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Helping Founders Secure Customers and ScaleĀ
This is not another conference. Founders & Funders is where:
Whether youāre building your first startup, scaling a technology company, investing in innovation, or looking for the next breakthrough opportunity ā this event is designed for you.
Learn from investors and discover innovation from our most promising startup founders.
Early-stage companies face volatile headwinds politically and economically, especially within a more disciplined political environment.
As capital becomes more selective, as political funding pivots to respond to the global economic reality, traction is everything. Understanding how to navigate this moving target is essential to unlocking growth and investment.
Founders and Funders 2026, our second annual event, celebrates our founders, exceptional innovators who have recently graduated and are ready to take the next level of growth. That growth means establishing meaningful connections to customers, partners, expertise, and, importantly, capital.
The opportunity for founders to explore opportunities, create meaningful conversations, and for investors to discover exciting technologies and meet ambitious founders will help shape the next generation of Ontario success stories.
Event Highlights
Harkirat Singh, Deputy Mayor, City of Brampton; Holly Gardner, Co-Chair, Altitude Accelerator, and Pam Banks, Executive Director, Altitude Accelerator kick off Founders & Funders 2026.
Where do funding opportunities actually exist? A panel of expertsāincluding Henna Agha, Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network, OCI; Andrew Opala, Preference Capital; and Rebecca Griffith, Southern Ontario Fund for Investment and Innovationāmoderated by Nick Kuryluk, Co-Chair of Altitude Accelerator and Founder of Cosality, explored how founders should position their companies for non-dilutive funding, move applications to the top of the list, and understand how investors evaluate opportunities.
Carlos Hernandez spearheaded this session, with 15 founders taking the stage in rapid-fire elevator-pitch fashion. Congratulations to Team Pyko for being awarded the Peopleās Choice!
Our decade-plus of programming has helped founders accelerate to the next stage of growth. We celebrated these 13 fantastic companies, heard from Kevin Smith, Marketing Instructor at The Story Architect, and heard from three founders: AlloWide Health, Mayana, and Nodalli.
This session provided some levity. We flipped the script and put investors in the hot seat to pitch their ideas to judges who were founders. Thank you for the afternoon comic relief!
Jeff Skinner & Stoked Bio | Pioneering AI-driven drug discovery to meet urgent clinical needs.
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