A group of promising Newfoundland and Labrador startups have graduated from the Genesis Enterprise Program.

Enterprise is Genesis’ flagship three-year program that helps early-stage technology companies develop their business and reach their first $1-million in annual recurring revenues.

One of this year’s graduating companies, Total IQ, comes from the mind of CEO Andrew Sinclair. The company is a cloud-based platform that allows engineering firms to share and resolve issues with each other in real-time.

After spending more than a decade working for others, Sinclair says he bet on himself, something that wouldn’t have been possible without the Genesis Program.

He says when he told the company he was starting a software company, he may as well have said he was going to build a rocket ship and go to the moon. Not knowing much about starting and running his own platform, the Genesis program was invaluable in so many ways.

The Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology, Andrew Parsons, who was on hand for the event, says that after spending five years in justice, it has become clear that Genesis and the tech industry is the province’s best kept secret.