Introducing OneEleven

Innovation hub helps Canadian startups compete on the world stage

OneEleven is building Canada’s largest scaleup hub for small businesses. We talked to Bilal Khan, founding managing director, to learn how the Toronto-based entity supporting the country’s startup community.

What’s the best way to describe OneEleven?

Bilal Khan: OneEleven is a scaleup innovation hub. We’re focused on helping Canada’s most promising, high-growth startups commercialize their technologies and scale their operations. Our mission is to enable Canada’s best startups to relentlessly focus on value creation and business growth.

What makes OneEleven innovative and different?

BK: OneEleven was born out of a need to better support rapidly scaling technology companies. Toronto has a very active startup ecosystem, and we’re filling the gap for those high-growth-potential companies that are gearing up to compete and win on the global stage. Our community and portfolio have been growing steadily since we launched three years ago, and we recently expanded from a 15,000-square-foot space to 50,000. This move is only the beginning. Along with our partners and community, we’re building Canada’s largest scaleup hub.

How does OneEleven benefit entrepreneurs and small businesses?

BK: We provide the community, infrastructure and support that rapidly scaling companies need at a crucial point in their evolution. By bringing these amazing founders, teams and partners together under one roof, OneEleven is creating opportunities for collisions – for big idea-sharing, knowledge transfer and creative thinking.

OneEleven is a partnership between industry, venture capital, government and academia. How is each group involved?

BK: We believe that for Canada to be competitive and take a leadership role in the innovation ecosystem, we need to bring together leaders from both the public and private sectors. OneEleven is an excellent example of this. By bringing together the most sophisticated entrepreneurs, influential thought leaders, fastest-growing tech startups, and disruptive private and public sector partners, we can build a dedicated community – really a brain trust – that focuses its collective efforts toward developing and commercializing the big ideas that will propel our country toward success. We’re fortunate to have had corporate-sector partners like Rogers join us on our mission.

Is OneEleven focused mainly on the Toronto tech scene?

BK: Although the majority of our companies start out in the Greater Toronto Area, they have a broader impact. The work we’re doing to help them scale truly does reverberate across Canada and around the world. As an example, Wealthsimple, a company that OneEleven supported early on, now has several Canadian locations and recently expanded into the U.S. with a New York office. Tulip Retail, another early OneEleven company, has expanded to multiple locations.

How many companies have joined?

BK: To date, we’ve supported just over 40 companies, and new members are joining monthly as we grow into our new space. It’s part of a visionary project that will see a section of the downtown core turned into a true innovation hub. We have a variety of workspaces, and companies can apply for membership consideration. A number of our initiatives are open to the public, so we recommend that anyone who’s interested in becoming part of the extended OneEleven community should sign up for our newsletter.

What activities and programs does OneEleven offer?

BK: We offer a wide variety of programming, and as our community grows, so does the variety. But I will note that everything we do is highly curated. We want to make sure we’re always focused on delivering high value to our community. We host large thought-leadership and networking events as well as private, more focused peer meetups. We also run a OneEleven Founder Forum program, which brings select founders together to share insights and experiences, and to develop both personally and professionally. Our programs provide our portfolio companies with support in three main areas: talent, capital and customers. We believe that focusing on these areas is the best way to increase equity value and position our companies for greatness.

Membership benefits include services from Amazon, Microsoft and other major companies.

BK: Our partners offer discounted services and free consultations on topics like insurance, financing and legal issues. They’re true champions for the OneEleven companies and often help make introductions to their networks or identify opportunities for them.

What’s unique or fun about working with OneEleven?

BK: Hmmm. Well, our ping-pong tables are almost always in use, and scooters are the preferred method of office transportation! We also host some awesome social events with our community, including a pretty epic Tech Summer Social. But I think the most unique thing about OneEleven is our community. Even though some of the companies might be competitors, we put that aside and work together. Our partners are also a huge part of this community. They are incredibly passionate and they really champion our companies and are invested in their success.

For more information, visit OneEleven.