Dale Mugford is placing a big bet on Hamilton and he says there is no other city worth the risk.

Mugford and his B.C.-based partner Duane Storey have left their home offices to move their company, Brave New Code, into its first office.

The company is one of the great success stories of the city's digital media sector, a cluster growing in profile and size in the city.

"It's an online world, but we're hoping to plant a flag in the sand here in Hamilton," said Mugford, who moved here from Mississauga in 2006. He was immediately captivated by the dusty raw space in the newly remodeled Empire Times building on King William Street.

The 2,100-square-foot space was originally slated to be three units.

"I said, 'What if we took the whole thing?' I had this vision of a space that doesn't exist right now in Hamilton. You see them in Toronto or New York or Vancouver, but it's not yet in Hamilton."

Mugford and Storey have sunk about $20,000 in leasehold improvements into their new office, including the construction of a glassed-in boardroom.

The space is more than the five people working at Brave New Code need at the moment, but there are a couple of shared work space tenants lined up and Mugford is looking for two more.

Its plug-in, WPTouch, which provides an easy way to convert websites into content for tablets and phones has been downloaded a staggering six million times since 2008.

The number is impressive, but perhaps more so is the fact that the first iPhone was released only a year before and the iPad arrived in 2010.

"We were ahead of the curve for the mobile explosion. We just knew the iPhone was the future and we were excited by the technology."

It's hard to fully quantify how big the digital media sector - populated by web and mobile developers, gaming companies, animators, graphic designers, and a range of video, photo and sound artists using technology - has grown in the city.

Those companies cover a number of sectors, many are one-person operations and data isn't collected frequently.

But a yearly conference for digital media companies called HDMI has grown from fewer than 100 attendees to 300 and a waiting list in its fourth year.

Jeremy Freiburger, executive director of creative incubator Cobalt Connects and one of HDMI's organizers, says the sector reaches back to some pioneers in the early 1990s, such as 2Gen.net and Fluid Media.

Then the technology-minded found partnerships with art and design talents in the city to merge the power of both sides, illustrated in companies like Factor(e). Those startups have grown and new ones have arrived.

Freiburger says some entrepreneurs found themselves in Hamilton to study, others came because of cheap studio space or proximity to big markets.

"If you can operate here for 25 to 30 per cent less overhead, you can afford to be here and be creative as opposed to just churning out what makes the bucks."

Jacqueline Norton, a City of Hamilton business development consultant covering the creative industries, says affordability is just a part of the lure of Hamilton.

"If we didn't have that creative part, too, they wouldn't be coming. They're coming because there is a vibe and verve that is happening here."

Along with that is a network of organizations supporting innovation or creativity or young professionals, says Carolynn Reid, also a business development consultant for the city. She says there is a sense of cooperation and pulling together in Hamilton that has disappeared in cities with more established tech sectors.

It's also possible to make a mark in a city and a sector finding its way.

"You can be a big star in Hamilton," said Norton. "People like Dale Mugford or Kevin Browne, you can become very noteworthy and become lightning rods for things to happen."

The city doesn't track numbers in the digital media sector, but Reid and Norton says they hear stories about new companies all the time. They point to a directory on Software Hamilton's website as the best source of information.

"There are a ton of companies I've never heard of there," said Norton.

There are also some well-known local successes in the digital realm, including Weever Apps and Mabel's Labels.

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The aforementioned Kevin Browne is the founder of Software Hamilton and widely credited as the godfather of the local technology scene. He has set up a directory listing the city's digital media firms. There are almost 180 so far and more added almost every day.

He admits it's no scientific endeavour.

"Basically, as I come across a company, I add it to the directory."

Browne includes jobs listings. There were 11 jobs in 2011, 44 in 2012, 120 in 2013 and 50 so far this year. Browne attributes some of that growth to more widespread knowledge of the directory. But existing firms are adding staff and more companies are finding their way to Hamilton, too, he says, especially in web and mobile design.

"There are definitely people here now because they love the downtown. They love being above coffee shops or art galleries. But they are also coming to business parks. Having a range of spaces is key."

Cobalt Connects has established a directory of Hamilton creative companies, both to track its size, but also to help players find each other to collaborate. There are more than 400 companies listed so far and Freiburger says that's growing by 15 to 20 a month.

"It's so great to see people I've never heard of, who have been around here as long as I have."

Jamie Lawson, co-owner of PolyStudio, says the growth of Hamilton's economy - especially in the arts and technology - is fuelling his branding and web design in two ways. First, there are more companies to work with and second, existing businesses are getting bigger.

"Smaller businesses are seeing sustainability and success. They want to upgrade their vision and presentation and up their game."

Lawson, a Burlington native, says the infusion of new blood creates a sense of excitement and possibility.

Matthew Hollingshead chose to move back to his hometown a few years ago to launch Hifyre, a digital marketing agency that specializes in building websites and mobile apps for a range of clients, including Mattel, Glaxo Smith Kline, Puma and World Vision. The firm has grown to seven employees.

"Our revenues are doubling every year, so we're growing quickly. We are trying to grow along with the revenue."

Hollingshead, 38, was one of the principals behind Factor(e) and said when it was launched it was harder to convince young talent or even clients about the merits of Hamilton.

"It's definitely different now. People used to say, 'Oh, Hamilton," he says, his voice dripping with derision.

"Now they say, 'Oh, Hamilton," in a voice bouncing with enthusiasm.

"I love the vibe that's here now."

Some players

PIPELINE STUDIOS

Animation studio Pipeline is perhaps the city's biggest employer in the digital media space, with 160 people. Managing partner Juan Lopez says he's working with the city to attract many other animators, big and small, to Hamilton.

"That would have a big, big impact on Hamilton. It would keep the talent pool here, it would attract more people and it would be an opportunity to brand the city as a creative hub. Toronto has the financial sector. Hamilton could have animation."

Pipeline does animation work for entertainment giants Disney, Nickleodeon and Warner Bros. For the first time, the studio is also producing its own content, Jar Dwellers, a collaboration with voice artists in Australia and editors in Colombia.

It was a regional tax credit that lured Pipeline to Hamilton from its base at Sheridan College in Oakville. The credit gives a 10 per cent break on labour costs to creative companies working outside the GTA.

But Lopez says an equally important benefit to setting up shop in Hamilton is the technology infrastructure and quality of life.

"Our senior talent, who are starting families are looking for a quality of life. Sometimes it can be a sales pitch to get them here, but once they're here, they are convinced."

VIZIYA

Industrial software developer Viziya in Waterdown has been ranked in among the Top 50 fastest growing companies in Canada two years in a row. The company expects to be on the Deloitte list again this year.

The numbers: in 2012, the company's five-year revenue growth was 3,816 per cent, ranking them fourth in Canada and 28th in North America. In 2013, the company grew by 489 per cent, putting them in 20th place.

The most recent year's growth, for the 2014 list, was 812 per cent.

The company started in 2006 with four employees and now employs 56 in Canada, the United States, Netherlands, Belgium, Australia and United Arab Emirates.

The company provides software systems for large companies with expensive assets to plan, schedule and track maintenance and repair. For refineries or oil and gas pipelines or mines, it's not unreasonable to spend 60 to 80 per cent of revenue on maintaining assets, says Viziya president and founder John Vujicic.

"Even saving five per cent of that goes right to profit. It has a huge impact on the profit line," he said.

"We optimize the utilization of manpower, whether that's staff or contract workers. If they are the right people, working at the right time, it cuts overtime and contract costs."

Another Viziya product tracks parts and equipment under warranty and automatically submits claims when something needs repair.

Viziya's four software products plugs in to big enterprise operating systems built by Oracle or SAP. Clients include Chevron, Barrick Gold, Alcoa and U.S. Steel.

LINX SMART

Ryan Barichello personifies the typical story of the home-based digital entrepreneur. He founded Linx Smart in 2006 and steadily grew the business, until he moved into a Stoney Creek office building in 2012. His web design firm now employs seven and focuses on business applications that automate the burden of routine, administrative tasks.

Out of the work done for a private health-care college, Barichello launched a second enterprise, SOAP Vault. It offers a digital means for massage therapists to create, manage and store their patient treatment notes.

The system is being used across North America and in Australia and New Zealand.

"It reduces all the files and folders down to one piece of paper per patient, which is their signed consent. The time, paper and real estate savings are huge."

Barichello, a native of Ancaster, says it was important to him to keep his business in Hamilton.

"There is a lot of really good talent here, especially coming out of Mohawk. We have skill sets here that are comparable to Toronto without the high costs."

