Government of Canada Supports Business Growth and Exports in Toronto

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - May 17, 2013) - The Honourable Peter Van Loan, Member of Parliament for York-Simcoe, on behalf of the Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario), today announced contributions of up to $3.27 million for two projects. The projects will support the efforts of Ontario businesses to increase international market share for their high-value exports. The announcement was made at Polar Mobile's office in Toronto.

"The Canadian business environment is robust," said MP Van Loan. "We have the people, the knowledge, the skills and the entrepreneurial spirit to succeed. The contributions announced today demonstrate our Government's commitment to helping small businesses access the skills and capital they need to bring Canadian products and services to new markets around the world."

Through FedDev Ontario's Prosperity Initiative, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) is receiving a contribution of up to $2.67 million to support the expansion of its Global Growth Fund. Through the Fund, the OCC provides support to small- and medium-sized businesses in southern Ontario, including access to training and expertise as they develop and execute export market access strategies for their products and services.

Through FedDev Ontario's Investing in Business Innovation initiative, Polar Mobile is receiving a contribution of up to $600,000 to help further develop its MediaEverywhere software platform for media companies globally to develop and deploy mobile websites and applications across all devices. Built exclusively for media, the platform addresses mobile complexities, accelerates time-to-market and reduces costs, all while providing maximum flexibility. In 2012, Polar Mobile received $6 million in venture capital investment led by Georgian Partners, of which up to $1.3 million will be used for this project. The company expects that this project will create up to 10 full-time jobs.

For more information on these projects, please see the backgrounder.

Created in 2009, FedDev Ontario supports the southern Ontario economy by building on the region's strengths and creating opportunities for jobs and economic growth. In Budget 2013, the Government of Canada demonstrated its continued commitment to workers, families and communities in southern Ontario with the renewal of FedDev Ontario. Economic Action Plan 2013 provides $920 million over five years for the Agency, starting on April 1, 2014. As part of the renewal, FedDev Ontario will be allocating $200 million over five years for a new Advanced Manufacturing Fund in Ontario.

As outlined by the Prime Minister, the Government of Canada remains focused on what Canadians care most about: their families, the safety of our streets and communities, their pride in being a citizen of this country, and their personal financial security.

To learn more, please visit www.FedDevOntario.gc.ca or call 1-866-593-5505.

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IF THERE IS A DISCREPANCY BETWEEN ANY PRINTED VERSION AND THE ELECTRONIC VERSION OF THIS NEWS RELEASE, THE ELECTRONIC VERSION WILL PREVAIL.

This news release is available online at: www.FedDevOntario.gc.ca.

Backgrounder

Contributions to Ontario Chamber of Commerce and Polar Mobile Inc.

FedDev Ontario is investing up to $3,270,000 in two projects to support small business growth and expanded international reach for Canadian products and services.

The Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) is a not-for-profit organization that has been representing Ontario businesses for more than 100 years. Through FedDev Ontario's Prosperity Initiative, the OCC is receiving a non-repayable contribution of up to $2,670,000 to expand its support of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that are developing and executing export strategies for their products and services. Through its Global Growth Fund, OCC provides funds to small- and medium-sized businesses through two program streams: Export Market Access (EMA) and Ontario Exporters Fund (OEF). EMA helps businesses expand their growth into foreign markets and OEF provides support to develop export market strategies. It is expected that this project will increase the number of Ontario exports of products and services as it encourages Ontario small- and medium-sized enterprises to explore new markets to enhance their productivity. For more information, visit www.occ.on.ca.

Polar Mobile Group Inc. is a digital media company based in Toronto, with a focus on mobile devices. Through FedDev Ontario's Investing in Business Innovation initiative, the company is receiving a repayable contribution of up to $600,000 to help develop its MediaEverywhere software platform for the delivery of digital media across multiple devices. Currently, the company has clients in over 12 countries worldwide. The MediaEverywhere platform is a software interface that enables digital content to be viewed on mobile devices, smartphones, or computer operating systems from a single (and often existing) source. Rather than having to create multiple formats of the same digital content (i.e. separate mobile websites) clients can create and maintain one source of content while users experience the same functionality across a variety of devices. This platform offers significant cost-savings to clients and is a real advantage for the company. Polar Mobile has also attracted investment of up to $1.3 million for this project from a group of venture capital firms lead by Georgian Partners. The company expects that this project will create up to 10 full-time jobs. For more information, visit www.polarmobile.com.

FedDev Ontario's Prosperity Initiative, as part of the Southern Ontario Advantage initiatives, is encouraging businesses, not-for-profit organizations and post-secondary institutions in southern Ontario to undertake projects resulting in a more productive, diversified and competitive economy in the region.

Investing in Business Innovation, as part of the Southern Ontario Advantage initiatives, provides improved access to financing for start-up businesses, boosts private sector investment in start-up businesses, and helps accelerate the research and development of new products and ideas and bring them to the marketplace.

To date, over $420 million in funding has been committed to over 240 projects under the Southern Ontario Advantage initiatives, resulting in partnerships with more than 5,000 organizations, and over $1.2 billion in additional leveraged investments from almost exclusively non-government sources.

For more information please visit the website at www.FedDevOntario.gc.ca.