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By Jennifer Foden
From a car sharing platform to a software consultancy to Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered tax software, these Durham-based companies could give the tech giants of the world a run for their money.
Subskryb
Kendell Victor Johnson, now the CEO of Subskryb, a subscription-based car sharing platform, was a software executive at Fortune 100 companies like IBM and Salesforce when he began working with auto sharing companies and recognized a market gap: customer service. Unlike his competitors, Subskryb delivers and picks up vehicles from its customers. And for folks that want to invest? Their capital is a vehicle. “That’s how we get the car supply,” says Kendell.
“There’s a growing part of the population who are no longer looking to buy or lease a car; it’s just unaffordable,” says Kendell. “So, what we do is give people an option.” If a customer is trying to choose between buying a car or using a combination of public transit and ride-hailing apps—“which creeps up in cost and isn’t convenient,” Kendell adds— “we’re right in the middle.”
Subskryb, which is based in Uxbridge, serves customers all across southern Ontario and subscription prices are based on how long they want the vehicle (a day, week, month, etc.), how much they’ll be driving and what kind of car they want. The company launched in 2020 and has grown up to 30 per cent month over month since its inception. And while Subskryb hopes to scale its business to beyond Ontario, Kendell never wants to forget his company’s roots. “Durham has always supported us as a business,” he says.
Kendell has plenty of advice for new entrepreneurs in Durham Region. “Find a mentor,” he says. “We have cut many corners and avoided many pitfalls because we listened to the right people.” Kendell connected with Spark Centre, an Oshawa-based technology and innovation business incubator, which helped him with everything from marketing to making partnerships. “Also, go on forums and don’t be afraid to showcase what you got,” Kendell adds. “And then, hire from your community and create a corporation where like-minded people can create something special. And the last thing: be passionate, work at it every single day and have a plan, plan, plan.”
Hypotenuse Labs
The reason Matt Reyes, the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Hypotenuse Labs, a software consulting company, lives and works in Durham Region is personal, not professional. But we’ll get to that.
Matt studied math at the University of Waterloo and met his co-founders Calvin Chan and Anthony Zhang while interning at large technology companies like Uber, Snap, Facebook and Amazon. After graduating in 2018, several of their friends who they met in the industry needed help with their startups: building web applications, blockchain products, AI features, etc. So, Matt, Calvin and Anthony ended up helping them out on a contractor basis. “And then COVID-19 happened. People started quitting their jobs and raising funding to build their own startups,” Matt says. “And the demand for what our team does skyrocketed and we scaled like crazy.”
Matt and his co-founders had always embraced remote work—setting up temporary offices in Asia, the United States (U.S.), etc.—however, in 2020, they all returned to their respective homes in the Greater Toronto Area to be with their families and hunker down working on their business. One thing that makes their company different is that most of their hires are based in Canada and the U.S. “There are a lot of shops that hire overseas,” says Matt. “And most of our team is around a senior to Chief Technology Officer-level engineer, which is quite experienced. So, when we work with clients, that’s our value add.”
With Matt living and working in Durham, he reconnected with childhood friends who live close by to write and perform music. “And now it’s become a serious thing for me where it’s almost like a second job,” he says. His band just played a sold-out show. “So, being based out of here—a lot of it is for personal reasons. It’s the right distance from Toronto. I also have the space I need. I can be with family. And pursue the musical side of my life,” he says. “If your business is remote, it doesn’t really matter where you’re located. What matters is what kind of lifestyle you want to have.”
CloudTax
How Nimalan Balachandran became the CEO and founder of CloudTax, an AI-powered tax software, has a bit of a backstory. Nim was born and raised in Sri Lanka during the time of the country’s civil war. Unfortunately, his family’s livelihood was impacted by the devastating tsunami there in 2004. “The Canadian government gave an open Visa saying, ‘if anyone in your family was affected in Sri Lanka, you can sponsor them,’” Nim says. “My brother was studying at Ryerson at the time, so he sponsored us.” When Nim moved, then 17, he didn’t speak any English. “I was in English as a Second Language, finishing high school and working nights as a dishwasher and janitor.”
Eventually he went to college for accounting and finance. “While I was getting started, my brother said, ‘if you want to go into finance, you might as well learn tax.’ I ended up really liking it,” Nim says. He started running his own small tax preparation company, then he worked for the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), and then as a financial planner. Ultimately, he wanted to build his own business and help people navigate the confusing tax system here in Canada, Nim says.
Enter CloudTax. The app—which was certified by the CRA in 2019—allows individuals to file their own taxes. But how is Nim’s version different from the rest? It’s the only software that scans T4s and, through AI technology, populates each field in the return—taking the guesswork out of filing your own taxes. The best part? It’s free. (Although they do have a premium version.)
And Nim’s company keeps growing: CloudTax is now in the U.S. market, offers life insurance and is partnering with financial institutions and enterprises so they can white label his software for their existing clientele.
Nim lives and works in Pickering; he’s also a member of 1855, a technology accelerator in Whitby. “I can’t think of a better place to build a business to be honest,” he says. “Durham Region is very actively involved in nurturing new startups and helping them grow.”
