Black Innovation Zone and Moneris eCommerce North were also winners of the competition.
Raise the Festival were named winners of several competitions this week, including a University of Toronto (U of T) Calgary-based affiliate that develops clean energy technologies.
Serenity Power, founded by U of T master's alumna Aleisha Reese Cerny, received $100,000 from angel investors The Firehood as part of the Elevate Women+ Pitch Prize. Victory is based on the startup's success on Montreal Startup Festival in July, where he received the $100,000 Black Entrepreneur Investment Prize.
“This success demonstrates that our founders can compete with the best Canadian talent.”
Melissa Ellis
Tame
The Calgary startup is developing solid oxide fuel cell technology, which uses electrochemistry to convert fuels such as diesel into electricity. It aims to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions by replacing electricity generation for markets such as mining, oil and gas, data center 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 leading companies were selected to present on the Elevate stage to The Firehood investors.
Among the pitch participants was Tydra Labs, another Startupfest pitch competition winner, which processes crustacean waste into chitin and other environmentally friendly bioproducts for cosmetics and packaging. According to the Elevate Women+ program, Tydra Labs received additional funding through the incubator program, hoping to raise $750,000.
This year, Elevate and The Firehood partnered with Toronto-based investment platform Equivesto to help members with financing. Equivesto CEO Alexander Morsink said in a statement that its technology helps investors and founders “conduct the closing process through a transparent digital platform.”
CONNECTED: Melamoon's first pitch competition brings Black founders $200,000
The Elevate Women+ program also receives federal support through the Women's Entrepreneurship Strategy's (WES) Inclusive Women's Venture Capital Initiative. WES, managed by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, was originally announced in 2018 with $2 billion in funding to support women-led and gender diverse businesses.
The pitch competition took place on the third day of the seventh annual Elevate festival in Toronto. The event was expected to attract 10,000 participants, with programming covering topics such as artificial intelligence (AI), financial technology, product development and cybersecurity. BetaKit is the official media partner of Elevate Festival.
The Elevate Festival also hosted the Black Innovation Zone (BIZ) ecosystem pitch competition, organized by a collective of Black-led organizations in partnership with TiE Toronto and Meridian.
Image courtesy of Douglas Soltis for BetaKit.
In an email to BetaKit, Nobellum CEO and co-organizer Melisa Ellis said the BIZ presentation was a “gateway” for underrepresented founders to access greater opportunities. Founders who received sponsored tickets through BIZ have won the Women+ Pitch award two years in a row, she said.
“This success demonstrates that our founders can compete with the best Canadian talent while challenging the innovation community to rethink, reimagine and reinvest in diverse founders,” Ellis said.
First place winner Be One to Give (B12Give), an Uber Eats-type logistics company that redistributes surplus food, received a $7,500 prize. Eco-friendly beauty company Shower Thoughts took second place with $5,000, and mining robotics startup Moon Trades took third place with $2,500.
Moon Trades founder Vinta Ghebreyesus, a PhD in aerospace engineering from the University of Toronto, told BetaKit that the startup has built a rover-enabled mining platform that can operate on the Moon. The company is currently pursuing commercial contracts for surveying industrial sites.
“The recognition of the Black Innovation Zone comes at a critical time for Canada's critical minerals sector,” Ghebreyesus said.
Other pitch competitions included the Moneris eCommerce North Showcase Pitch Competition, which featured content creation startup Shutterb. take home winning prize of $10,000.
Image courtesy of Elevate. Photo by Brandon Ferguson Media.
