As Startupfest 2025 came to a close, more than 10 startups went home with collective investment commitments totalling over $1 million—the most in the tech festival’s history.
Samuel Babity
“It was crazy to pitch in front of that many people. I’ve done smaller things before, but never quite on this scale.”
mTatt
The 15th edition of Startupfest closed on July 11 with the announcement of its various pitch contest winners. Founders, investors, tech workers, and ecosystem players from across the country convened in Montréal for three days of networking, panels, and pitches.
Dedicated prizes to entrepreneurs who identify as women, Black, 2SLGBTQIA+, and also awarded the Student Entrepreneur Investment Prize, the Impact Investment Prize, the Audience Choice Award, and the coveted Grandmothers’ Choice Award.
Certain prize winners also received a $5,000 Osler Startup Package from law firm Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt to fund their ventures.
MTatt wins top prize and audience hearts
The winner of both the Best of Fest $100,000 award and the Audience Choice Award was Montréal-based mTatt, a medtech company building a new way to measure blood test biomarkers with temporary tattoos. The company has developed a painless, invisible microtattoo with fluorescent ink that generates signals to detect and measure biomarkers.
“It was crazy to pitch in front of that many people,” mTatt CEO and co-founder Samuel Babity told BetaKit. “I’ve done smaller things before, but never quite on this scale.”
Best of Fest, considered the highest honour at Startupfest, brings together a team of angel investors to award one startup with a $100,000 investment in the form of a convertible note.
On stage, Startupfest CEO Philippe Telio announced that Montréal-based startup Vessel would manage a special purpose vehicle to allow interested accredited investors to back the Best of the Fest winner, providing a QR code for audience members to participate.
Tydra brings home Women in Tech award
Vancouver-based Tydra Laboratories, a biomaterials company, snagged the $100,000 Women in Tech prize for its technology that harvests valuable materials from crustacean waste.
Crab and lobster shells contain chitin, a valuable material with a dirty extraction process. Tydra claims to have reengineered the process of extracting chitin with seawater and bacteria.
Women-led angel investor network The Firehood brings together a team of women angel investors who award one female-led startup with a $100,000 investment.
Serenity Power, Wosler win Black Entrepreneur Investment prizes
For the first time, Startupfest awarded two $100,000 Black Entrepreneur Investment prizes to Black-led startups Serenity Power and Wosler, supported by the non-profit organization Rep Matters.
Toronto-based Serenity Power is a cleantech startup looking to replace every diesel generators to reduce harmful emissions. London, Ont.-based Wosler is a clinician co-founded healthtech company that has created SonoSystem, a technology platform that allows ultrasound sonographers to work remotely and serve patients in remote areas.
Startupfest CEO Philippe Telio said on stage that Startupfest wanted to keep to its values of uplifting diversity in light of the pullback in equity initiatives in the United States. Organizers noted it was the year with the highest number of Black founders in attendance at Startupfest.
“It was really important for us to double down at a time when others were pulling back,” said Phil Joseph, founder of Rep Matters.
Four Black Innovation Zone grants were added this year, for a total of $60,000. Grant winners included ElleLogic AI, CELLECT Laboratories, BeBlended, and Kare Chemical Technologies.
Waterloo-based CELLECT Laboratories took home a $10,000 grant, adding to recent prizes it won at the Odlum Brown Forum Pitch competition. It has developed a patent-pending nanomaterial to improve the screening of cervical cancer.
Ready Plan Go takes home 2SLGBTQIA+ prize, FinTech grant
Montréal-based, agentic AI-powered accounting software startup Ready Plan Go took home the second-ever $100,000 2SLGBTQIA+ Prize presented by QueerTech and the $75,000 FinTech grant supported by Digital Commerce Group.
CEO and founder Nima Jalalvandi delivered a rousing speech highlighting his founder journey and thanked Startupfest organizers for their efforts.
“Thank you for having created a safe space for queer founders,” he said.
Aruna makes waves with inaugural Impact Prize
Halifax-based Aruna Revolution, a startup tackling waste from menstrual products, was awarded the first-ever $100,000 Impact Investment Prize, supported by impact investment firm Spring and impact investment coalition CIVIC. A new addition this year, the Impact Investment Prize goes to a startup with Canadian founders looking to make a positive impact on people, communities, or the planet.
Aruna is a “fibre-tech” company developing compostable menstrual pads with absorbent fibres to reduce the environmental impact of disposable menstrual products. The $100,000 investment was matched by the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) Thrive Lab.
“It is high time we apply the principles of the circular economy to everyday products,” said Sylvain Carle, angel investor and co-founder of CIVIC.
A surprise, second $50,000 Impact Investment Prize was handed to Tree Track, a Vancouver-based startup developing a new formula to ensure high germination rates of seedpods, for reforestation.
Student stars and grandmothers’ favourites
Cleantech company HyC Light took home the Student Entrepreneur prize for its solar energy solution that converts natural gas into clean hydrogen, developed out of the University of Toronto.
For its third edition, the Student Entrepreneur prize doubled its winnings to $100,000 this year, with support from Front Row Ventures and LOI Venture. The prize goes to a startup with at least one co-founder currently enrolled at a Canadian university or who has graduated no longer than six months prior.
New Grounds took home the fan favourite Grandmothers’ Choice Award, which offers entrepreneurs the unique opportunity to pitch their ideas to a panel of grandmothers. The startup makes lighter coffee grounds out of concrete.
A $25,000 impact SAFE from Fonds de solidarité FTQ, sponsored by Mistral Venture Partners, was awarded to Enda Technologies, which uses AI to automate clinical documentation for dental clinics. Enda also took home one of two $10,000 productivity grants, presented by Fonds de solidarité FTQ. The other one went to TissueTinker, a healthtech startup that bioprints three-dimensional models of human tissue.
Feature image courtesy Startupfest.