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WATERLOO — Except for the yellow swing tied to a tree out front, Batavia House doesn’t look all that different from the hundreds of other student houses scattered throughout the neighbourhoods surrounding the University of Waterloo.

Inside the six-bedroom bungalow at the end of Batavia Place, the smell of old beer, discarded pizza boxes and the collective body odours of six university-age males reminds visitors about the identity of the occupants.

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But Batavia House — as its occupants have come to call it — is different. Located just down the street from the global headquarters of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. on a quiet cul de sac, the house is home to a collection of entrepreneurs who are generating buzz in Canada which is reaching Silicon Valley.

Owned by Waterloo alumni, brothers Michael and Stephen Litt, the house has served as a home to the founders of three up-and-coming Canadian startups: Vidyard, TwitSprout Inc. and Allerta Inc. Both Allerta and Vidyard have been through the Y Combinator investment program in Silicon Valley, while TwitSprout is also making waves in the social media space. Michael Litt, the 25-year-old chief executive of Vidyard, still lives in the house that he purchased with his brother Stephen — who is an entrepreneur of a different sort, in real estate — in 2007. Vidyard is a sort-of YouTube for businesses and recently closed a US$1.65-million investment round, which included capital from YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim.