Toronto’s OMX Taps into Canada’s $20 Billion Industry

Most people probably have never heard of Industry Canada’s Industrial Regional Benefits policy and yet it could directly result in $23 billion worth of business for Canadian companies.

Companies that are awarded Government of Canada defence and security contracts are obliged to spend 100% of the contract value on other business investments in Canada as part of the IRB policy.

While the value of this market is large there is a gap of in the market of online tools to help Primes find Canadian companies and manage and facilitate these high value transactions. That is where Offset Market Exchange or OMX fits in.

Founded in Toronto, OMX is a web-based management system developed to connect prime contractors (companies awarded government contracts) to Canadian companies and help them manage and track their offset obligations. Primes use OMX to search for Canadian suppliers, communicate with them directly on the platform, and find and complete all official documentation. The the advantage for primes using OMX is the document trail it creates by saving and storing all communications and completed documents.

OMX has raised $680,000 so far and has received funding from angel investors, Coral CEA, NRC-IRAP, and the Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation.

The first of OMX angel funders was Rob Segal, the CEO of Virgin Gaming. Rob played an advisory role in the ideation stage of OMX using his experience and expertise in selling enterprise applications to advise CEO and Founder, Nicole Verkindt. In late January of this year, OMX announced a second major investor, Mark Nashman the founder of Clarity Systems, which was sold to IBM in 2010.

OMX has cornered a successful, difficult-to-access market. With experienced and successful advisors and supporters who work in the industry and benefit from the IRB program standing behind it OMX seems to be a sure bet.