‘Living’ storybook app receives $25,000 investment

A small tech company’s digital “living, life story book” won a $25,000 investment at a pitch event at the Discovery Centre in Halifax.

MyMem was one of five winners at Tuesday’s competition.

“It’s really exciting for me and my team, definitely,” said co-founder Aishwarya Ravichandran. “This recourse is what we were looking for to bring MyMem to the market because we need the right sales team to reach out to the right residences and home cares in Nova Scotia and in Canada.”

The MyMem app will be used to create personalized games for people suffering from dementia by using photographs and videos uploaded by the user or the user’s family members.

“The inspiration is from my grandmother,” said Ravichandran in an interview after her speech. “She was a dementia patient and I had been living with her for the past six years. So, I know … the things that she faces.”

The event was hosted by Volta Cohort, an investment branch of Volta Labs that operates in Halifax. Volta Labs CEO Jesse Rodgers was one of the judges, along with representatives from venture capital investment groups BDC Capital and the Nova Scotia Crown corporation Innovacorp.

For Rodgers, the investment side of the event was secondary to the overall impact on participants.

“We wanted to give the community a great event where these really great founders can get out in front of people, and have them all feel that community warmth and the really positive vibe that goes along with it,” said Rodgers in an interview on Wednesday.

The other winning companies were:

• Trip Ninja
• Rovault
• Clockk.io
• Flock

Aayoosh Sapra was another one of the night’s presenters. His company, Ceesix Health Inc., did not receive an investment, but he found the experience to be a valuable one.

“One thing with entrepreneurship is that you never lie down,” said Sapra. “Today’s event is just one of many that will be taking place.”

Volta will be hosting another pitch event in six months.

Last September the federal government gave $1.5 million to Volta to help boost Atlantic Canada’s tech industry. At the same time Volta also received $500,000 from Innovacorp.