Difference Capital

TouchBistro is an iPad-based restaurant point-of-sale system enabling owners to manage reservations and take orders instantly. Instead of servers repeatedly moving between customers and terminals for order management, servers can remain with customers and instantly submit orders to the kitchen and bar. Servers no longer need to write down an order and then enter it into a distant terminal. TouchBistro's single entry system reduces errors and increases efficiency. Menu items can be presented in vibrant color with every detail captured and can be quickly and easily updated and even published to the Web, providing more dynamic impact than a traditional menu can provide.

QuickPlay Media is the leading provider of managed service solutions for the distribution of premium video to IP-connected devices. Successfully used by the world’s largest communications and media companies, QuickPlay’s cloud-based OpenVideo platform provides the most scalable and secure way for companies to deliver engaging multiscreen entertainment experiences. For more information, please follow QuickPlay Media on Twitter at @quickplaymedia. Interested parties can also follow QuickPlay on Facebook at www.facebook.com/quickplaymedia. QuickPlay was founded in April 2004 by telecommunications executive Wayne Purboo and media executive Raja Khanna and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada with local sales offices in North America and Europe.

Cardiac Dimensions, Inc. is a medical device company developing novel interventional tools for the treatment of heart failure and the related condition of mitral valve regurgitation. Our product, the Carillon® Mitral Contour System®, is a groundbreaking, non-surgical device developed to treat functional mitral valve regurgitation. Our system uses a catheter based approach to reshape the mitral valve and reduce mitral regurgitation.

Bluedrop Performance Learning Inc. (BPL) is the publicly listed holding company for its two wholly owned operating divisions, Bluedrop Training and Simulation Inc. (BTS) and Bluedrop Learning Networks Inc. (BLN) to which it provides management oversight and shared corporate and financial services. Founded by majority shareholder and CEO Emad Rizkalla, BPL’s mandate is to lead and dominate niche markets where technology and learning can deliver new levels of operational success and improve and save lives. Bluedrop Training & Simulation Inc. (BTS) operates within the defense and aerospace industry where it designs and develops highly specialized, high performance, tactical training for front line operators of equipment working in complex environments and high-risk situations. This includes, training systems needs analysis, custom courseware development, virtual simulation training devices, and ongoing training support for in service support. Typical customers include Tier one OEMs such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Sikorsky. Bluedrop Learning Networks Inc. (BLN) provides unique SaaS-based workforce development solutions to help government and corporate customers improve employment outcomes and keep workers safe. By understanding the complex operating environments of its target markets, BLN’s solutions are able to address multiple stakeholders. These solutions help workers to manage mandatory certifications, apprentices to track new skills at work, the unemployed to get jobs, the underemployed to advance, dreamers to start businesses, and local businesses to grow. Typical customers include workforce investment boards, apprenticeship authorities, government agencies, NGOs and workers’ compensation boards.

Mogo Inc. operates as a financial technology company in Canada. The company provides finance app that empowers consumers with solutions to help them get in control of their financial wellness. It offers users a free MogoAccount and provides access to various products, including free credit score monitoring, identity fraud protection, digital spending account with Platinum Prepaid Visa Card, digital mortgage experience, the MogoCrypto account, a product within MogoWealth that enables the buying and selling of bitcoin, and access to smart consumer credit products through. The company’s platform delivers digital experience with various products all through one account. Mogo Inc. was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

Hootsuite is a social media management platform helping businesses reach their customers across multiple platforms. Its suite of social media tools is built to simplify marketing, accelerate sales, and streamline customer service. The platform enables users to create, schedule, publish, and manage their content and ad campaigns across social networks from a single dashboard.

Thunderbird Entertainment is a rapidly growing Vancouver-based multiplatform entertainment company with offices in Los Angeles, Toronto and London. Thunderbird creates award-winning programming for Canadian and International broadcasters and boasts divisions in scripted and unscripted development and production, theatrical distribution, and animation.Thunderbird’s upcoming projects include the theatrical release of the critically acclaimed feature film Never Steady, Never Still directed by Kathleen Hepburn. Recent hits include the second season of the Canadian comedy Kim’s Convenience, the thrilling sequel to the cult classic Blade Runner, Blade Runner 2049, and the animated Netflix original series Beat Bugs, featuring reimagined songs from the Beatles catalogue sung by the biggest recording artists of today.

SHOP.CA is the first multi-merchant marketplace built for Canadians, and managed by Canadians. In June of 2012 the site launched and now has millions of products, across 28 categories, and includes over 5000 brands. SHOP.CA provides Canadians with the brands, products and services they need and want from trusted retailers, manufacturers and service providers, all through one universal shopping cart and one account. Through a cloud based Marketplace-as-a-Service (MaaS) platform, SHOP.CA makes it easy for approved partners to list, price and sell their products and services they have online and/or offline to Canadians, through a single destination. By integrating social elements into the eCommerce platform and user experience, SHOP.CA engages and rewards Canadians for every purchase and for social activities that lead to purchases.

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing therapies to treat targeted patient populations that are suffering from serious diseases with a high unmet medical need. The company is currently developing voclosporin, an investigational drug, for the potential treatment of lupus nephritis, focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, and Dry Eye Syndrome.

Baanto International is a Mississauga, Ontario based company engaged in the design, development and marketing of proprietary infra-red (IR) based optical touchscreens based upon ShadowSense:tm: technology. Baanto was formed in 2009 as the commercialization vehicle for what is now known as ShadowSense. Eight (8) patents have been filed since the inception of the technology and cover the topology, implementation, and algorithmic aspects of ShadowSense position sensing technology. ShadowSense touchscreens combine high performance with a cost effective architecture, allowing Baanto to compete effectively in multiple market segments and across various use models. Baanto is exiting 2012 with twelve (12) production touchscreen solutions ranging in size from 8” (diagonal) to one of the largest commercial touchscreens in the world with a diagonal span of > 266”. Baanto product momentum is supported by the multi-touch experience and familiarity developed by the 500 million + smartphones and tablets sold over the last 5 years. The majority of these devices are multi-touch enabled, creating a user expectation that displays of all sizes will be interactive and have the common “iPad:registered:” multi-touch experience of swipes, pinches, and rotates. On the PC front, the touch capability of Windows 7:registered: and pending release of the multi-touch features of Windows 8 reinforces the need for the multi-touch experience to be present on laptops, “All in Ones”, PC desktops and larger displays as well. As a result of the staggering growth over the last five years, DisplaySearch estimates the touchscreen market size (TAM) to be $15.88 billion (USD) in 2012 and growing to more than $24 billion by 2017. While a significant portion of the recent growth is directly attributed to smartphones, tablets, and PC’s, even excluding these market segments the Baanto served available market (SAM) for existing products is estimated to be $2.67 billion (2012) with a calculated average growth rate (CAGR) of 13.6%.

Alida is a continuous customer insights solution provider that enables organizations to drive better business outcomes while ensuring world-class customer journeys. By combining deep insight with broad feedback, Vision Critical empowers some of the most powerful brands in the world to improve the customer experience. Hundreds of leading brands including BuzzFeed, LinkedIn and Red Bull are building better products and fostering customer loyalty with Vision Critical. To learn more about Vision Critical, follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, or visit us at www.visioncritical.com.

Bluedrop Performance Learning Inc. (BPL) is the publicly listed holding company for its two wholly owned operating divisions, Bluedrop Training and Simulation Inc. (BTS) and Bluedrop Learning Networks Inc. (BLN) to which it provides management oversight and shared corporate and financial services. Founded by majority shareholder and CEO Emad Rizkalla, BPL’s mandate is to lead and dominate niche markets where technology and learning can deliver new levels of operational success and improve and save lives. Bluedrop Training & Simulation Inc. (BTS) operates within the defense and aerospace industry where it designs and develops highly specialized, high performance, tactical training for front line operators of equipment working in complex environments and high-risk situations. This includes, training systems needs analysis, custom courseware development, virtual simulation training devices, and ongoing training support for in service support. Typical customers include Tier one OEMs such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Sikorsky. Bluedrop Learning Networks Inc. (BLN) provides unique SaaS-based workforce development solutions to help government and corporate customers improve employment outcomes and keep workers safe. By understanding the complex operating environments of its target markets, BLN’s solutions are able to address multiple stakeholders. These solutions help workers to manage mandatory certifications, apprentices to track new skills at work, the unemployed to get jobs, the underemployed to advance, dreamers to start businesses, and local businesses to grow. Typical customers include workforce investment boards, apprenticeship authorities, government agencies, NGOs and workers’ compensation boards.

BTI delivers solutions that transform the economics, performance and innovation of global networks through intelligent networking software and systems. Leading content, cloud and service providers choose BTI to drive improved operational efficiencies and profitably deliver high-value services to businesses and consumers around the globe. With more than 380 customers, BTI is headquartered in North America, and operates regional sales, marketing, and R&D centers of excellence throughout the world.

BuildDirect provides an online marketplace for buying and selling building materials. The platform connects homeowners and home improvement professionals in North America with suppliers and sellers of quality building materials worldwide, including flooring, tile, decking, and more.

Vena connects people, existing systems, and data to power finance-led business planning and real-time reporting using a spreadsheet platform. Vena turns Excel into an enterprise-class business solution with a centralized database, workflow, detailed audit trail and more. With Vena, hundreds of leading global brands now get trusted numbers and insights – fast – without sacrificing their favorite spreadsheet software. Customers use Vena for corporate performance management (CPM) applications including budgeting, financial close management and reporting, and automating other spreadsheet-driven processes beyond Finance. Vena is the fastest-growing cloud CPM vendor, and the only one to embrace – not replace – Excel spreadsheets.

Carta is a digital transaction platform—the engine behind fintech innovation. Empowering new industry disruptors that allows established players to push existing technology into the future. Carta is the backbone of leading digital payment products around the globe. Carta is an award winning leader in the development of mobile payment technologies such as Host Card Emulation (HCE), Cloud-Based Secure Element and advanced Tokenization. As a certified Third Party Processor with MasterCard / Visa, and through Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) compliance, we offer End to End transaction solutions that provide the highest level of security and reliability with faster time to market, greater control and lower total cost of ownership than our competitors.

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing therapies to treat targeted patient populations that are suffering from serious diseases with a high unmet medical need. The company is currently developing voclosporin, an investigational drug, for the potential treatment of lupus nephritis, focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, and Dry Eye Syndrome.

The Lignol delignification process was first developed by General Electric Corp. in the early 1970s to produce ethanol and organosolv lignin to be used as a clean burning gas turbine fuel. The process was subsequently applied to the pulp and paper industry, commercialized by Repap Enterprises between 1987 and 1997 to generate wood pulp. Repap refocused the Alcell delignification process as a pulping process in which lignin was removed, and following bleaching, produced a 100% cellulose/hemicellulose wood pulp. Dr. Kendall Pye, a founder and director of Lignol, was for 16 years President and CEO of Repap Technologies Inc. and Vice-President, Science and Technology of Repap Enterprises Inc. where he was responsible for the technical development of the Alcell process. In total, General Electric and Repap spent over $100 million developing the technology.

GlassBOX Television Inc. is being built to own and operate cross-platform digital broadcast and VOD channels. There is a twist. GlassBOX is run by a couple of veteran Internet guys who are focused on making use of new technologies to engage the audiences and to deliver the channels and content across the globe in innovative ways. GlassBOX studio is near Toronto, Canada, where they produce their own content with emerging artists… the up and coming stars (both on and off the screen) of comedy, music and short form entertainment. The first channel, BITE Television, is three years old and has played a key role in defining a new generation of multi-platform and interactive television services. The Emmy award-winning format for BITE TV is one they are building upon, investing in and looking to duplicate in their forthcoming multi-platform channels. GlassBOX is committed to supporting new talent, developing great content and making the best use of new technologies to help drive audiences for their creator, carrier and advertiser partners.

InfraReDx, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and distributes medical devices. The company specializes in near-infrared spectroscopic (NIRS) technology and its application to coronary imaging. It develops a fiber-optic, catheter-based, near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy system to identify and characterize vulnerable plaque in the coronary arteries. The company was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts.

Brainscope is a medical neurotechnology company that improves brain health. It develops a new generation of hand-held, simple-to-use, non-invasive instruments to aid medical professionals in rapidly, accurately, and objectively assessing brain function at the initial point of care. BrainScope devices in development are based on a revolutionary and proprietary technology platform, which integrates databases of brainwave recordings with advanced developments in Digital Signal Processing (DSP), sophisticated linear and non-linear algorithms, miniaturized hardware, and disposable headset sensors. It also provides objective, diagnostic insights that enable better patient care. The company’s innovative BrainScope One system is the first and only portable, EEG-based, radiation-free platform that empowers physicians to quickly make accurate head injury assessments. It was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland.

InfraReDx, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and distributes medical devices. The company specializes in near-infrared spectroscopic (NIRS) technology and its application to coronary imaging. It develops a fiber-optic, catheter-based, near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy system to identify and characterize vulnerable plaque in the coronary arteries. The company was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts.

Ethoca is a global collaboration-based tech services company that helps connect card issuers to online merchants in order to stop fraud slipping through their defenses and recapture lost revenues. Its network consists of card issuing banks and merchants working together through a single automated connection outside the payment networks stream to their mutual benefit. Merchants use its direct-from-source card issuer data to stop the fulfillment of products tied to fraudulent accounts on orders they are actively processing while Ethoca Alerts reduces the time it takes for merchants to be alerted of fraud. Founded in 2005, Ethoca is headquarted in Toronto, Canada.

Appinions is the only opinion-powered influence marketing platform designed to give companies the unmatched ability to identify, analyze, engage, monitor and measure influencers. Built on more than a decade of research conducted at Cornell University, Appinions extracts and aggregates the opinions that generate the most reaction from more than six million sources including blogs, social networks, forums, newspapers and magazine articles, thus providing a more complete picture of influence. Appinions helps today’s businesses insert trust into the purchase journey by converting faceless touchpoints into influential trust points™ to optimize marketing efforts. For more information on the science of influence marketing, visit http://www.appinions.com/.