Elevate Festival crowned multiple pitch competition winners this week, including a University of Toronto (U of T) spinout based in Calgary that develops clean power technology.
Serenity Power, founded by U of T master’s graduate Aleisha Reese Cerny, received $100,000 from angel investors at The Firehood through the Elevate Women+ Pitch Prize. The win builds on the startup’s success at Montréal’s Startupfest in July, where it nabbed a $100,000 Black Entrepreneur Investment prize.
Melisa Ellis,
“This success demonstrates that our founders can compete alongside the best of Canadian talent.”
Nobellum
The Calgary startup develops solid oxide fuel cell technology, which uses electrochemistry to convert fuels like diesel into electricity. It aims to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions by replacing power generation for markets such as mining, oil and gas, data centre operations, and remote utilities.
Serenity Power and 39 other women-led startups attended a five-week virtual incubator to develop investment readiness and fundraising skills. Twelve top companies were chosen to pitch on stage at Elevate to investors from The Firehood.
Among the pitch participants was Tydra Labs, another Startupfest pitch competition winner that converts shell waste from crustaceans into chitin and other sustainable bioproducts for cosmetics and packaging. According to the Elevate Women+ program, Tydra Labs secured additional funding through the incubator program as it looks to raise $750,000.
Elevate and The Firehood partnered with Toronto-based investment platform Equivesto this year to help with financing for participants. Equivesto CEO Alexander Morsink said in a statement that its tech helps investors and founders “navigate the closing process through a transparent, digital platform.”
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The Elevate Women+ program also receives federal support through the Women Entrepreneurship Strategy’s (WES) Inclusive Women Venture Capital Initiative. The WES, administered by Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada, was originally announced in 2018 with $2 billion in funding to support ventures led by women and gender-diverse people.
The pitch competition took place on the third day of Toronto’s seventh annual Elevate Festival. The event was projected to attract 10,000 attendees, with programming covering subjects including artificial intelligence (AI), FinTech, product development, and cybersecurity. BetaKit is an official Elevate Festival media partner.
Elevate Festival also hosted the Black Innovation Zone’s (BIZ) Ecosystem Showcase Pitch Competition, organized by the collective of Black-led organizations in partnership with TiE Toronto and Meridian.
Image courtesy Douglas Soltys for BetaKit.
In an email to BetaKit, Nobellum CEO and co-organizer Melisa Ellis said that BIZ’s pitch showcase has become a “gateway” for underrepresented founders to access wider opportunities. Founders who received sponsored tickets through BIZ won the Women+ pitch prize two years in a row, she said.
“This success demonstrates that our founders can compete alongside the best of Canadian talent, while urging the innovation community to rethink, redefine, and reinvest in diverse founders,” Ellis said.
First-place winner Be One to Give (B12Give), an Uber Eats-style logistics company that redistributes surplus food, received a $7,500 prize. Sustainable beauty company Shower Thoughts came in second place with $5,000, and mining robotics startup Moon Trades took home third place and $2,500.
Moon Trades founder Wintta Ghebreiyesus, an aerospace engineering PhD from Toronto Metropolitan University, told BetaKit that the startup has built a rover-enabled platform for mining that could work on the moon. Currently, it’s pursuing commercial contracts to survey industrial sites.
“The Black Innovation Zone recognition comes at a critical time for Canada’s critical mineral sector,” Ghebreiyesus said.
Other pitch competitions included the Moneris eCommerce North Showcase Pitch Competition, which saw content creation startup Shutterb take home the $10,000 winning prize.
Feature image courtesy Elevate. Photo by Brandon Ferguson Media.