In June, Naheed Mustafa
reported for Yonge Street about the Toronto startup Cognovision, a MaRS client and the brainchild of local entrepreneurs Haroon Mirza, Shahzad Malik and Faizal Javer. The company had solved the problem of measuring the effectiveness of digital signage by embedding sensors in them to monitor the behaviour of passersby.
Earlier this month, MaRS
announced that the startup had graduated in the way that so many tech dreamers do: by being acquired by one of the world's computing giants. Intel Corporation has purchased Cognovision. Though the terms of the deal were not disclosed, online industry news sources estimated the size of the deal as between
$17 million and
$30 million.
Mirza gave credit to the Toronto business incubator MaRS for its help in building the company and paving the way for the deal to happen. "We're grateful for the work that MaRS did over the years to help us move CognoVision from a concept to a rapidly growing business. The MaRS team have been a valuable extension of our own team and an integral part of our success," Mirza says. "We've benefitted from guidance on our strategy, financing and marketing/sales at every stage of the company's development. They have also been very helpful in supporting us as we developed partner relationships here in Canada and abroad."
Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Vanessa Caldwell?, MaRS Discovery District