Some are headed by serial entrepreneurs who are veterans of the local software startup scene. Others feature executives who've worked for online giants such as Amazon.com. One company founder got his start hauling an inflatable paintball arena to carnivals.
Their products and services are similarly diverse and include information systems for front-line police officers, distance education tools and mobile games.
But there are also common threads.
Many are finding new ways of making money from wireless devices, developing business and consumer apps as well as designing new communication tools.
In many cases, these companies are completely reinventing mature markets or creating brand new ones.
Their rapid growth is frequently fuelled by ambitious sales strategies that's led to these local firms selling to some of the world's largest companies.
When OBJ would publish this annual feature a few years ago, we'd track the amount of venture capital funding received by each startup. In 2012, not a single firm received a dollar of venture capital, forcing many to start searching for customers virtually right from the beginning.
As Soshal Group founder Dave Hale put it, "If we couldn't sell what we were selling from day one, then it wasn't going to happen."
Over the next few days, OBJ will publish profiles of 10 of the most promising young companies in Ottawa: Arkli, Blindside Networks, ConceptShare, Glitchsoft, LavaBlast, Martello, nTerop, Soshal Group, Teldio and Versature.
