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James Colliander

Co-founder, Crowdmark

EdTech

James Colliander co-founded Crowdmark, the Toronto company whose software lets teaching teams grade scanned and uploaded exams online. The idea came after Colliander, then a University of Toronto mathematics professor, had to organize the marking of 5,000 handwritten contest exams in 2011; with graduate student Martin Muñoz, Colliander built the fix. Colliander is now a UBC mathematics professor.

James hasn’t spoken on a TechTO, TechVancouver or TechWaterloo stage. This profile is here because James co-founded Crowdmark.

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Quick answers

Did James Colliander found Crowdmark?

Yes. Crowdmark's Our Story page, read on 2026-09-24, names Colliander, Michelle Caers and Martin Muñoz as its cofounders. University of Toronto News, on 2013-10-07, called Colliander the company's founder, and PIMS said on 2016-02-05 that Colliander founded Crowdmark and served as its CEO.

Where did the idea for Crowdmark come from?

Crowdmark's Our Story page, read on 2026-09-24, says Colliander was tasked with grading 5,000 handwritten 14-page exams for the 2011 Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge, then partnered with graduate student Martin Muñoz on a prototype used for the 2012 contest. The Globe and Mail reported on 2014-02-17 that the prototype scanned pages and sent them to markers digitally.

What is Colliander doing now?

The 2i2c website, read on 2026-09-24, lists Colliander as a professor of mathematics at the University of British Columbia and as business development lead and co-founder of 2i2c. PIMS announced on 2016-02-05 that Colliander had moved from the University of Toronto to UBC and would direct PIMS for five years from 2016-07-01.

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Maintained by TechTO · facts sourced and dated · last reviewed Sep 24, 2026