Flashfood has won the $140,000 Best in Fest top prize at Startupfest.
The prize was among several handed out at Montreal’s Startupfest, which attracts thousands of startups, investors, and community leaders to the city every year. While the $100K Investment Prize is one of the highlights of the event, the prize was boosted by $40,000 based on the quality of pitches.
Flashfood allows grocery stores and restaurants to sell surplus food at a discount, and sends users a notification on their phone about deals in the area.
“Winning this pitch amongst 300 other companies is a testament to the collective work put in by our team. Food waste is a massive issue, and we’re well on our way to scaling our model. I’m proud of what we’ve done to this point,” said Josh Domingues, founder of Flashfood.
On top of the money, Flashfood will also get a flight to StarUp Weekend in Turks and Caicos.
We will always remember @PartyOnDemand (how could we forget?)- winner of the Best Onstage Pitch + Kid's Choice #Startupfest pic.twitter.com/r2XgOzDtZX
— Startupfest (@startupfest) July 14, 2017
More winners of the night include:
Best Onstage Pitch and Kids Choice Award: Party On Demand, an app that lets users order all party supplies in one place, with delivery under one hour.
CBC Media Prize: Mentorly, a platform that connects artists with mentors. Mentorly will be featured in CBC Montreal.
Grandmother’s Pitch Prize Tie between Waste Robotics, a robotic waste sorting solution; and EhEye, a video analytics with a focus on security. The winners will receive legal services from Fasken, while FounderFuel will work with companies as part of their three-month program and provide funding.
Next 36 prize: Maxime Gauthier Bourbonnier, co-founder of Merinio, will be part of the Next 36’s 2018 cohort.
Element AI and Radio-Canada prize: Jules Marchand and Noah Heinewitz. The winners will get a one-hour meeting with Element AI’s Yoshua Bengio, workspace for six months at Radio-Canada, and access to Radio-Canada data.