Ottawa-based mental health tech startup DOT Mind Unlocked has been crowned this year’s winner of Collision’s PITCH competition.
The competition is open to any early-stage startups exhibiting at Collision that have received less than $5 million in funding to date and have not had a discernible change in their business models in the last three years.
There were 56 startups from across the world in total that participated in the competition. Last year’s winner was Toronto relationship app Couply.
DOT beat out 27 other startups that were shortlisted from Canada, and was one of the three companies that come from Ottawa. Half of this year’s shortlisted Canadian startups were based in Toronto.
Founded in 2017 by Yishel Khan, DOT provides tech-enabled solutions for improving mental health. Its product suite includes Neuron, a web-based platform that aims to support mental health caregivers by automating diagnosis, monitoring, and management of their patients.
DOT has also developed a headset that can read brainwave activities, allowing its AI-driven platform to create personalized suggestions on enhancing concentration and focus levels based on an individual’s needs.
Khan said that attending the event has helped increase DOT’s exposure on a global stage. “During the conference, I’ve had lots of parents come up to me asking if they can buy the device for their kids. It’s very validating to know this is addressing a real issue,” she said.
Khan added that DOT’s next step is raising a $3 million USD round to help the company in its launch to market as a B2C product, before launching in 2024 as a clinical offering.
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The Ottawa startup was previously selected for the NextAI cohort in Montréal in 2019, and completed the Founder Institute Fellowship program in 2015.
Prior to becoming a startup founder, Khan previously worked as a software developer for Ericsson, as well as a project coordinator for Siemens.
Collision’s panel of judges for the 2022 PITCH competition include Rupa Athreya, chief accelerator investments officer at Techstars; David Dufresne, investor and advisor at Pref; Faisal Kazi, president and CEO of Siemens Canada; and Veetahl Eilat-Raichel, co-founder and CEO of Sorbet.
This year’s edition of PITCH was held in-person after Collision had to move its operations online for the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a sold-out event, Collision had around 35,000 attendees, over 900 speakers, 1,500 startups, 1,200 journalists, 850 investors, and 100 unicorn companies from more than 140 countries.
Featured image courtesy Collision.