Speakers
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Shawn co-founded Inovia Capital in 2007 alongside Chris, after spending more than 25 years as a successful founder and global executive. He is passionate about coaching entrepreneurs through their personal journey and acts as a force in developing more effective governance across the entire Inovia portfolio. Shawn leverages his insights...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 1
Rand Abou Ras, is a UX/UI designer and the co-founder & CEO of uCast - an online marketplace for Podcasters and Advertisers to launch profitable Ad campaigns in minutes. She earned her BComm at Ryerson University majoring in Entrepreneurship & Strategy and spent her short career working with over 40...show more
Speaking on: DMZ WOMEN FOUNDERS SHOWCASE
Amir is an experienced Mechanical Engineer with more than decades in the industry. He holds an MSc in Mechanical Engineering from University of New Brunswick. Driven by renewable energy and environmentally friendly solutions, he started anessa with his co-founders in 2015, to deliver an innovative solution to the biogas industry....show more
Speaking on: ATLANTIC CANADA TECH SHOWCASE
Luma Al Adnani is the CEO and co-founder of Adam Wa Mishmish, a musical cartoon program that creates interactive content to make learning Arabic fun and easy for kids, parents and teachers.
She began her career in journalism graduating with an MA in international Journalism from Brunel University in London. She...show more
Speaking on: DMZ WOMEN FOUNDERS SHOWCASE
I was born in Iran, have lived in France and Canada, and have now lived in New York for the past 20 years.
I co-founded Residence Ventures, prior to joining White Star Capital in 2017, an early-stage fund investing in Seed deals, as well as a blockchain boutique consulting firm called...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 10 GROWTH SHOWCASE # 1
Mark co-founded Bolt (formerly Second Closet) out of the University of Toronto, where he obtained his Bachelor of Commerce. He was also selected to participate in the Creative Destruction Lab, a course normally reserved for MBA students that acts as an incubator/accelerator focused on scaling disruptive businesses. Prior to founding...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 10 GROWTH SHOWCASE # 2
Aaleen is a social entrepreneur who established Atlantic Canada’s first multi-faceted mental health youth center in 2014. After graduating from her Pre-Medicine Bachelor’s program, Aaleen immersed herself in the startup ecosystem. With a passion for medtech investing, she secured an internship at one of Canada’s largest precision medicine and biotech...show more
Speaking on: MEETING EXCHANGES WITH EARLY-STAGE INVESTORS: GOLDEN VENTURES, TWO SMALL FISH VENTURES, WHITECAP VENTURE PARTNERS
Melissa is a Senior Associate at Whitecap Venture Partners. Previously, she was a Business Operations and Strategy manager at Ritual, a mobile order ahead app based in Toronto. At Ritual, Melissa ran major strategic projects and experiments. Prior to Ritual, Melissa worked as a Senior Product Manager at BMO, managing...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 1
Layth is a Partner at Maverix Private Equity. In this role, he is responsible for deal sourcing, execution and portfolio company oversight. He brings 15 years of industry experience spanning private equity, management consulting, investment banking and software development. Layth has been involved in the origination, evaluation, execution, and oversight...show more
Speaking on: MEETING EXCHANGES WITH GROWTH STAGE INVESTORS: BDC CAPITAL, MAVERIX PRIVATE EQUITY, ONTARIO CAPITAL GROWTH CORPORATION; RECRUITING TALENT IN THE CURRENT CLIMATE
Kim leads investment and manages the portfolios for the water and circular economy sectors at Elemental Excelerator. Kim has over 15 years of experience in launching and growing heavily engineered systems into industrial and municipal markets. Kim co-founded an early-stage venture and led the market launch of a product line...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 2
Alexander is a Sr. Investment Manager with the MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund (IAF), and has led seed-stage investments in high-potential IT, health, and cleantech startups. He’s spent over a decade working with hardware & software across sectors, from enterprise cloud development to healthcare hardware financing.
A business strategist and corporate finance...show more
Speaking on: MEETING EXCHANGES WITH EARLY-STAGE INVESTORS: AMPLIFY CAPITAL, MARS IAF, PANACHE VENTURES
Karim Bardeesy is Co-Founder and Executive Director at the Ryerson Leadership Lab, an action-oriented thinktank at Ryerson University, where he teaches the award-winning "Making the Future" course. He is also a board member of Corporate Knights, Inc., a member of the Banff Forum, and a founding faculty member of Maytree...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 2
Martin Basiri is the Co-Founder and CEO of ApplyBoard. He started the company with his brothers in 2015 with the mission to make education accessible to students around the world. ApplyBoard is a platform uniquely designed to empower international students to apply and study at the best higher education institutions...show more
Speaking on: CANADA SUCCESS STORY; SPOTLIGHT ON APPLYBOARD
Melissa is a Senior Associate at Whitecap Venture Partners. Previously, she was a Business Operations and Strategy manager at Ritual, a mobile order ahead app based in Toronto. At Ritual, Melissa ran major strategic projects and experiments. Prior to Ritual, Melissa worked as a Senior Product Manager at BMO, managing...show more
Speaking on: MEETING EXCHANGES WITH EARLY-STAGE INVESTORS: GOLDEN VENTURES, TWO SMALL FISH VENTURES, WHITECAP VENTURE PARTNERS
Over 15 years of Founder, Private Equity, Investment Banking, and Directorship experience
As Senior Managing Director and Head of Capital Markets at GSI, his transactions have totaled in excess of $1 billion and in aggregate of more than $4 billion over his career
Serves as a Director of EMERGE Commerce (TSXV: ECOM),...show more
Speaking on: MEETING EXCHANGES WITH GROWTH STAGE INVESTORS: FRAMEWORK VENTURE PARTNERS, GRAVITAS SECURITIES INC., INOVIA CAPITAL
Ilya is the Co-founder and CEO of VanHack. He is a global citizen and believes in a borderless world.
Speaking on: RECRUITING TALENT IN THE CURRENT CLIMATE
David leads the investment team at Muskoka 4.0 - an Annual Startup Competition that brings together Angel investors and CEO's in the Muskoka region - as well as GTA, Waterloo and Northern innovation hubs. Each year, Muskoka 4.0 invests $250,000 -- a portion of the returns on it's 16M investment...show more
Ed Bryant is the President and CEO of Sampford Advisors. Ed started Sampford because he wanted to provide world-class Investment Banking and Strategic Advisory that large companies have been accustomed to, to small and medium sized businesses. Ed has nearly 25 years of experience including over 16 years in Investment...show more
Speaking on: MEETING EXCHANGES WITH GROWTH STAGE INVESTORS: SAMPFORD ADVISORS, KLASS CAPITAL, NATIONAL BANK
Vivek is CEO and founder of Cybeworks Robotics. His background in autonomous self-driving technology dates back to the mid-1980s when he wrote the world’s first academic thesis paper on the use of new AI principles for navigation in complex indoor environments while at the University of Toronto. He then published...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 2
Steve Cadigan has been at the forefront of global talent strategy and company culture for the past 30 years. Most famous for scaling Linkedin from 400 to 4000 in 3.5 years, Steve also led the development of LI’s legendary company culture.
Today, Steve helps companies reframe what they offer to employees...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 10 GROWTH SHOWCASE # 1
Randy brings over 20 years experience in the financial services industry to Nest Wealth.
Prior to founding Nest Wealth, Randy managed quantitative portfolios at the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and institutional assets at Orchard Asset Management. Randy’s previous company, First Coverage, won multiple awards as a top start-up including a...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 10 GROWTH SHOWCASE # 1
Shawn is focused on driving investments in Canada. He has over 15 years of product, sales and marketing leadership. Prior to joining OMERS Ventures in 2019, Shawn worked at various startups, leading go-to-market strategy. Previously, Shawn spent five years in global product management at Spin Master, as well as five...show more
Speaking on: REVERSE INVESTORS’ PITCH- EARLY STAGE
Nouhaila Chelkhaoui is the Manager of Women Founders Programs at the DMZ. In her role, she advises and supports women founders, and oversees the creation and execution of the programs to elevate women-led startups.
Speaking on: DMZ WOMEN FOUNDERS SHOWCASE
Christopher Chen is the head of the InvestHK presence for Canada, responsible for driving foreign direct investment from Canadian companies, organisations, and educational institutions to Hong Kong and Asia Pacific. Prior to InvestHK, he was a senior fintech professional, leading growth marketing and customer engagement initiatives for multinational insurance and...show more
Speaking on: EXPANSION AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES IN ASIA
Michael Cheng is the CEO and co-founder of Lumen5, an online video creation platform with over 800,000 users worldwide. Michael started Lumen5 with a vision to democratize video creation so that anyone can easily produce engaging video content without prior video editing experience. Lumen5 has seen rapid growth in recent...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 4
Mike Cloutier is an accomplished business leader and consultant with over 40 years in the Life Sciences sector.
Over the past 25 years, Mike was General Manager, President and CEO of five major pharmaceutical firms and one Not for Profit organization, the Canadian Diabetes Association (now Diabetes Canada). In 2017, Mike...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 3
Alysaa joined Inovia Capital's Venture team January 2021, in the Toronto office. Prior to Inovia, she worked in M&A investment banking at National Bank. Alysaa also co-founded two social impact ventures, one utilizing weekly "ugly" produce subscription boxes to reduce food waste and the other focused on using computer vision...show more
Speaking on: MEETING EXCHANGES WITH EARLY-STAGE INVESTORS: BDC CAPITAL, MARS IAF, INOVIA CAPITAL
Patrick Conroy is a Principal at Revolution Growth. He is currently on the board of Orchard and is a former board member at Talkspace ($TALK). Patrick is a board observer with CAVA and Convene and former board observer at CLEAR($YOU) and BigCommerce ($BIGC). He also supports the firm’s investments in Sportradar and DraftKings.
Prior to...show more
Speaking on: MEETING EXCHANGES WITH GROWTH STAGE INVESTORS: REVOLUTION GROWTH, SILICON VALLEY BANK, TIMIA CAPITAL
Dr. Mike Cooke co-founded AmacaThera Inc. with Dr. Molly Shoichet in 2016 to commercialize novel hydrogels. The Toronto-based company is developing a pipeline of products to apply this technology to safely and effectively solving unmet health issues. The company's lead product, AMT-143, is focused on improving postoperative pain management and...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 3
Norm is President & CEO of 3D Planeta. He is a 30-yr serial tech entrepreneur with extensive background building SaaS and cloud platform companies.
3D Planeta is the earth intelligence company. Our cloud-based AI platform represents the next era of geospatial intelligence because it sources images and data from satellite, aerial,...show more
Speaking on: ATLANTIC CANADA TECH SHOWCASE
Philippe is the Managing Director for NAventures. He focuses on sourcing companies that will advance National Bank’s transformation. Before joining NAventures, Philippe developed and led the integration and separation advisory practice at a Big 4 firm. He played a varied role ranging from engagement sourcing to due diligence and integration...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 10 GROWTH SHOWCASE # 1
Dan DeMers is the CEO and co-founder of Cinchy, the global leader in enterprise data collaboration. Dan spent over a decade as an IT executive with leading global financial institutions where he was responsible for delivering mission-critical projects, greenfield technologies, and multi-million dollar technology investments. In 2019, he joined the...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 10 GROWTH SHOWCASE # 1
Mauricio Di Bartolomeo is the Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer of Ledn Inc., a financial services company built for Bitcoin & digital assets. The company underwrote Canada’s first-ever Bitcoin-backed loan in 2018 and has since been providing financial services to digital asset holders across the world. Mauricio has been involved...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 10 GROWTH SHOWCASE # 1
Francisco believes health data security is a human right. Francisco is a software architect with over 15 years of experience. Francisco graduated from McGill University in Political Science and is a self-taught system architect. Francisco previously co-founded Titan Gaming and ad tech company Revenue.com and was nominated to Forbes 30...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 3
Jenny brings over 20 years of experience creating talent strategies and programs that build awardwinning cultures. The breadth of her experience covers both large enterprise organizations and startups – supporting throughout multiple funding
rounds, debt financings, mergers and acquisitions, and beyond. Prior to joining OMERS Ventures, Jenny worked in several...show more
Speaking on: ASK AN EXPERT
Josh Domingues is the Founder & CEO of Flashfood, a mobile marketplace that strives to eliminate retail food waste by connecting communities with discounted food nearing its best-by date, while earning grocery operators’ greater profits.
Josh founded Flashfood in 2016 after reading about the environmental effects of food waste. Determined to...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 10 GROWTH SHOWCASE # 2
Jade is co-founder and CEO of Puzzle Medical Devices where she developed a minimally invasive heart pump for patients with advanced heart failure.
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 3
Andrea is a Partner and lead of the Canadian office at Azure Capital Partners, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm with over $775 million under management. Based in Calgary, she evaluates investment opportunities across Canada and works with all of Azure’s Canadian investments and selected consumer investments in the US.
Prior...show more
Speaking on: REVERSE INVESTORS’ PITCH- EARLY STAGE
Deepak Dutt is the CEO of Zighra, a decentralized AI + Identity platform, and excels at bridging the technology and business worlds. He has a wide range of experience, from running small software companies to working with large worldwide software and telecommunication companies, and has authored over 14 patent applications.
Speaking on: Canadian Technology Accelerator: Deep into the Indian Tech Scene
Laura’s passion for technology bloomed during her undergraduate degree in Information Systems at McGill University. After graduating, she delved into technology market trends and business transformation at Forrester Research and was also able to apply those methodologies to build out quantitative competitive analyses for clients at a creative agency. Having...show more
Speaking on: MEETING EXCHANGES WITH EARLY-STAGE INVESTORS: WHITE STAR CAPITAL, OMERS VENTURES, REAL VENTURES
Connor Edwards brings a decade of technology, banking and advisory experience to IAF. Connor worked in CIBC’s digital innovation group prior to joining the firm. Before that, he spent 4 years in IBM’s management consulting practice with a focus on growth strategy and M&A advisory for a range of technology,...show more
Speaking on: MEETING EXCHANGES WITH EARLY-STAGE INVESTORS: BDC CAPITAL, MARS IAF, INOVIA CAPITAL
As an angel investor and investment banker since 2000, and serial entrepreneur since the 1970's, Bryan Emerson has developed a network of angel investors that now numbers over 100,000 people. Most are fellow finance professionals who run venture funds, private equity funds, investment banks and family offices who, as individuals,...show more
Speaking on: MEETING EXCHANGES WITH EARLY-STAGE INVESTORS: RADICAL VENTURES, STARLIGHT CAPITAL, VANEDGE
Tatiana graduated from the University of Ottawa, with a major in business administration and a minor in Arts Administration with deep self-taught knowledge in environmental engineering, alternative agriculture practices and a TinkerCAD design certificate by Autodesk. Tatiana is passionate about Nature and Technology. She is driven by her purpose of...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 2
Mark Evans is the principal with Marketing Spark, which helps fast-growing B2B SaaS companies attract and engage better prospects and drive higher sales.
Mark’s areas of expertise include strategic positioning and messaging, planning, and content-driven marketing strategies. He works as a fractional CMO, strategic advisor, and coach.
To learn more, visit marketingspark.co.
Speaking on: ASK AN EXPERT
Candice is a serial tech entrepreneur who has a passion for learning and community. Before launching Disco, Candice scaled Wattpad to 80 MM users, making it the world’s largest platform for creators to share their stories (sold in Jan 21, for US $660MM). She is a frequent speaker on the...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 4
Anne-Marie Fannon is the director of the Work-Learn Institute. In this role, she sets the research and innovation agenda for the Work-Learn team. Anne-Marie is passionate about leveraging Work-Learn’s research insights to inform the practice and pedagogy of WIL. For the last ten years, Anne-Marie was director of Work-Integrated Learning...show more
Speaking on: RECRUITING TALENT IN THE CURRENT CLIMATE
Marc has spent his 25-year career at the intersection of tech and emerging markets, as both a venture capital investor and a company builder. Before ArcTern, Marc was COO and co-founder at Unata, an enterprise software platform for grocery retailers across North America. It was successfully sold to Instacart in...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 2
As CEO, Bernie closely manages all facets of the business with a particular eye for product design and customer success.
Bernie is a passionate advocate for Smart City strategies focused on Citizen experience. Empowering and assisting people is a deep-rooted conviction that Bernie holds close to his heart. After serving...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 2
Rob joined TIMIA Capital in 2017 and leads the business development team as VP, Origination. Previous to TIMIA, he was an Associate Director at Espresso Capital.
Speaking on: MEETING EXCHANGES WITH GROWTH STAGE INVESTORS: REVOLUTION GROWTH, SILICON VALLEY BANK, TIMIA CAPITAL
Jack Fraser is Partner, Growth Venture Co-investment Fund, and has more than 30 years of experience as an operator and financier, primarily in digital media and e-commerce. He joined BDC in 2019.
Jack began his career working with large Canadian banks, and then moved into operations with several high-growth companies in...show more
Speaking on: MEETING EXCHANGES WITH GROWTH STAGE INVESTORS: BDC CAPITAL, FIRST ASCENT VENTURES, GRAVITAS SECURITIES INC.; REVERSE INVESTORS' PITCH-GROWTH-STAGE
Helen Georgaklis is an entrepreneur with 26 years of experience. She has worked in sales since the age of 16. She is the founder of SCYiBL which stands for Strategically Customizing Your Inner Brain Levels. SCYiBL works as an emotional regulating tool. This 6 step process has been scientifically researched...show more
Speaking on: DMZ WOMEN FOUNDERS SHOWCASE
President & Co-Founder, Axiom Zen
Board Member, Dapper Labs
Sam Gharegozlou is the President & Co-Founder of Axiom Zen as well as a Board Member of Dapper Labs, the company that was spun out of Axiom Zen in 2018 and went on to build products to deliver blockchain-based experiences and digital collectibles...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 10 GROWTH SHOWCASE # 1
Jonathan is a Principal with the Industrial Innovation Fund. He is an agri-food tech investment professional with deep domain expertise in the Farm to Fork value chain. He was previously a Principal with Avrio Capital and is dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs solving the global challenges of health, wellness and sustainability...show more
Speaking on: MEETING EXCHANGES WITH EARLY-STAGE INVESTORS: BDC CAPITAL, FASTBREAK VENTURES, OLD KENT ROAD FINANCIAL
Ajay Gopal is a Partner of Framework Venture Partners. Based in Toronto, Ajay has over a decade of combined VC and alternative investments investing and capital markets experience. With an entrepreneurial background, Ajay is a partner of a healthcare services company currently in operation in Toronto. Ajay currently serves on...show more
Speaking on: MEETING EXCHANGES WITH GROWTH STAGE INVESTORS: FRAMEWORK VENTURE PARTNERS, GRAVITAS SECURITIES INC., INOVIA CAPITAL
Andrew Graham is co-founder and CEO of Borrowell, one of Canada’s largest financial technology companies, with two million users. Borrowell helps consumers find financial stability and make great decisions about their money. It was the first company in Canada to offer credit scores for free and offers products and recommendations...show more
Speaking on: CANADA SUCCESS STORY; SPOTLIGHT ON BORROWELL
Michael’s practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, and securities law in the technology sector. As an associate in Osler’s Emerging and High Growth Companies group, Michael advises both technology companies and a wide range of investors in connection with a variety of transactions including acquisitions and divestitures, venture...show more
Speaking on: CANADA SUCCESS STORY; SPOTLIGHT ON APPLYBOARD
As VP Commercialization for a natural health product company that grew to $12M in sales, Martin has participated in raising over $15M in investment and has experience building a product pipeline with annual sales approaching $10M.
Speaking on: ATLANTIC CANADA TECH SHOWCASE
Lu is passionate about helping entrepreneurs achieving their goals being a co-founder of a start-up company prior to joining Lumira Ventures in late 2014 as an analyst and later promoted to Director in 2017.
Lu focusses on deal sourcing, due diligence and partnership initiatives in China and Asia for Lumira portfolio...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 3
Dave is a Managing Partner with Greensoil PropTech Ventures, an impact venture capital fund whose mission is to digitize and decarbonize the built environment, the biggest asset class on the planet. GSPV invests in early to mid-stage venture capital opportunities in Canada, the U.S., Europe and Israel that make real...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 3
Before joining Verstra Ventures, Matan spent 6 years building and helping startups as an entrepreneur, advisor, and investor. In his 4 years at Terracap Ventures, Matan was a key player in many transactions in the software, cleantech and agtech industries in North America and Israel. In his role, Matan advised...show more
Speaking on: MEETING EXCHANGES WITH GROWTH STAGE INVESTORS: SILICON VALLEY BANK, TCV, VERSTRA VENTURES
Amol joined TCV in 2009 and focuses on investments in the FinTech, software, and tech-enabled services sectors. He serves on the board of directors at Clio and Trulioo, and his other current investments include OneSource Virtual, and Payoneer. He was also actively involved with AxiomSL. Prior to TCV, Amol spent...show more
Speaking on: CIX 2021 INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR PRESENTATION AND KEYNOTE
Brenda M. Hogan, Senior Investment Manager
Ontario Capital Growth Corporation
Brenda has over 15 years’ experience in venture capital at the co-investment, fund of funds, and fund level investing. She has represented OCGC’s interests in over 25 venture capital investments.
Brenda has held...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 2; MEETING EXCHANGES WITH GROWTH STAGE INVESTORS: BDC CAPITAL, MAVERIX PRIVATE EQUITY, ONTARIO CAPITAL GROWTH CORPORATION
Mike Hollinger practices securities, corporate and commercial law with a focus on the venture technology sector. Mike leads Dentons’ Toronto venture technology practice and has transactional experience gained from mergers and acquisitions as well as private and public markets financings in a wide range of industries.
Mike advises entrepreneurs, emerging growth...show more
Speaking on: THE CURRENT M&A LANDSCAPE
Amir Hoss is a co-founder and CEO of EAIGLE, one of the fastest-growing AI companies in Canada. Amir brings deep expertise in AI and IoT technologies, having developed solutions for asset management and business operations more broadly. He has led the commercialization of software solutions in the cleantech and proptech...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 3
Sean is a Vancouver-based entrepreneur with over 11 years in business development and sales. As a third-time founder, he previously founded a mobile VR company that landed in Shanghai and currently is heading business development at Matidor.com with Vincent who is an ex-Google technical lead. Matidor.com is a YC-backed project...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 2
Customer Experience, Retention & Data extremist. Over a decade of experience in the game. Humanitarian. Connate Contrarian. Be better, do better.
Speaking on: INTUIT PROSPERITY ACCELERATOR:AI SHOWCASE
Michael Hyatt is the co-founder of BlueCat, which was sold to Madison Dearborn Partners, of Chicago, IL. He serves as a director of BlueCat, ranks as one of Canada’s top entrepreneurs, and is a known as a technology visionary. Michael is also a weekly business commentator on CBC and was...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 10 GROWTH SHOWCASE # 2
Sam is the Founder and Managing Partner of iGan Partners and has over 20 years of entrepreneurial, technology and venture capital experience. Sam founded iGan Partners in 2013 and is now the largest healthcare venture capital investor in Canada. Sam is actively involved in evaluating, structuring and executing iGan’s investments. ...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 3
Jennifer has a 20+ year track record advising businesses on reputation risk mitigation, communications and PR. She has worked with companies ranging from small, high-growth consumer businesses to blue-chip multinationals. With a strong focus on the science, engineering and technology sectors, she built and successfully sold a UK-based communications agency,...show more
Speaking on: ASK AN EXPERT
Khushboo Jha is an experienced leader who believes in the power of technology to solve problems. She is the Founder and CEO of BuyProperly Limited, an AI driven online investing platform for fractional investing in alternative assets such as Real Estate. Prior to starting BuyProperly, she had over 14+ years...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 1
Daryl Johnston is a managing director of Technology Banking with Silicon Valley Bank. Based in Toronto, Daryl and his team deliver the bank’s core loan products as well as insights, connections and solutions that help Canada’s innovation-sector companies to scale. With more than 25 years of deep finance experience and...show more
Speaking on: CANADA SUCCESS STORY; SPOTLIGHT ON BORROWELL; MEETING EXCHANGES WITH GROWTH STAGE INVESTORS: REVOLUTION GROWTH, SILICON VALLEY BANK, TIMIA CAPITAL
Roya is CEO and Co-founder of Walletifai, a smart mobile app assistant that helps Canadians and Americans make the most out of their money in a smarter and simpler way. Roya has worked as a Software Engineer and Site Reliability Engineer in several companies including Freshbooks. She brings her technical...show more
Speaking on: DMZ WOMEN FOUNDERS SHOWCASE
Rasha Katabi is the Founder & CEO of Brim Financial.
With over 20 years of experience in structured finance and capital markets, Rasha has worked at TD Bank, CIBC World Markets, and Merrill Lynch where she drove several innovative initiatives such as building the largest non-bank residential mortgage funding business and...show more
Speaking on: ASK AN EXPERT
Dr. Kamran Khan is an infectious disease physician-scientist and a Professor of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Toronto. Motivated by his experiences as a frontline healthcare worker during the 2003 Toronto SARS outbreak, Dr. Khan has been studying outbreaks of emerging and reemerging diseases for more than...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 10 GROWTH SHOWCASE # 2
Brendan King is the innovative force behind Vendasta. Responsible for providing the vision, thought leadership, and business strategy, Brendan’s ability to focus on the big picture while maintaining quality on the finest details drives Vendasta’s success. Before starting the company, Brendan had many business ventures, including a computer chain that...show more
Speaking on: CANADA SUCCESS STORY; SPOTLIGHT ON VENDASTA
Erich is the Co-Founder & CEO of Hop In Technologies.
He has worked with various startups from Fintech to Childcare and he specializes in Organic Growth and Partnerships.
He currently teaches market validation at the LatAm Startups accelerator and advises candidates in each cohort.
Most recently Erich was an advisor to the...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 2
An accomplished marketing executive with over 30 years experience in consumer loyalty and engagement. Michael’s expertise is in the strategy, design and execution/operations of consumer loyalty and engagement programs, from start up to scale. This includes leading full stack consumer driven (social, digital, data) marketing programs and strategic partnerships globally....show more
Speaking on: Digital Identity and Credentials
Naheed is the Co-founder, President and CEO of Cyclica, a leading AI in drug discovery company who advance molecules to medicines by embracing the complexity of disease. In addition to his role at Cyclica, Naheed is also a Co-founder and Director of EntheogeniX Biosciences, a psychedelic inspired biotech company for...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 10 GROWTH SHOWCASE # 2
Etienne is a business leader and entrepreneur with deep experience building and turning around engineering-intensive businesses. He’s the founder and CEO of Vention.
Before Vention, he spent five years at McKinsey & Company as an Associate Partner with the Operations and Product Development Practices. In this role, he led enterprise-wide strategic,...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 10 GROWTH SHOWCASE # 2
Meryeme is an associate on BDC Capital’s Strategic Investments and Women in Technology Venture Fund team.
Before joining BDC, Meryeme was an investment manager at MEDTEQ Invest, a $14 million fund dedicated to supporting early stage companies in medical devices, diagnostics and digital health sectors. Prior to MEDTEQ, Meryeme co-founded a...show more
Speaking on: MEETING EXCHANGES WITH GROWTH STAGE INVESTORS: BDC CAPITAL, MAVERIX PRIVATE EQUITY, ONTARIO CAPITAL GROWTH CORPORATION; REVERSE INVESTORS’ PITCH- EARLY STAGE
Vipul is an experienced business executive with a proven track record of developing market-leading strategies and delivering on them. His blend of business and technology skills has enabled him to be a thought leader in the digital channels and payments space.
In his current role, Vipul is responsible for oversight and...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 1
Simon has spent six years in audit at PwC where he worked with both listed and private entities. He was also the first employee and Head of Finance at Poka for two years where he contributed to sales, hiring and finance as well as supporting the founders in raising $6.5M...show more
Speaking on: INTUIT PROSPERITY ACCELERATOR:AI SHOWCASE
Daniel leads the technology practice within mid-market investment banking and has over 12 years of experience advising technology companies on M&A and capital raise transactions. Over his career, Daniel has successfully closed numerous transactions across a variety of sub-sectors including Enterprise Software, SMB SaaS, FinTech, Healthcare IT, Digital Media, and...show more
Speaking on: THE CURRENT M&A LANDSCAPE
Recruit My Friends was founded in 2005 by Jackie Lee while studying at the University of Waterloo.
Focused on the trust and power of the referral-only model, we aim to deliver top quality matches to both engineers and employers.
Speaking on: RECRUITING TALENT IN THE CURRENT CLIMATE
Based in Toronto, Laura is a Partner leading the fund’s investment activity in Canada. Laura has over 15 years of venture investing experience, including prior roles as a Partner with Generation Ventures, an Investment Director with MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund, and a Principal with EdgeStone Capital Partners. Laura started her...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 10 GROWTH SHOWCASE # 2
Noah Leshan
Investor at Pegasus Tech Ventures and Manager of Startup World Cup
Pegasus Tech Ventures
Noah Leshan serves as an Investor at Pegasus Tech Ventures, providing in-depth financial and qualitative investment analysis of startups around the world. Noah is also the Manager for Startup World Cup and leads the Startup World Cup Advisory Committee.
Noah's experience spans Europe and South America, as well as the US....show more
Speaking on: MEET THE PRESENTING COMPANIES & ANNOUNCEMENT OF STARTUP WORLD CUP CANADIAN WINNER
Miranda Lievers is a Vancouver-based entrepreneur. As co-founder & COO of Thinkific, she's helped over 50,000 business owners earn over half a billion dollars with online courses to date while educating tens of millions of students around the globe. Thinkific (TSX:THNC) went public on the Toronto Stock Exchange in April,...show more
Speaking on: CANADA SUCCESS STORY; SPOTLIGHT ON THINKIFIC
Michael is both a partner at GreenSky Capital and a partner and practicing lawyer at Ormston List Frawley LLP. At Ormston List Frawley LLP, Michael’s legal practice focuses on providing corporate, commercial and transactional advice in the finance, technology and information technology sectors.
At GreenSky Capital, Michael assists with financing, mentoring...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 10 GROWTH SHOWCASE # 2
Grace Liu, Ph.D, Founding partner of IF Capital；Focus on Tech-business innovation and investment.
Speaking on: MEETING EXCHANGES WITH EARLY-STAGE INVESTORS: IF CAPITAL, RHINO VENTURES, SILICON VALLEY BANK
Kerry Liu Executive Vice President, Product Management and Innovation
Kerry Liu joined Kinaxis through its acquisition of Rubikloud Technologies in July 2020. He was CEO and Founder of the machine learning company that became a leader in retail and CPG forecasting and optimization technologies.
As Executive Vice President of Product...show more
Speaking on: RECRUITING TALENT IN THE CURRENT CLIMATE
MBA from the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. Education concentrated on investment banking, management analytics and innovation. Extensive experience in Southeast Asia, Africa and North America. Specializes in bringing innovative funding solutions to the Canadian tech sector through government grant, commercial loans and equity investments.
Speaking on: MEETING EXCHANGES WITH EARLY-STAGE INVESTORS: BDC CAPITAL, FASTBREAK VENTURES, OLD KENT ROAD FINANCIAL
Kathryn is in the business of raising Baby Unicorns in Atlantic Canada and beyond. With Propel's virtual accelerator, they are focused on quality and producing founders (through dedicated coaching and world-class content) who are earning revenue that matters and are poised for significant growth.
Kathryn was most recently the Vice President...show more
Speaking on: ATLANTIC CANADA TECH SHOWCASE
Patrick Lor, Managing Partner, Panache Ventures
Patrick Lor is Managing Partner at Panache Ventures, a seed-stage venture capital firm that has invested in over 95 startups. He is also partner at 500 Startups Canada, and has been recognized by University of British Columbia’s Creative Destruction Lab as Associate of the Year...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 4
Serial Entrepreneur, Marketer, Tech Evangelist, Capital Supporter & Mentor
David Lucatch is the Co-Founder, President, Director & Chair of Liquid Avatar Technologies Inc. and an official member of the Forbes Business Council. Starting his career at the emergence of desktop publishing in the mid 1980’s and as an early Internet adopter,...show more
Speaking on: Digital Identity and Credentials
Raymond is a serial entrepreneur and investor. He is the founder of Hockeystick (a matchmaking system for startups and funders), Flow Ventures (a financial consultancy for startups), Year One Labs (an early-stage micro-VC fund), and others. He is passionate about entrepreneurship and removing barriers to raising capital through technology. He lives...show more
Speaking on: ASK AN EXPERT
Jason Luo joined OMERS Growth Equity in 2019. In his role as a Director, Jason supports the development of investment themes and the origination, evaluation, and execution of investment opportunities.
Prior to joining OMERS, Jason worked at Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s Private Equity Secondaries and Co-Investment team, with a focus...show more
Speaking on: REVERSE INVESTORS' PITCH-GROWTH-STAGE
Navaid joined Dialogue in November 2019 as Chief Financial Officer.
Navaid is a Chartered Professional Accountant. After graduating from McGill University, Navaid started his career with Deloitte. In 2000, Navaid joined Bell Canada and held progressively growing roles in finance, marketing and business transformation for 8 years.
In 2008, Navaid joined Rogers...show more
Speaking on: CANADA SUCCESS STORY; SPOTLIGHT ON DIALOGUE
JF is the co-founder and Managing Partner of White Star Capital since 2014. Prior to White Star Capital, JF co-founded Ludia, a mobile game publisher that scaled globally and was successfully sold to FremantleMedia. At White Star, JF led investments in enterprise software companies including Dialogue Health Technologies (TSX IPO...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 10 GROWTH SHOWCASE # 2
With more than 20 years of experience driving transformational growth for companies in North America, David is an accomplished technology leader.
Today, he’s at the helm of Intuit Canada. As Country Manager, he leads a team that’s passionate about powering prosperity for Canadians – and in turn, the country’s economy. David...show more
Speaking on: INTUIT PROSPERITY ACCELERATOR:AI SHOWCASE
Jeff oversees Cocoflo's finance and operations functions and ensures our Company fulfills its strategic vision through robust planning and performance-based management.
Jeff is a builder that intrinsically understands how to position companies for maximum scalability. His extensive background in Private Equity, Capital Markets (Debt and Equity), and Start-up spans various industries...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 2
Scott is the co-founder and managing director of KJSM Ventures. The company has over a ten year track record of investing with early stage private venture opportunities and within public markets. KJSM Ventures invests alongside businesses within the AI, cybersecurity, health tech, fintech and consumer app & product sectors. The...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 4
As the Chief Executive Officer of ThinkOn, Craig McLellan is a forward-thinking business leader who has been at the forefront of technology innovation and data security in Canada and the U.S. for the past twenty-five years. Under Craig’s leadership, ThinkOn has grown both organically and through strategic acquisition, currently placing...show more
Speaking on: Scale globally with EDC
Andrew McLeod is the CEO of Certn, the global leader in human risk intelligence solutions headquartered in Victoria, Canada. Prior to running one of the fastest-growing Canadian tech start-ups, he guided leaders on how to thrive in this era of disruptive technological change, illustrating how to accelerate an idea into...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 10 GROWTH SHOWCASE # 1
Scott McLeod
Trade Commissioner, Canadian Technology Accelerator, The High Commission of Canada in India
High Commission of Canada in India
Immersed in the Indian market since 2018 as a Trade Commissioner at the High Commission of Canada in New Delhi, Scott now leads the newly launched Canadian Technology Accelerator program in India. In this role he will support high potential Canadian start-ups succeed in this dynamic tech market.
Speaking on: Canadian Technology Accelerator: Deep into the Indian Tech Scene
Rhea Mehta, Ph.D. is a healthcare and wellness innovator who has been working at the intersection of science, digital health technology and holistic medicine for over 10 years. She is the co-founder of Bowhead Health, an innovative Canadian company leveraging blockchain and privacy-enabled technology to help chronically ill and healthy...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 3
Silvio is responsible for researching and executing on investment opportunities in growth-oriented, disruptive technology companies. He also provides assistance to portfolio companies post-investment and engages in relationship building and outreach in the community.
Silvio's decade of experience helping develop and launch new products and technologies at both startups and large Fortune...show more
Speaking on: MEETING EXCHANGES WITH EARLY-STAGE INVESTORS: WHITE STAR CAPITAL, OMERS VENTURES, REAL VENTURES
Nabeela is an early-stage investor at the TELUS Pollinator Fund, where she focuses on climate change, inclusive communities and healthcare. Prior to the TELUS Pollinator Fund, Nabeela was at Relay Ventures, an early-stage venture capital fund focused on industries with the potential for growth, fueled by the rapid adoption of...show more
Jonah has spent the last two decades in the Canadian startup ecosystem. He has successfully founded and run both bootstrapped and venture backed companies. Now he spends his time as a partner at Forum Ventures supporting B2B SaaS founders with capital, as well as the sales, marketing, fundraising and...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 1
Director, Technology Banking, SVB Canada
Graeme Millen is a director of technology banking at Silicon Valley Bank in Toronto, with specialization in SVB’s Climate Tech & Sustainability practice across Canada.
Graeme is responsible for the development of new business relationships as well as the strategy and oversight of the current portfolio. SVB’s...show more
Speaking on: MEETING EXCHANGES WITH GROWTH STAGE INVESTORS: SILICON VALLEY BANK, TCV, VERSTRA VENTURES
Saba Mohebpour is the founder and CEO of Spocket, a platform that connects 60,000+ online entrepreneurs, with thousands of vetted suppliers. He is focused on empowering other online entrepreneurs by solving the trillion-dollar inventory distortion problem via the dropshipping model. Saba is part of Forbes 30 under 30, Techstars' alumni,...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 4
Steve is an accomplished leader in security and enterprise software with extensive experience in leading companies through rapid growth. As a product-oriented CEO, he is deeply engaged with product vision and execution. Delivering high-quality standards has led Steve to achieve maximum impact and high growth through investment in both organic...show more
Speaking on: CIX 2021 INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR PRESENTATION AND KEYNOTE
Gil joined VERTU Capital in 2019 as Partner. With more than a decade of private equity experience, Gil brings expertise in deal negotiation and execution, asset management and board directorship.
Gil previously spent 8 years at CPP Investment Board (CPPIB) where he was a Senior Principal responsible for leading the Direct...show more
Speaking on: MEETING EXCHANGES WITH GROWTH STAGE INVESTORS: VERTU CAPITAL, EXPORT DEVELOPMENT CANADA, NATIONAL BANK
Amy is a VP in Relationship Management with RBCx. Amy is passionate about supporting technology companies in all stages. Amy has over 10 years of experience in the financial services industry, majority of which is partnering with technology companies for their banking and financing needs. Prior to joining RBC in...show more
Speaking on: MEETING EXCHANGES WITH GROWTH STAGE INVESTORS: ROYAL BANK OF CANADA
Ha believes that it is a privilege to work with founders of all kinds. As a venture capitalist, she hears entrepreneurs share their dreams and businesses in a very personal way. To her, this often means that her role comes with the responsibility of hearing stories intently and helping translate...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 2
Greg joined Klass Capital in 2019. His key responsibilities include sourcing deals, creating detailed financial models, performing in-depth industry research and monitoring portfolio companies. Prior to joining, Greg was doing Investment Banking in the Mergers and Acquisitions group at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Toronto. Greg holds an Honours...show more
Speaking on: MEETING EXCHANGES WITH GROWTH STAGE INVESTORS: SAMPFORD ADVISORS, KLASS CAPITAL, NATIONAL BANK
Alex Panousis is an executive at the forefront of digital media, technology and creativity. A culture leader and media/creative industry veteran, with over 20 years of experience leading high-growth, innovative and profitable agencies. Alex is the President of Havas Media, and is also the Community Director with TechTO and host...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 4
Joe is a technology leader and an operations expert. After working in the traditional accounting space, he began his pursuit in technology at Bench Accounting where he helped build teams and scale the operations from 400 to 4000 clients. Previously, he built and led an 80 person operations team at...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 4
Thomas Park leads BDC Capital’s Deep Tech Venture Fund as Partner. Previously, he has served as Vice-President, Operations and Strategy, at BDC Capital since 2016. Before joining BDC, Thomas was Program Officer with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Prior to this, he served as Senior Engagement Manager with McKinsey...show more
Speaking on: MEETING EXCHANGES WITH EARLY-STAGE INVESTORS: BDC CAPITAL, MARS IAF, INOVIA CAPITAL
Zeze Peters is the founder and CEO of Beam.city. He is a Cornell-educated rocket scientist who spent the last 15 years building simple solutions for complex problems in applied AI, eCommerce, big data platforms and consumer goods for private and Fortune 1000 Companies.
Speaking on: INTUIT PROSPERITY ACCELERATOR:AI SHOWCASE
Sam has a background in mechatronics engineering and is a passionate environmentalist, with a strong drive to work on the most complex problems. Sam was named a Top 30 under 30 Innovator by Atlantic Business Magazine and a Top 50 Changemaker by the Globe and Mail Report on Business. Outside...show more
Speaking on: ATLANTIC CANADA TECH SHOWCASE
Stephen Pollack is a serial entrepreneur and technology specialist working with companies in a variety of board, advisory and consultancy roles. Stephen focuses on young technology companies seeking excellence where the leadership team desires innovation and furthering their understanding of proven ways to rapidly grow a successful business.
Stephen was most...show more
Speaking on: ASK AN EXPERT
Philip Poulidis is an experienced technology executive, board member, entrepreneur and start-up investor with a demonstrated history of accomplishments in the IoT, Semiconductor, Digital Health and Enterprise SaaS markets. His career spans over 25 years between Canada and the US, including 5 years in Silicon Valley. Philip has held senior...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 3
Rick Prostko
Managing Director, North America, Teachers’ Innovation Platform
Ontario Teacher's Pension Plan
Rick Prostko leads direct investment strategy and execution for Teachers' Innovation Platform (TIP) in North America.
Rick joined TIP in 2021, bringing nearly two decades of direct venture capital and growth equity investment experience. Most recently, Rick was a Managing Director at Comcast Ventures where he spent 8 years investing in...show more
Speaking on: CANADA SUCCESS STORY; SPOTLIGHT ON APPLYBOARD
Amy is focused on investing in SaaS businesses and applied analytic technologies. Prior to joining Vanedge, Amy was the former Vice President & General Manager of Mobile and Social Commerce with Ziplocal (USA) where she was responsible for product. Prior to that, she held the position of Director of Business...show more
Speaking on: CANADA SUCCESS STORY; SPOTLIGHT ON VENDASTA; MEETING EXCHANGES WITH EARLY-STAGE INVESTORS: RADICAL VENTURES, STARLIGHT CAPITAL, VANEDGE
Yasmin Razavi is a general partner at Spark Capital, a San Francisco-based venture firm with $4.2 billion in assets under management. Born and raised in Iran, she studied engineering at the University of Toronto. She invests in growth stage companies in b2b software, payments, developer tools and crypto.
Speaking on: CANADA SUCCESS STORY; SPOTLIGHT ON ADA
Adam Reeds is the Co-Founder & CEO of Ledn, a global company based in Canada focused on building financial products that help people save in bitcoin. Prior to co-founding Ledn, Adam spent ten years at Dream Asset Management developing, building and financing a $1.5 billion portfolio of renewable power projects....show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 10 GROWTH SHOWCASE # 1
RJ is the Chief Business Development Officer at Liquid Avatar Technologies Inc. Liquid Avatar is focused on leveraging Blockchain and Biometrics to protect Digital Identity in support of consumer protection regulations like GDPR, PIPEDA and CCPA. Mr. Reiser’s career has been focused on startups in the tech field of CAD,...show more
Speaking on: Digital Identity and Credentials
Sarah Rennick is the Co-Founder and CEO of Alli Therapy, a marketplace for moms and their families to receive professional therapy and self-guided resources surrounding the challenges of parenthood. Alli Therapy is on a mission to give parents the support they need in the way they need it to be...show more
Speaking on: DMZ WOMEN FOUNDERS SHOWCASE
As a reformed corporate financial analyst and twice-failed entrepreneur, Jay brings a pragmatic and analytical approach to Rhino, which he co-founded with Fraser and Dan.
Jay’s passion for business is undeniable and he is a true utility player, working with companies on everything from business strategy to fundraising to executive recruiting. ...show more
Speaking on: MEETING EXCHANGES WITH EARLY-STAGE INVESTORS: IF CAPITAL, RHINO VENTURES, SILICON VALLEY BANK
Claudio Rojas is Chief Executive Officer of the National Angel Capital Organization (NACO). Claudio has held the roles of managing director, board member, advisor, and founder of several prominent organizations contributing to Canada’s transformation into the world’s leading innovation economy. He brings an exceptionally long-term entrepreneurial mindset to investments and...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 1; CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 2; CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 3; CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 4
Deborah Rojas worked for the Trade Commissioner Service in the Canadian embassy in Spain and in the regional office in Toronto. She will now join the dynamic trade team in India, New Delhi.
Speaking on: Canadian Technology Accelerator: Deep into the Indian Tech Scene
Tech Titan, Michele is the youngest ever entrepreneur to join CBC’s hit show Dragons’ Den. She previously co-founded e-commerce platforms SnapSaves (acquired by Groupon) and Buytopia. Michele is ranked in WXN’s “100 Most Powerful in Canada” and listed as the only Canadian on Forbes’ “Millennial on a Mission” list. She...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 4
Casey is our Growth Director and member of the Operations team. He works closely with the senior leadership of our portfolio companies to help drive customer acquisition, retention and monetization. Casey is a data driven marketer with over 19 years experience creating digital programs and platforms. Prior to joining OV,...show more
Speaking on: ASK AN EXPERT
John is the Founder and Managing Partner of Maverix Private Equity. John’s focus is on guiding the strategy of the firm, Chair of the Investment Committee and is deeply involved with sourcing and leading opportunities particularly within the technology industry.
John Ruffolo was also the Founder of OMERS Ventures and the...show more
Speaking on: CANADA SUCCESS STORY; SPOTLIGHT ON WATTPAD
Rajen Ruparell is a Canadian investor and serial entrepreneur. His most recent venture, Endy, was sold to Sleep Country in one of Canada's largest ever e-commerce deals. Originally Endy's lion (majority) shareholder, he remains with the company as its Chairman & Founder. Previously he co-founded Citydeal which he sold to...show more
Speaking on: THE CURRENT M&A LANDSCAPE
Nisha is the CEO of Halifax-based Kraken Sense, which is developing a real-time automated pathogen detection platform. She is an experienced entrepreneur focusing on hard science, and participated in CTA India in 2015 with her previous company.
Speaking on: Canadian Technology Accelerator: Deep into the Indian Tech Scene
Matt is an experienced investor, entrepreneur, and executive working with companies in the technology and service-based sectors. Over the last decade, Matthew has held progressively senior roles that have focused on managing investment funds and portfolio companies while also overseeing operations, finance and taking a lead role in the business...show more
Speaking on: MEETING EXCHANGES WITH EARLY-STAGE INVESTORS: BDC CAPITAL, FASTBREAK VENTURES, OLD KENT ROAD FINANCIAL
Michelle Scarborough
Managing Partner, Thrive Venture Fund and Women in Technology Venture Fund
BDC Capital
Michelle Scarborough is Managing Partner, Strategic Investments and Women in Technology Venture Fund. In this position, she leads the origination and execution of strategic initiatives to fill current and future financing gaps in the Canadian ecosystem. She is also responsible for BDC’s $200M investment to bring capital to high-growth tech...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 10 GROWTH SHOWCASE # 2
Ryan Shannon is a member of the investment team at Radical Ventures and is primarily involved in the sourcing and diligence of potential investments.
Prior to joining Radical, Ryan was a Private Equity Investor at TPG Capital in San Francisco, where he focused on Leveraged Buyouts, Corporate Carve-outs, and Take-privates of...show more
Speaking on: MEETING EXCHANGES WITH EARLY-STAGE INVESTORS: RADICAL VENTURES, STARLIGHT CAPITAL, VANEDGE
Sunil Sharma is Managing Director for Techstars Toronto. Techstars Toronto is a city program and Techstars' first accelerator in Canada. Techstars Toronto is a joint venture between Techstars and Real Ventures (Canada’s most active venture capital fund).
Prior to Techstars Sunil was a Managing Partner with Extreme Venture Partners (EVP) and...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 4
Laith Shukri is a senior market development manager for SVB in Toronto, where his role is to build and strengthen relationships between the bank and early-stage companies in Canada. To this end, he consults with innovators to identify ways that SVB can best serve their needs as they scale. Laith...show more
Speaking on: MEETING EXCHANGES WITH EARLY-STAGE INVESTORS: IF CAPITAL, RHINO VENTURES, SILICON VALLEY BANK
Meagan is the Associate Editor for BetaKit. A tech writer who is super proud to showcase the Canadian tech scene, Meagan graduated from Carleton University's Journalism program. Previously, she worked at IT World Canada, and has freelanced as a political reporter on Parliament Hill, a sports reporter in Ottawa, and...show more
Speaking on: REVERSE INVESTORS’ PITCH- EARLY STAGE; REVERSE INVESTORS' PITCH-GROWTH-STAGE
As a seasoned strategic talent advisor passionate about driving and delivering change, Krista Skalde joined Inovia Capital in April 2015, responsible for the design and implementation of talent management, organizational effectiveness solutions, and market-aligned HR practices to drive business performance, both internally within Inovia and with Inovia’s Portfolio Companies. Prior...show more
Speaking on: ASK AN EXPERT
Simon is an Associate at Relay Ventures. As a member of the Investment team, he works to create a data-centric foundation for Relay’s investment thesis. Prior to joining Relay Ventures, Simon worked on the Investment Banking team at Citibank with a focus on cross-border mergers & acquisitions. Previously, Simon held...show more
Speaking on: ASK AN EXPERT
Prior to joining Nyca in 2020, Jeremy Solomon was Cofounder and CFO of Heracles Inc., a Nyca Fund III portfolio company. Before Heracles, Mr. Solomon was the Chief Capital Officer at Affirm in addition to leadership roles at Lending Club and SoFi. Mr. Solomon received his MBA from Harvard Business...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 1
Isaac focuses on early-stage investments in Quebec-based companies as part of Real Ventures’ Orbit strategy. He is also part of the team behind Front Row Ventures, Real’s student fund, and previously served as the GM of FounderFuel, Real’s accelerator. Prior to joining Real, he held product leadership roles at Sonder,...show more
Speaking on: REVERSE INVESTORS’ PITCH- EARLY STAGE
Nicole is strategic Digital Client Experience Executive with over 15 years’ experience leading digital transformation within the financial services sector in North America. Nicole is a results-oriented, innovative and engaging leader with extensive experience managing complex initiatives across businesses and borders to create award-winning client experiences in fast- paced and...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 1
James has 20+ years of experience in software development focused in the areas of data science, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence. As CEO, his focus is on driving the company strategy to help computer vision organizations deliver trusted AI. James brings an established track record of market-leading business growth and innovation....show more
Speaking on: ATLANTIC CANADA TECH SHOWCASE
Anthony Sturgeon is a Senior Account Manager with Export Development Canada’s tech industry team. In support of EDC’s mandate to help Canadian companies grow internationally, he assists technology companies with financing, risk mitigation and international knowledge and connections.
Anthony holds a BA, Economic from the University of British Columbia and an...show more
Speaking on: Scale globally with EDC; MEETING EXCHANGES WITH GROWTH STAGE INVESTORS: VERTU CAPITAL, EXPORT DEVELOPMENT CANADA, NATIONAL BANK
Chris has a passion for building world class platforms that power entrepreneurship from anywhere on the planet. Chris is a 6x serial entrepreneur. His last venture backed startup Chango pioneered performance marketing and sold for 120MM in 2015. Chris is a Canadian who lives in Costa Rica with his 4...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 4
Reggie Tan is a senior growth hacker and marketing strategist, with specialization in fintech, cryptocurrency, NFTs, and blockchain applications. Over the past 14 years, his consultancy, Rich Thinking, has helped design and launch impactful marketing campaigns for dozens of startups - ranging from e-commerce to investments, B2B lending to payment...show more
Speaking on: ASK AN EXPERT
Katie joined Salesforce Ventures in 2020 and is focused on investments in leading enterprise software businesses. Prior to joining Salesforce, Katie worked at Sapphire Ventures, Vista Equity Partners and Crosslink Capital as an investor in the Bay Area. She began her career as an investment banker at Barclays in New...show more
Speaking on: REVERSE INVESTORS' PITCH-GROWTH-STAGE
Taylor has spent the last 30 years as an entrepreneur, owning and investing in successful ventures in numerous industries. Taylor is the founder and Host of the longest running investment TV show in Canada, BTV - Business Television, broadcast on FOX Business News, BNN Bloomberg, BIZTV, Air Canada, Thomson Reuters...show more
Speaking on: CANADA SUCCESS STORY; SPOTLIGHT ON THINKIFIC
Jennifer is the Founder & CEO of Somm, a Toronto-based company that brings innovative technology to the culinary and hospitality industry, focused first on wine. With a grand vision to own the category of Taste, Somm works for consumers and enterprises alike. Prior to launching Somm, Jennifer founded PureInvest Inc.,...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 4
Pranit Tukrel joined Inovia Capital's Growth Team in July 2021. He has 5 years of Investment Banking and Private Equity Experience, having spent time in both New York and Toronto. Most Recently, Pranit was a Private Equity Associate at Onex Partners in New York, where he covered the tech-enabled business...show more
Speaking on: MEETING EXCHANGES WITH GROWTH STAGE INVESTORS: FRAMEWORK VENTURE PARTNERS, GRAVITAS SECURITIES INC., INOVIA CAPITAL
Dave Unsworth co-founded Information Venture Partners in 2014. Dave has led investments in eSentire (exited, 2017), Verafin, Sensibill, Igloo Software (exited, 2017), Viigo (acquired by BlackBerry), Coconut Software, BigID, Knowtions and LendingFront. Dave is focused on FinTech and Enterprise software and is particularly interested in cybersecurity, mobile, enterprise 2.0 and...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 10 GROWTH SHOWCASE # 1
Kapil joined TCV in 2006 and spends time primarily in the software and tech-enabled services spaces, including both minority and majority investments. His areas of interest include security, analytics, and vertical software.
Kapil currently serves on the board of directors of ETQ and Rave Mobile Safety. His other active investments comprise...show more
Speaking on: MEETING EXCHANGES WITH GROWTH STAGE INVESTORS: SILICON VALLEY BANK, TCV, VERSTRA VENTURES
Benoit Veronneau
Co-Head & Managing Director, Telecom, Media, Technology & Healthcare Investment Banking
National Bank Financial Corp
Managing Director, Head of Technology, Media, Telecommunications and Healthcare Investment Banking
- Benoit has 16+ years of experience in investment banking notably with several with large cap companies across various industries, including Tech & Healthcare and special situations in the context of M&A and financing advisory mandates
- Responsible for NBF’s Technology, Media, Telecommunications ...show more
Speaking on: CANADA SUCCESS STORY; SPOTLIGHT ON DIALOGUE
Ben is a venture associate with Trust Ventures and focuses on all aspects of the investment life cycle. Previously he held roles as senior associate in the special situation investment group at Vida Capital and analyst in the investment banking division at Stephens Inc. Ben received his BBA in Finance...show more
Sarah Willson is an investor at Panache Ventures, a $58M pre-seed and seed stage VC firm supporting inspiring Canadian founders at the earliest stages of building transformational companies. Sarah is also the founder of Hive Sitters, a B2C marketplace connecting families to quality childcare; and is an active member of...show more
Speaking on: MEETING EXCHANGES WITH EARLY-STAGE INVESTORS: AMPLIFY CAPITAL, MARS IAF, PANACHE VENTURES
Taylor is an Associate at Golden Ventures, a seed stage industry agnostic venture capital fund based in Toronto that invests in technology companies across Canada and the US. In her role Taylor supports deal sourcing, due diligence, and portfolio management at Golden. Taylor spends her time looking at deals across...show more
Speaking on: MEETING EXCHANGES WITH EARLY-STAGE INVESTORS: GOLDEN VENTURES, TWO SMALL FISH VENTURES, WHITECAP VENTURE PARTNERS
Jon brings 9 years of experience in investments and corporate finance to his role as Investment Director at TELUS Ventures, where he is responsible for identifying, evaluating and executing on strategic opportunities for TELUS Ventures. Jon leverages his previous experience with companies at various stages of growth to assess the...show more
Speaking on: REVERSE INVESTORS' PITCH-GROWTH-STAGE
Steven Woods is Partner and CTO at Inovia Capital Partners.
Steven has worked in software development, academic and industrial research and technical leadership for more than 30 years. As co-founder of three software and services companies based in the USA (Quack.com, Kinitos, NeoEdge Networks), he built strong, high-performing teams of product...show more
Speaking on: ASK AN EXPERT
Kathryn Wortsman is based in Toronto and leads Amplify Capital as Founder and Managing Partner. Amplify Capital is a leading Canadian impact venture fund focused on early-stage technology companies solving for clean energy, improved education outcomes, and better health aligning with SDG#3 Good Health, SDG#4 Quality Education and SDG #13...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 3; MEETING EXCHANGES WITH EARLY-STAGE INVESTORS: AMPLIFY CAPITAL, MARS IAF, PANACHE VENTURES
Currently serves as a Senior Vice President in the Global Investment Banking Group at GSI
Formerly an Investment Banking Analyst at BMO Capital Markets, where he completed transactions totaling in excess of $2 billion
Serves as a Director of EQI Bank (TSXV: BANK Reserved), a global digital bank focused on emerging affluent,...show more
Speaking on: MEETING EXCHANGES WITH GROWTH STAGE INVESTORS: BDC CAPITAL, FIRST ASCENT VENTURES, GRAVITAS SECURITIES INC.
Michelle is an Investor at Georgian, focused on investing in high-growth technology companies that harness the power of data in a trustworthy way. Michelle supports the due diligence process and provides operational support to portfolio companies post-investment. Prior to Georgian, Michelle was an Associate at Vectr Ventures, an early-stage venture...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 10 GROWTH SHOWCASE # 1; CIX TOP 10 GROWTH SHOWCASE # 2
Sohaib Zahid is the Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at Railz. Sohaib is a serial entrepreneur with a decade of successful experience in building teams, products and companies. He focuses on Sales and Marketing. Prior to founding Railz, Sohaib founded Vanhawks, where he led product, sales and operations. Vanhawks was...show more
Speaking on: CIX TOP 20 EARLY SHOWCASE # 1
Since joining White Star Capital at the start of 2017, Sanjay worked on over 10 investments made by the fund across Canada, New York, Germany and South East Asia. While at the firm, Sanjay spent a year pursuing an MBA at Insead in Singapore and returned in September 2020 to...show more
Speaking on: MEETING EXCHANGES WITH EARLY-STAGE INVESTORS: WHITE STAR CAPITAL, OMERS VENTURES, REAL VENTURES
