Two Montreal-based startups supported by Concordia's District 3 Innovation Hub, MovingWaldo and MoveMate, have recently joined forces to help simplify the moving process.
MovingWaldo, which allows users to easily compare and book moving companies, recently acquired similar services MoveMate and Gvota. As a result, MovingWaldo will expand coverage across Canada, strengthen its online presence and further improve the customer experience for those planning a move.
Both MovingWaldo and MoveMate were shaped through their experiences at District 3, where each company received support at key stages of their growth.
MovingWaldo went through District 3's MentorConnect program, where a team-based mentoring approach helped CEO and co-founder Guillaume Lahoud and his team sharpen their investor pitch and unlock financing opportunities.
Guillaume Lahoud, CEO and co-founder of MovingWaldo, and Lucas Francioli, MoveMate founder.
"District 3 played an important role in the early days of MovingWaldo," Lahoud explains. "It gave us access to a community of entrepreneurs, mentors and peers who were also trying to solve real problems and build meaningful companies."
It was through that ecosystem that he first met Lucas Francioli, MoveMate founder. MoveMate joined District 3 in the summer 2019 cohort and moved into their offices in October of that year. Francioli says the collaborative environment allowed his company to begin to take shape.
"Having a place to work alongside other early-stage founders, a network of mentors who'd been through the same questions, and a structured framework to validate our model made the difference between a student project and a company," he adds.
For Anna Ehrhardt, District 3's Director of Administration and Operations, this acquisition highlights the long-term impact of District 3's innovation ecosystem. "We're thrilled to see two alumni companies, supported at different moments in their journeys, coming together to stand out in their industry category," says Ehrhardt. "From early-stage validation to investor readiness, their trajectories reflect the strength of mentorship-driven innovation at Concordia."
Learn more about Concordia's District 3 Innovation programs.
