All Resources

Our team is thrilled to share that The Welcome Platform has been selected as 1 of 48 Ontario Tech startups to join the ICT Mission to Collision Conference.

The Welcome Platform has been selected to join the 2024 Collision Conference

Collision is one of the largest and most influential tech conferences in the world.

The Government of Ontario has invited a select group of Ontario companies to join an export business mission to Collision 2024. Collision is North America's fastest growing technology conference that attracts more than 30,000 leaders from the global technology community every year. Collision 2023 attracted 36,370 attendees including 860 investors and more than 1,490 start-ups from 118 countries.

The Welcome Platform has received a seat through the Ontario ICT Mission to Collision - Stream 1.

This selection highlights the company's outstanding mission and promise in the technology field, and emphasizes the Welcome Platform's innovative contributions and the global impact it is positioned to achieve.

Welcome Platform Inc. was incubated by TMRRW Labs, a builder studio born out of local communications and technology firm TMRRW INC. The company closed its seed fundraising round earlier this year and was backed by VERGE Capital (London On), TMRRW Labs and 6 Angel Investors, 5 of whom are from Sarnia.

The event will provide an exceptional platform for showcasing the Welcome Platform product, as well as provide networking opportunities with industry leaders, potential partners, investors, and customers from around the world.

If you would like to learn more about Collision, you can visit the event website here.‍

Collision 2024 - Enercare Centre, Toronto - June 17-20

Welcome. I’m Liwordson, but you can call me Li, like my friends do. I’m the president of TMRRW Labs, the company that built the Welcome Platform.While the Welcome Platform now has its own dedicated team, I'm still involved working with our partners and sharing our story. But I should set the record straight: I didn't come up with this myself, and I didn’t stumble upon some stroke of genius. The reality is, it all started with an opportunity falling into our lap.

My mom was the original Welcome Platform.

If I saw a therapist (I probably should) - I believe that they would say that I’ve spent the past decade working to distract myself from a traumatizing childhood.

Although my family fled genocide in Sri Lanka and my own origin story was defined by being part of an immigrant family - by burying myself in my work, I remained oblivious to those that followed in our footsteps and how they were suffering through the process.

It wasn't until a colleague from our local immigration partnership reached out for help, that I would face the issue myself. During the pandemic, Refugees and immigrants were lost, unable to access essential services in their new homes. Moving to a new country is a socially, financially and mentally tough experience. The first few days could set the tone of optimism for a bright future, or leave families in despair.

So, we collaborated with our community, engaging dozens of local organizations and built technology that could bridge the gap. Our goal? To help newcomers access services, integrate with everything they need all in one single place and most importantly use technology to foster real connections in their new homes. This is the cornerstone of community retention.

But how did a single app evolve into a platform that we hope will be dozens of apps over the next year? Well, we owe that to my mom.

When my family immigrated to Toronto – a city known for its multiculturalism – circumstances shortly led us to a predominantly white, blue-collar community when I was just three. Fleeing domestic violence, my mom was given three relocation options, she chose Sarnia, the option that was the furthest away.

I’ll skip the sad stuff. The summary is - building a life from scratch was tough. She had 3 kids under 4, didn’t speak English and her closest family was over 3000 miles away… But we made it through. She went to college, got a job and we got by.

Now, what does this have to do with the welcome platform? Let me explain.

Once we had a half stable foundation, our two-bedroom apartment became a safe haven for East Asian women escaping domestic violence from the GTA. These families stayed with us, sometimes for weeks or even months, as my mom helped them get on their feet. At times, my mom and sister gave up the bed they shared for our guests. There was really no limit to what we’d give up to welcome them.

What I witnessed blew my mind. How in just 2–3 months did these families get their whole lives together. This had taken us years to do ourselves… Rip off?

My mom got them started learning English at our local adult learning centre, applying for jobs with Goodwill, applying for college and most importantly fast tracked their path to finding friends, family and community, through the church and other organizations.

My mom was the original Welcome Platform.

I always wanted to do Karate. We couldn’t afford it, though. But the little boy who stayed in our house, he got to do Karate. And that’s really freaking awesome.

So, this is our mission: we want to help welcome 1 million newcomers, fast-track their new lives, and help them find prosperity… Let's see you try and top that mom ;)

I joke. Love you mom.

Thanks for reading.

- Li

As we mark the culmination of National Welcome Week, I am thrilled to share a milestone that marks a significant step forward in our mission to make the world more welcoming. Today, I am proud to introduce the launch of Welcome Platform Technologies Inc. We build technology to help newcomers find their way in new places. We create technology that fosters a true sense of belonging for newcomers within their new communities.

Startingly, statistics revealed that one-third of Canadians who feel a sense of belonging to the country do not share that same sense within their own communities

Our journey began in collaboration with our local Immigration partnership in Lambton County, where we embarked on a mission to create the first-ever "Welcome App" for our community. Little did we know that this project would become the catalyst for a bigger vision, one that would resonate with communities throughout the province and reveal the challenges faced by newcomers seeking to build a new life in Canada.

Statistics revealed that one-third of Canadians who feel a sense of belonging to the country do not share that same sense within their own communities. The overwhelming challenges of transitioning into Canada, language barriers and the lack of centralized information, continue to be the primary obstacles facing newcomers. Unfortunately the communities we engaged with lacked the resources to replicate the success of the "Welcome to Lambton" app due to a lack of financial and technical support.

We were inspired to try and solve this issue, so we went on to construct a shared economy inspired, multi-tenant platform – "The Welcome Platform." This innovative solution will empower communities across the nation to deploy custom welcome mobile apps efficiently and affordably. Mobile apps that can evolve continuously through feature development of the platform they are built on top of. Most importantly, the entire process can now be completed within a couple of months.

Our vision for The Welcome Platform is to launch Welcome Apps in every community across Canada and beyond, connecting newcomers with locals, agencies, businesses, jobs, social groups, programs and much more, while continuing to offer all the great utility they need to make their transition smooth.

Today marks a remarkable milestone for us because we are excited to share that "The Welcome Platform" has completed our seed fund raising round, with $100K from VERGE Capital, Contributions from TMRRW labs and large investments from 6 Angel investors. This funding signifies a crucial turning point as we work hard to bring "The Welcome Platform" to communities across the country.

We firmly believe that "The Welcome Platform" will have a profound impact on communities and serve as an essential tool for connecting with newcomers, international students, and migrant workers. Through our platform, we aim to connect newcomers of all kinds to essential services such as banking, insurance, housing, and more.

Thank you for sharing in our excitement as we take this next step. Stay tuned for updates on "The Welcome Platform," as we work towards our mission of welcoming 1 million newcomers.

Warm regards,

‍Liwordson Vijayabalan
President, Welcome Platform Technologies Inc.