toronto from the Bay Area to try and bring back some of this startup culture. There are a lot of bright people in the GTA that are lacking the motivation or are unaware of what steps they need to take in actually getting a startup moving off the ground. YC W13 seems like it was difficult to get into. Congratulations to the team!

benologist 14y ago

Two thirds of this article including the first 3 paragraphs are about something else. Why would you waste your time on a journalist who thinks your startup is the least interesting part of your startup? Even AOL gives better treatment than that.

mindstab 14y ago

"Thalmic is being stealthy about what their [sic] working on but in short" really? :(