The YSpace 2025 technology accelerator has supported technology solutions for healthcare, education, sustainability and more.
In just four months, Amitayu Basu has grown his customer engagement platform Numr by nearly 40 percent. He attributes this impulse to the relationships gained through YSpace Tech Accelerator.
Registration numberwhich helps companies identify pain points in the customer journey and take action to improve retention and growth, was named the Demo Day winner for this year's cohort.
“Winning Demo Day is validation. It tells us that what we create matters.”
Amatau Basu, Numr
Since graduating, Basu, the company's co-founder and CEO, has also launched pilot programs with two large North American financial services companies and one telecommunications giant.
“When we joined, Numr had no clients in North America,” Basu said. “It was difficult to organize a meeting then. Now we have a strong network of contacts and real momentum.”
“The accelerator helped us grow as a company, stop thinking like a floundering startup and start operating like a scalable business,” Basu added.
Numr was already part of YSpace. incubator programworking from their offices in Markham and collaborating with researchers at York University when Basu decided to apply to the Tech Accelerator. Basu said he already knows the benefits of being involved in the community and trusts the team's expertise. What stands out most, he added, is the quality of the accelerator's mentors and the strength of the founding cohort.
YSpaceYork University's Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation has supported more than 1,400 startups that have collectively generated $350 million in revenue, raised $160 million in funding and created nearly 2,000 jobs.
Its Tech Accelerator, sponsored by the City of Toronto, is a four-month program divided into growth and fundraising sprints. It's designed for go-to-market startups and provides over $60,000 in support and cash rewards up to $30,000.
According to Nafees Ahmed, deputy director of YSpace, the accelerator stands out for its hands-on approach. The program begins with a rigorous mentor matching process that pairs founders with mentors based on industry experience and interests. During the four-month program, each founder works with two mentors, one focused on business strategy and the other on growth.
“We help founders get into the right rooms with the right people,” Ahmed said. “Many programs are focused on business, but from day one we knew it was important to focus not only on the business, but also on the individuals and the founders themselves.”
The accelerator also launches a unique affiliate program called Masterminds. Led by program director Alina Ali, Masterminds is designed to support founder well-being and leadership development. Ahmed calls him “the silent co-founder no one asked for.”
“Masterminds support leadership development among founders by discussing their challenges, victories, ups and downs, both personal and business. It is a more structured and formalized way of communicating with peer groups,” Ali said.
For Basu, these connections turned out to be decisive. Having participated in other top accelerators, he said YSpace is where he built his strongest relationships.
“Talking to mentors and other founders helped me overcome a huge mental block around approaching new clients,” he said. “Several mentors have worked closely with us on channel management strategies, leading to partnerships with some of the world's largest consulting and market research companies. These relationships would not exist without YSpace.”
By placing first at Demo Day, Numr received $15,000, which Basu said will be used for marketing and expanding sales.
“But the victory itself is personal,” he added. “Winning Demo Day is confirmation. This tells us that what we create matters. This is Numr raising the flag and saying, “We are here, we are ready and we are going to conquer this market.”
Additional prizes were awarded to the second place winner poya sableri from Tinybox systemsthird place finisher Kay Boamah from vortexand People's Choice winner Karim Abdur-Rashid from Kare Chemical Technologies.
“This cohort was one of the strongest we have ever seen,” Ali said. “I think they all achieved their goals and goals set at the beginning of the program, making Demo Day extremely competitive.”
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Applications for the next YSpace Tech Accelerator will open in January 2026. Register program waitlist to stay updated.
All photos courtesy of YSpace.
