Mitel Accelerates Innovation Through Strategic Partnerships and Startup Collaboration

Mitel’s approach to innovation through strategic partnerships and collaboration with early-stage startups is the topic of my recent K&Co Tech Pod conversation with Mitel CTO Luiz Domingos. During our chat, we explored the company’s newly launched Unified Communications Accelerator powered by L-SPARK Select—a program that's already showing impressive results in bridging the gap between cutting-edge startups and practical, scalable solutions.

Why Partner with Startups Now?

The challenge facing enterprise comms companies today is both overwhelming and energizing. As Domingos explains, "Every day I'm receiving emails from companies offering services, products, etc. There are a huge number of companies out there, and it's very hard to select the best companies with whom to work." This reality led Domingos and his team at Mitel to seek a more strategic approach to innovation discovery.

That’s where the company’s partnership with L-SPARK, Canada's leading B2B SaaS accelerator, comes in. L-SPARK’s focus is on connecting start-ups and fast-growing companies with enterprise partners that want to move quickly on delivering value to customers. And when you combine that with Mitel's massive installed base of dozens of millions of users and Mitel’s longstanding commitment to delivering meaningful value to customers, it’s a perfect fit.

Watch the full K&Co. Tech Pod interview here:

Focusing Where Innovation Matters Most

Domingos explained that Mitel isn’t simply on a hunt for companies that are innovators; they are specifically looking for startups that can supplement and increase the company’s opportunities in the market and shorten time to value for their customers. Rather than casting a wide net, Mitel has strategically focused the Unified Communications Accelerator Program on three key verticals: healthcare, retail, and hospitality. The reasoning is compelling—these industries are experiencing innovation at a significant pace, with hospitals automating processes, retail chains deploying efficiency-enhancing devices, and hotels exploring technology-driven guest experiences.

What I find compelling about this approach is that, while Mitel already has strong technology partnerships across other industries, these three sectors represent areas where the company can expand its range of complementary solutions most effectively.

The Real Value for Selected Startups

The eight startups selected for this program aren't just getting mentorship, they are receiving something far more valuable: access to Mitel's ecosystem and go-to-market capabilities. Participants get hands-on experience with Mitel's new low-code Workflow Studio application, direct access to Mitel Labs experts, and most importantly, the opportunity to work with Mitel's channel partners and direct sales organization.

"The ability to go to the market with us is certainly the most valuable part," Domingos emphasizes. But there's an additional benefit that many overlook: Mitel actively works to influence these startups' technology roadmaps, helping them evolve from being a "70% good fit" to achieving that perfect 100% alignment.

Beyond UC: Expanding the Innovation Network

What's additionally impressive about Mitel's innovation strategy is its global scope. Beyond the L-SPARK partnership, Mitel has established a strategic alliance with Pontifical Catholic University of Parana (PUCPR)’s Center for Artificial Intelligence Solutions in Brazil. PUCPR is one of Brazil’s top three private universities, with 1.2+K researchers (including students and teachers), +40K active students, 17+ master’s and PhD programs, and +15 researchers in various Artificial Intelligence fields working on AI projects. This partnership is intended to accelerate collaborative research, development, and practical use of AI to help shape the future of Unified Communications, from hybrid cloud to vertical-specific solutions. This isn't Mitel's only academic partnership; the company maintains similar relationships in India and Canada, but the Brazil initiative stands out for its specific focus on AI research.

Meet the Selected Companies

As mentioned, the Accelerator, powered by L-SPARK Select, was created to spark innovation that solves tangible problems for customers in comms, collaboration, and customer experience. The cohort of selected companies shares many commonalities: creativity, technical talent, and a focus on delivering solutions with real-world applicability that can easily be integrated into Mitel customers’ ecosystems and deliver measurable value—quickly. Here’s a look at the selected companies and a quick overview of what they do:

IDgo: IDgo is an authentication solution provider focused on both improving user experiences and reducing security vulnerabilities. IDgo provides a secure and efficient mobile-based user authentication service that safeguards against impersonation and account takeovers, enhancing customer experiences and operational efficiency across multiple engagement channels. Particularly applicable here is that IDgo’s “offline” secure authentication capabilities can be used in contact centers, IVR platforms, interactive teller machines, as well as for in-person, video banking, and anonymous chat sessions.

Intelocate. Intelocate is an operations consolidation, execution, and issue resolution platform designed specifically for multi-location businesses. By unifying task management, issue tracking, and team communication into a single intuitive solution, Intelocate empowers organizations to streamline day-to-day operations, improve visibility across all locations, and accelerate problem resolution.

Micrometrics. Micrometrics is hospitality industry-focused, with a solution that is designed to transform guest communications by automating and orchestrating guest calls with AI. As any frequent traveler will tell you, this addresses a major pain point with up to 38% of guest calls in full-service hotels largely going unanswered. Micrometrics offers a platform that routes calls to the optimal mix of AI agents and staff, unifies all guest interactions in real time, and automates ticketing and follow-up.

MosaicVoice: MosaicVoice focuses on compliance, using AI to deliver real-time, context-aware compliance support for heavily regulated contact centers, such as in healthcare and hospitality. The MosaicVoice solution delivers real-time agent guidance, post-call QA automation, and actionable insights to boost compliance, efficiency, and customer satisfaction.

SuitePad. SuitePad provides hotels worldwide with in-room tablets that modernize the guest experience by making it seamless to order amenities and communicate with hotel services, driving new revenue opportunities and enhancing guest satisfaction.

TeamMate Technology. TeamMate maximizes the value of Microsoft Teams for hybrid telephony by integrating Teams with Mitel systems to serve up better customer experiences. The TeamMate solution solves the challenge of fragmented communications when PBX and Teams users interact, enabling seamless workflows for organizations that depend on both platforms.

Typewise. TypeWise offers an AI-powered customer service platform for enterprises. Typewise’s next-gen AI agents go beyond traditional chatbots by proactively understanding customer needs, planning and executing actions, and providing flexible, intelligent service that boosts efficiency and customer satisfaction for organizations of any size.

Zendelity. Zendelity’s Command Center is a mobile-first platform that connects frontline operations with real-time IoT data, ensuring critical tasks are completed and audited to reduce risk and improve operational efficiency.

The Bigger Picture

Wrapping up, this approach reflects a broader shift in how enterprise technology companies are thinking about  innovation. Rather than relying solely on internal R&D or traditional vendor relationships, companies like Mitel are creating structured pathways for emerging technologies to integrate with established platforms. We are seeing this from tech vendors across the globe, whether it’s partnering with organizations like L-SPARK and helping start-ups gain velocity more rapidly, or partnering with academic institutions and working alongside some of the world’s best and brightest, these initiatives are all designed to speed innovation and shorten time to value.

The results that Mitel is experiencing on this front speak for themselves. Among the selected startups mentioned above, you can see the mix of companies developing solutions for myriad, diverse use cases. This diversity, combined with Mitel's structured approach to integration and go-to-market support alongside Leo Lax and his team at L-SPARK, and the mentoring and resources these companies will receive as a result of participation in the accelerator will deliver  significant value across the board.

As Domingos said during our conversation, the goal for Mitel is clear: "Make innovation a reality to our business." In an industry where time to market can make or break emerging technologies, Mitel's accelerator program represents a win-win approach that's worth emulating.

For more information on the Mitel Unified Communications Accelerator Powered by L-SPARK, visit the website here. Note that the companies will be featured on the exhibition floor at SAAS North 2025 on November 5-6, 2025. There will also be an Investor Day in January (date TBD), but if you’re interested in attending as an investor, you can reach out to tinfo@l-spark.com. There will be another Demo Day in February 2026, so stay tuned.