Rev incubator at Communitech to help companies boost sales

Communitech, the Kitchener-based tech incubator, is launching a new program designed to give a handful of startups a business boost. 

The program, called Rev, will help 10 fledgling companies that have been able to generate some revenue with existing products grow their sales and raise capital over three to six months. 

Samuel Legge, the Rev program manager at Communitech, says it will replace the Hyperdrive program, which focused on new startups and product development. 

"The whole tech ecosystem here in Kitchener-Waterloo has matured and we have a lot more companies that are much further ahead than they used to be 2½ years ago," said Legge.

Rev will provide free office space and mentorship, and will match any money raised by the companies up to $60,000. It will also give priority to companies with diverse teams, and especially to companies with female co-founders.

"Throughout the program there will be tens of thousands of dollars worth of cash prizes for reaching milestones, and at the end of the program there's going to be roughly [a] $100 to 200,000 prize pool for companies to compete for," said Legge.

"Now these companies are not looking for help on the early fundraising side, they're looking for help on how to grow revenue, build a sales team, and really just in general learning how to sell and grow revenue to an optimal level."

Legge says there's a wealth of ideas and people who are good at creating products here in Waterloo Region, but that there's a need to increase sales expertise in order to compete in the U.S. 

"The Americans for the most part, they tend to be very good sales guys," said Legge.

Rev is set to begin in March.