INNOVATORS

The brainiacs behind the coolest new apps, platforms and gizmos

IGNACIO TARTAVULL CEO, Tiny Mile

Formerly of Uber’s self-driving cars division, Tartavull was working on “Geoffrey,” his cotton-candy-pink, adorably cute delivery robot, long before the pandemic. It just happened to be ready right when we needed no-contact delivery like never before.

MARIE CHEVRIER SCHWARTZ CEO, Sampler

Ordering everything from home is fun! It’s less fun when those things don’t remotely resemble what you were expecting. Sampler ships its clients free samples of just about anything before they take the full-purchase plunge.

ANSHUL RUPARELL Co-founder and CEO, Properly

The brokerage platform aims to snag a piece of the Toronto real estate trade. Properly provides a financial guarantee (based on a home’s equity) to homeowners so they can buy a new home before having to list the original home on the market.

BRAD FORD General manager, RC Coffee

Ford and the team at RC Coffee are betting that contactless everything is here to stay. Their new streetside java operation, which launched at Dark Horse in the fall, is owned by Automat, the company behind those tapto-pay widgets you see everywhere.