news-innovation centre

Supplied…
Sault Ste. Marie (October 19, 2016) – Heuristext, a Canadian for-profit social enterprise that is making the internet easier to understand, is among one of nine high potential female founded companies around the world, and the only Canadian company, invited to participate in Women’s Startup Lab (WSL) Accelerator Program in Silicon Valley, California. Heuristext’s Founder & Managing Director Melissa Kargiannakis is determined to make it to WSL along with Naomi Freeman, Heuristext’s Head of Development, but they need help from to access the once in a lifetime opportunity.

WSL is an intensive program including multiple, two-week residential periods and perpetual program access once enrolled. It is exactly what Heuristext needs to propel their business to the next level – that’s if they can raise the $20,000 CDN ($13,000 of which before November 1, 2016) to cover the cost of tuition to attend. A crowdfunding page with additional information about the company and this opportunity has been set up at https://www.gofundme.com/helpheuristext. Any excess funds will be injected into the company for R&D and business development.

“The Women’s Startup Lab is going to amplify our ability to bring Heuristext to fruition because it focusses on founders as much as company,” said Kargiannakis. “The WSL will prepare us for and provide us with opportunities to pitch to investors who have an appetite for risk; which makes it more likely that we will get the capital we need to take Heuristext to the next level and beyond through the WSL.”

Women’s Startup Lab is a unique accelerator aimed to grow and support Women entrepreneurs to succeed through innovation and to become the next changemakers. It is specifically designed to form a collaborative start-up community of other highly driven founders, as well as Silicon Valley’s well known investors and serial entrepreneurs. Through this program, Melissa can form meaningful relationships and access powerful resources to accelerate the success of Heuristext, which is poised to have global impact.

Kargiannakis adds, “The lab’s focus on women appeals to us because of the additional hurdles female founders face. For every entrepreneur there are hills to climb. If you’re a woman, the hills you will have to climb to achieve yours dreams will look more like mountains. And if you chose to be a woman founder, those mountains will look more like Everest.”

“Women’s Startup Labs is very proud to welcome Melissa Kargiannakis and her new company Heuristext to our upcoming Cohort of women founders in November,” said Ari Horie, founder and CEO of Women’s Startup Labs.  “We are a founder development accelerator whose mission is to catalyze women-run startups and guide them to success through powerful immersive leadership training and an influential network of coaches and advisers formed by serial entrepreneurs and investors. We also focus on long term success by providing the ongoing support of a community of founder alums.  Melissa’s participation will support the success of her own company by gaining insight on what makes a successful startup and how to avoid costly mistakes but she will also leave with 20 plus leaders from Silicon Valley as part of her team.”

Nearly half of all Canadians and Americans are considered low-literate: they struggle to understand online information relevant to everyday life such as job and housing applications, basic banking, and health information. In the US, $225B annually is lost due to non-productivity linked to low literacy. Adult literacy programs are so underfunded that only 5-10% of Canadian adults who are eligible can actually get into them.

Heuristext will allow people to read what they normally would online starting at a reading level that is most comfortable for them, then increase that reading level over time to improve their literacy skills. It will be available to anyone with an internet connection. By making the internet easier to understand, Heuristext will empower, educate, and inform the average internet user, of any age regardless of reading ability, therefore reducing misinformation and potentially harmful incidents due to lack of understanding. Kargiannakis describes it as “imagine Google Translate except instead of translating to different languages, Heuristext adapts information to different reading levels.”

Heuristext customizes webpages in accordance with the viewer’s reading level to improve clarity and context. Heuristext has secured a Research & Development partnership with the University of Toronto and Dr. Cosmin Munteanu, through which Heuristext has received federal funding $25,000 from the AGE-WELL Network Strategic Investment Program.

Heuristext has also been invited to Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) at Rotman School of Management. CDL is a unique program for massively scalable technology-based ventures that have the potential to transform our social, industrial, and economic landscape. The CDL will work with Heuristext providing technical advice from global experts and opportunities to pitch to potential investors.

Heuristext has received just shy of $50,000 in funding from grants made available through the Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre, Sault Ste. Marie Economic Development Corporation, and AGE-WELL Network. This money is earmarked for research and development only and cannot be put towards attendance at the WSL. Heuristext’s next stage of development requires at least $500,000 which will be raised through private investors. For detailed funding and achievements to date, visit Heuristext’s Go Fund Me page here.

Naomi describes how she got involved with Heuristext, “My career has taken me a lot of interesting places – from rallying volunteers in non-profits and the Obama campaign to hacking in big tech companies like Shopify and Google, and working as Lead Web Developer at the Centre for Social Innovation. It’s never been linear, but when Melissa introduced me to Heuristext, I knew it was exactly where I was meant to be. Heuristext’s social enterprise model and cutting edge research and development in Artificial Intelligence is the perfect mix of all of the best and most exciting parts of everything I’ve worked on. Moving into a leadership position with Heuristext will be the next big adventure. We’re already learning and growing so much and it’s so exciting to be working with another super motivated, talented and intelligent lady.”

“It has been an honour and a privilege to work with Naomi through various government grants,” Kargiannakis continues. “She is wildly talented, experienced, and has been a guiding force for Heuristext. I hope to continue working together to take Heuristext to the next level.”

Heuristext is a seed-stage start-up company based in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, and currently an incubator client with the Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre and its YouLaunch program, supporting entrepreneurs ages 29 and under.

“Melissa is an incredibly strong, intelligent and poised leader, and we know that Heuristext can make a global impact as a world leading artificial intelligence application that will be as commonly used as online spellchecks or language translators,” said Gerry Bugyra, Business Development Manager, Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre. “At the Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre, our mission is to drive business growth, facilitate research and commercialize innovation in globally significant areas of science and technology, all of which Heuristext represents. We’re very proud to support Melissa as a client and of her achievements in such a short time, and cannot wait to see what’s next!”

Visit Melissa and Naomi’s Go Fund Me Page here and help them reach their $10,000 goal by November 1! https://www.gofundme.com/helpheuristext