YSpace to put women entrepreneurs in the spotlight at ELLA Ascend 2025 Showcase

The October 30 event will feature executives from AFC Toronto, Thrive Venture Fund BDC and Tealbook.

On October 30, the ELLA Fireside Chat and Ascend 2025 Showcase will feature conversations with women who have built entirely new markets from the ground up, followed by live sessions from female founders looking to do the same.

Hosting: YSpace– University-wide York Center for Enterprise and Innovation – event will bring together founders, investors and ecosystem leaders for an evening celebrating female entrepreneurship and marking the culmination of ELLA Ascension 2025a special YSpace program for women entrepreneurs.

“I hope everyone leaves with a sense of practical possibility.”

Marleena Ramchandran, YSpace

The evening will open with a highly anticipated fireside chat featuring Helena Rooken, co-founder and CEO of women's professional soccer club AFC Toronto, and Mona Minhas, managing partner of Thrive Venture Fund BDC.

They will be joined by Tealbook Founder and CEO Stephanie LaPierre and CATTLEytics Founder and CEO Shari Van de Pol.

Rouquin is leading the effort to bring professional women's soccer to Canada and has long promoted the sport as a means to build confidence and leadership among women and girls. AFC is Toronto's first professional women's soccer club to compete in the Northern Super League, which currently plays on the campus of York University.

My, newly minted managing partner of the BDC Thrive Venture Fund, is also changing the way capital flows into women-led ventures. Prior to joining BDC Capital in 2021, Minhas held leadership positions at Toronto-based retail startup Knix and also held leadership positions at Rogers Communications and Canadian Broadcast Corporation.

This year's cohort included 12 companies ranging from health and education technology to video production, nostalgic scented candles and curated restaurants.

“Programs like Ascend support bold, capable women founders with big vision who have proven they can make it happen,” Minhas said. “The question now is: How can we help them build the networks, systems and access that make growth sustainable?”

The fireside discussion, moderated by Marilyn Horrick, senior vice president of market development and partnerships at Desjardins, will explore how participants challenged convention, found opportunity in overlooked spaces, and helped scale businesses from the ground up.

“I've had a great opportunity to meet and talk with a lot of entrepreneurs in Ontario, but also across the country, and what I've really learned through those conversations is that yes, capital is still a big part of the issue – but also the opportunity to network, the opportunity to get advice, mentorship and guidance,” Horrick said.

Following the conversation, YSpace will showcase projects from the ELLA Ascend 2025 cohort, which is supported by Desjardins and funded by the federal government through Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada.

ELLA is the leading accelerator program for women entrepreneurs. Her four-month Ascend program is designed to help women entrepreneurs gain momentum and scale their businesses. YSpace provides these startups with one-on-one mentorship and workshops, over $60,000 in startup resources, and 50 percent support matched to partial executive services.

this year's cohort includes 12 businesses ranging from medical and educational technology to video production, nostalgic scented candles and curated restaurants. According to Marlina Ramchandran, ELLA's entrepreneurship manager at YSpace, it's this breadth that sets ELLA apart.

YSpace - SHE 2024
Last year's YSpace ELLA presentation was attended by leaders from Apricotton, Almacare and MVD Consulting.

“Innovation takes many forms, so we have expanded ELLA beyond the traditional accelerator model to support founders of service-focused businesses, product-focused businesses and high-growth technology businesses,” she said. “It really started when we were doing a market analysis and realized that the majority of women-led businesses were producing products and services that had the potential to scale and grow.”

Women own only 18 per cent of Canadian businesses and receive only a small portion of venture capital funding. This gap also represents an economic loss, and closing it could lead to increased $180 billion to Canada's GDP. ELLA is closing this gap, having already supported over 2,700 women entrepreneurs since 2020.

“ELLA is especially important at this time because women entrepreneurs face ongoing systemic barriers at a time when the economy is under significant strain,” added Ramchandran.

Canada is experiencing record high unemployment and the ripple effects of global trade tensions, and Ramchandran believes women-led businesses can play a key role in this situation.

“Women-led businesses have proven to be highly profitable and can play a key role in driving innovation, creating jobs and stabilizing local economies,” she said.

At the upcoming presentation, three Ascend Group businesses will take center stage to share their presentations with an audience of peers and ecosystem leaders.

It's a fitting end to an evening designed to kick-start what YSpace hopes will be the next wave of female-led companies in Canada. Ramachandran wants this event to leave an indelible mark on the memory of the people in the room.

“We hope everyone leaves with a sense of practical opportunity,” she said. “The most important thing for participants to learn is that they too can use the tools and ideas shared tonight to build and grow.”


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Join us at the YSpace ELLA Fireside Chat & Ascend 2025 Showcase, where bold ideas, disruptive innovations and entrepreneurial achievements converge in one extraordinary celebration. Register now.

Photos courtesy of YSpace.

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