L-Spark’s leader believes the Kanata-based tech startup accelerator’s new partnership with Mitel will trigger a wave of collaborations with other Canadian corporations that want to work with emerging companies to bring innovative products to market. Mitel, which is also headquartered in the west-end tech hub, announced in late April it was joining forces with L-Spark […]
L-Spark’s leader believes the Kanata-based tech startup accelerator’s new partnership with Mitel will trigger a wave of collaborations with other Canadian corporations that want to work with emerging companies to bring innovative products to market.
Mitel, which is also headquartered in the west-end tech hub, announced in late April it was joining forces with L-Spark to help up-and-coming tech companies brainstorm applications that can be integrated into the unified communications giant’s products.
The new unified communications accelerator program is a bit of a departure for L-Spark, which over the past 12 years has mentored more than 130 startups that have collectively raised in excess of $200 million in follow-on funding.
The organization has traditionally accepted software companies from a wide range of verticals into its programs, pairing founders with experienced tech executives who provide advice on everything from product development to go-to-market strategies.
But L-Spark executive managing director Leo Lax says the collaboration with Mitel marks a fundamental shift in the organization’s trajectory.
Rather than casting a wide net when searching for the next software-as-a-service stars, L-Spark has decided to narrow its focus to companies in specific verticals, he explains.
The organization is hoping to partner with two corporations a year to help its portfolio companies create new products and services for leading Canadian firms.
“We are very encouraged by the amount of response we are getting from the market,” Lax says, adding the program “will prove to the world … that this is really … the best way to help our innovation ecosystem become global and be able to grow and become a major player in the market.”
Funded largely by Terry Matthews’ Wesley Clover investment firm, L-Spark has eight full-time employees as well as a network of about 40 serial entrepreneurs, established CEOs and other experienced tech leaders who advise startups on a contract-by-contract basis.
The Mitel partnership is not an entirely new way of doing business for L-Spark. The organization has worked with other well-known tech and telecom firms in the past, including BlackBerry, Telus and Solace, to help startups commercialize products in fields such as medical and automotive tech.
But until now, the SaaS accelerator has been the organization’s signature program, graduating distinguished alumni like network troubleshooting software maker Martello Technologies and online bug detection platform Noibu.
Hundreds of applicants
Lax says L-Spark began altering its business model early this year with a plan to operate “two parallel activities” – its traditional SaaS program and a new, more targeted accelerator it would run in conjunction with corporate partners in one of four specific industries: retail, utilities, mining and energy.
However, former executive director Patrick White’s departure last month for an executive job at software firm Solink prompted the organization to shift gears and focus solely on the corporate collaboration model instead.
“We said, OK, let’s focus on what we see as a major opportunity, which we were hoping to migrate to later on anyway,” Lax explains. “We just accelerated that migration.”
Lax says L-Spark has received about 400 applications for the new program, which is slated to run from September to next January. Lax and his team will whittle that down to about 14 contenders, from which Mitel will choose eight companies to participate.
While L-Spark’s portfolio companies have traditionally been homegrown, the Mitel collaboration is open to firms from anywhere in the world. The new program will also feature businesses that are a bit more mature than many of those in L-Spark cohorts of the past: the organization is zeroing in on applicants with between $2 million and $5 million in annual revenues and 20-50 employees.
Mitel chief technology officer Luiz Domingos says the telecom giant receives a steady stream of offers to work with potential technology partners, especially in rapidly expanding areas such as artificial intelligence.
But he says it’s “very difficult to identify” which ones are the best fits with Mitel’s existing network of partners – and that’s where L-Spark comes in.
“We felt partnering and creating a program like an accelerator for startups is an alternative to … start probing the market, identifying which startups are good or not to partner with and complement our solutions,” Domingos says. “We felt this was a good approach.”
Companies in the new accelerator will work side-by-side with Mitel engineers and executives as well as the firm’s other partners, with the aim of using AI and other cutting-edge technologies to develop new telecom platforms that can be used in fields such as remote medicine and hospitality.
They will also meet weekly with a mentor from L-Spark in a bid to help them avoid pitfalls on the path to getting their products to market. Lax says the goal is to have pilot projects running with companies in Mitel’s sales channels by early 2026.
“Traditionally, these types of integration arrangements take years,” he adds. “We are going to help them make that happen in months.”
Although Lax has been beating the bushes since January in an effort to find other big-name Canadian corporations that are willing to collaborate with L-Spark on similar ventures, Mitel is the only one to ante up so far.
Casting his eye around the local tech landscape, he sees plenty of candidates, rhyming off names like Calian, Kinaxis and, of course, Shopify. He’s hoping the Mitel partnership will bear enough fruit to make other potential partners take notice.
“These are all companies that have footprints worldwide,” Lax says. “So I’m hoping the (corporate) community here will look at the success we are generating with Mitel and want to copy it. And we are ready to help them do that.”
Domingos sounds eager to get started, noting this could be the first of “several iterations of the program” if it’s a success.
“That’s our main objective and I’m very positive about it.” 
