Innovation Partner Highlight: LLF Lawyers - 2018-12-19
We are excited to highlight the Innovation Cluster’s member – a Knowledge Partner to The Cube: our business incubator for 
technology start-ups and early-stage companies: LLF Lawyers, LLP. LLF Lawyers has been a long-standing partner with the Innovation Cluster, supporting many of its connected startups and companies throughout the Peterborough and Kawartha area. Through the support of partnerships like LLF Lawyers, entrepreneurs in Peterborough are able to thrive and prosper.
“25 Years of Progress and Commitment
to Clients and Community.”
Founded in 1993, LLF Lawyers LLP is a full-service law firm located in Peterborough with offices now in Bobcaygeon.
With a team of 18 lawyers, supported by a team of skilled support staff, LLF Lawyers offers clients extensive experience in a diverse range of practice areas including:
- Business, Employment & Labour and Municipal Law
- Commercial and Residential Real Estate
- Indigenous/Aboriginal Law
- Civil Litigation, Personal Injury and Family Law
- Wills, Estates and Wealth Transition
LLF Lawyers encourages an atmosphere and work ethic that is committed to helping clients achieve their objectives in a creative, timely and cost-effective manner. It is the dedication and pride in client service that allows LLF Lawyers to form solid and lasting relationships based on trust with a wide range of clients.
LLF Lawyers is active in their community, participating in numerous public service and charitable organizations. They strive to be informed, knowledgeable and responsive to local issues, bringing a sensitive community perspective to the specific needs of their clients.
With an enviable reputation for its work with not-for-profit, charitable and institutional organizations, LLF is frequently called upon to advise on matters of process, governance, and administration. LLF also represents numerous public and private foundations ensuring their currency with evolving regulatory legislation.
President & CEO of the Innovation Cluster, Michael Skinner, says: “We’re very pleased that LLF Lawyers has agreed to join us for another year as our Corporate Silver Sponsor and as a Knowledge Partner. In this role, we’ll be calling upon LLF Lawyers to offer on-going support and stellar legal advice to Peterborough’s most promising innovators and entrepreneurs. We greatly value LLF Lawyers on-going commitment to innovation in our community.”
Whether their clients are individuals or businesses, their goal is the same: to partner with them to provide personalized service, creative legal thinking, and cost effective solutions. It is the dedication and pride in client service that enables their firm to form solid and lasting relationships as trusted advisors.
Legal issues exhibit many facets, each requiring consideration and experienced judgement. Recognizing this, they conduct their practice as a co-operative team; ensuring clients have timely access to the resources of all lawyers.
They also work closely with a network of financial and business professionals to offer clients an extended team of trusted advisors.
Prior to joining LLF Lawyers, Le had over ten years of experience at an international law firm, practicing in the areas of financing, business acquisitions, and corporate restructurings. Now a member of LLF Lawyer’s business & not-for-profit team, Le provides legal advice to corporate and institutional lender clients on a wide range of business-related topics. To make an appointment with Le, please contact her directly.
Meet with LLF Lawyers to learn more. To schedule a consultation with one of their lawyers based in Peterborough or Bobcaygeon, please call 705-742-1674.
LLF Lawyers, supporting our entrepreneurs through legal advice!
Our Innovation Partners have the opportunity to immerse their brand into the Innovation Cluster network, drive innovation and expand their own network. They help companies jump-start their businesses, lay the foundations for future growth, and succeed.
Peterborough Tech Startup Ribitt Raises $600,000 in Seed Financing to Launch Rewards Program For Local Shops in New Neighbourhoods. - 2018-12-13
Ribitt, a local tech startup focused on rewarding consumers for purchases at local shops in their neighbourhood including Peterborough, announced it has raised $600,000 in seed round funding led by angel investors to expand to new neighbourhoods with one-of-a-kind collective rewards program for local shops.
Ribitt is the first-of-its-kind to create a collective rewards program exclusively for independent merchants. Using Ribitt’s mobile app, consumers can pay for purchases and collect Ribitt points when they grab their morning coffee, get a haircut or buy holiday gifts at participating local shops. Consumers can redeem these Ribitt points at any participating shop and for the first time, users do not have to wait to to fill out a full stamp card to use their points. Every purchase no matter the shop adds to the consumer’s Ribitt points.
Ribitt currently has over thirty shops partnered in Peterborough and over one-hundred shops in Toronto. Earlier this year, Ribitt launched in Roncesvalles and The Junction neighbourhoods in Toronto. Ribitt is already seeing huge validation from merchant partners.
“The future success of local shops lies in them coming together and leveraging their combined network,” says Sana Virji, co-founder of Ribitt.
“Participating in a rewards program at a single coffee shop is more effort than the value for consumers, so when local merchants in a neighbourhood join Ribitt’s single rewards program, they create huge value for their customers, while giving them the competitive advantage of scale that bigger chains have.”
Ribitt’s reward program comes at a time when neighbourhood revitalisation and preserving local commerce is a key focus for cities across North America. While there are 27 million “mom and pop” businesses in Canada and the U.S., individually they leave a small footprint and are stunted by the scale of larger retailers and service providers.
“My café and the Ribitt app launched around the same time, so it was a great opportunity to cross-promote each other starting out,” says Lindsay Brock, owner of Amusé Coffee Co. in Peterborough. “Ribitt has been wonderful in terms of gaining awareness for my business and it is a great opportunity for any business that is starting out in a new community or is trying to grow.”
As a client of the Innovation Cluster working out of its downtown incubator, Ribitt has been able to grow their team, launch their mobile app, partner with stores in Peterborough and Toronto, and now raise investment through the Peterborough Region Angel Network.
“Ribitt has provided local businesses the same loyalty advantage as major retailers, and this investment is only the beginning of the impact they will have on new communities,” says Michael Skinner, President & CEO of the Innovation Cluster. “Ribitt well-represents how digital startups can reach the global marketplace by utilizing the local resources available to them.”
Ribitt plans to begin its expansion across Canada in 2019 and is attracting interest from venture capital firms for its next funding round.
Download Ribitt on the App Store or Google Play
Peterborough’s Bloom Digital Media Releases Inclusive Video Game on Nintendo Switch in North America and Europe - 2018-12-05
Independent game company Bloom Digital Media is bringing their flagship title LongStory, an LGBTQ+ inclusive game, to the Nintendo Switch in North America and Europe on December 6. LongStory was first released on Google Play and the App Store in 2014, and has since received one million downloads worldwide and was featured on the App Store during Global Pride Week 2018.
The dating sim game has an eight episode story arc, set at the weirdly lovable Weasel Heights Middle School. It lets you pick your gender designation and pronouns, as well as who, or even if, you would like to date any of your romanceable friends. In addition to the pains and pleasures of romance, LongStory offers players the chance to reflect on complex issues including consent, coming out, social anxiety, and bullying – all in a safe environment.
Miriam Verburg, creator and executive producer of Bloom Digital Media, says most relationship games reinforce negative stereotypes.
“Teens need a game that feels authentic,” says Verburg. “They are living in the twenty-first century and they need a romantic game that reflects their reality. LongStory provides an opportunity for players to take control of their choices and their experience.”
According to the National Post, 10% of young Canadians aged 18-34 identify as LGBTQ+, and according to the Canadian Mental Health Association, those who identify as LGBTQ+ face higher risks for some mental health issues due to the effects of discrimination and the social determinants of health.
Bloom Digital Media announced their second title at the Queerness and Games conference in Montreal last September, Later Daters. It is an inclusive interactive romance game featuring a cast of quirky seniors in search of love at an independent living residence. It is as a humorous and narrative-driven game that explores lessons on love, life and loss. Much like how The Golden Girls has experienced a renaissance amongst a whole new generation of viewers, the lessons in Later Daters will resonate with gamers of all ages.
Bloom Digital Media was founded by Miriam Verburg, who has won several awards for their innovative games, and has been featured in publications such as VICE, Huffington Post, attn, and the Globe and Mail. Verburg is a strong advocate for promoting female talent within Ontario’s game industry, through her participation in organizations like Dames Making Games, Interactive Ontario and as a sessional faculty member at Centennial and Humber College. Despite comprising 50% of the game consumer population, women are still underrepresented as game developers.
“Bloom Digital Media well represents how Peterborough’s startups are staying ahead of the game for technology innovation,” says Michael Skinner, President & CEO of the Innovation Cluster. “Tackling social issues within the games space raises the bar for the industry as a whole.”
According to Newzoo’s Global Games Market Report, 2.3 billion gamers across the globe will spend $137.9 billion on games in 2018. This represents an increase of +13.3% from the year before, or $16.2 billion. Digital game revenues will take 91% of the global market with $125.3 billion.