The Harper Government Invests in Waterloo's Information Communications Technology Cluster

WATERLOO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - July 7, 2015) - Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario)

Today, MP for Kitchener-Waterloo Peter Braid announced an important investment that will help a Waterloo-based Information Communications Technology company build on its first-to-market advantage in China and expand its customer base.

RSVP Technologies Inc. (RSVP), a developer of Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Question Answering technologies in Chinese and English for mobile devices will receive up to $950,000 to finalize the development of its NLP technology.

The product is based on various major Chinese databases, including a database of 200 million existing questions and answers, knowledge-bases and a translation technology that uses existing English data, making it the most advanced NLP technology product in the Chinese market. The funding will help RSVP further develop and customize its current product to meet the specific needs of customers in China and to attract new business through marketing and distribution strategies targeting the Chinese market.

The Harper Government's contribution, through FedDev Ontario's Investing in Business Innovation initiative, is aimed at strengthening the innovation ecosystem in southern Ontario by supporting new entrepreneurs, early-stage businesses and angel investors.

Quick Facts

• The project is expected to create 38 jobs and maintain four jobs over the course of the project.
• RSVP is also leveraging $1.9-million in angel investment from members of the Golden Triangle Angel Network (GTAN).
• RSVP currently has contracts with Shangong province (with 100 million population), NavInfo, China's largest automotive navigation system supplier; Huawei, the Chinese technology multinational corporation; and the Chinese Central Weather Bureau.
• Since its creation in August 2009, FedDev Ontario has invested more than $25 million in close to 30 projects in the Waterloo region, through the Investing in Business initiative. This has resulted in more than $53 million in additional leveraged investments to support businesses, organizations and communities.

Quotes

"This announcement is yet another key example of how our Government is fostering an environment in which tech start-ups and early-stage businesses can access support for innovative research and development. This is helping to propel our innovative entrepreneurs to the world stage, creating a stronger economy at home."

- Peter Braid, MP for Kitchener-Waterloo

"The FedDev Ontario contribution will enable RSVP Technologies to leverage up to $1.9 million through angel investors. This contribution will not only accelerate growth opportunities for the company, but also create local job opportunities and growth for the Information Technology Communications cluster in the Waterloo region."

- Ming Li, Founder and CEO RSVP Technologies Inc.

Related Products

Investing in Business Innovation Announcement speech for RSVP Technologies

Associated Links

RSVP Technologies Inc.

FedDev Ontario's Investing in Business Innovation Initiative

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