The Founder Institute, the World's Largest Entrepreneur Training and Startup Launch Program, is proud to announce the upcoming graduation of the Toronto Winter 2014 semester.
After an intensive, four-month program of expert training sessions, challenging company building assignments, and constant evaluation and feedback from experienced entrepreneur mentors, 14 meaningful and enduring companies were able to make it through the program to Graduation.
The Toronto Winter 2014 Graduates now have a company, business idea, product plan, and path to growth fully validated by experienced startup founders. In addition, the Graduates are part of the prestigious Shared Liquidity Pool, and gain access to the Founder Institute's Global Network of over 1,563 companies and 4,112 mentors spanning over 92 countries and six continents. To hear more about the experience, check out this blog review from Graduate Jane Lee, and this review from Graduate Ernest Yap.
Each of these Founders has learned much during their time with the Founder Institute and demonstrated the high level of passion, perseverance, and creativity it takes to build a meaningful and enduring company.
And now, without further ado, we would like to wish the best of luck to:
- Airvinci: A high payload drone, and backpack helicopter that will take skydivers up to 10,000ft for their jump.
- Booktilt: Connects fans to their favorite author events and media content, so they never miss a thing.
- Campaignctrl: A Voter Relationship Management (VRM) system that changes the way you run political campaigns forever.
- Cartly: A platform that gives South Asians home ordering and delivery from their local South Asian grocer.
- Clubio: A private club success platform that connects members, guests and staff.
- CubbySpot: A mobile platform that helps parents find quality available daycare.
- I-coplay: An interactive platform for remote parents - military, working abroad or divorced - to easily create and add personalized messages on music, stories and games developed for their child.
- Intelocate: A service that simplifies retail chain roll-outs and updates by putting in one place information that is currently managed by retailers manually.
- Jumppoints: A loyalty program for small and medium sized retailers in the Chinese community in North America.
- Mywedhelper: A personal wedding concierge that makes planning your South Asian wedding fun.
- Neighbourhub: A free app that connect users with their neighbours and neighbourhood based on their interests.
- Teamplayers: A social network which puts athletes on the radar of every team, agent, coach and personal trainer on the planet.
- Tripswell: A platform that helps travelers plan and organize their group trips.
- Wealthstarter: A free app that that makes comprehensive financial planning accessible to everyone.
This semester would not have been possible without help, because it truly takes a city to raise a startup. We would first like to thank the Local Directors of the Toronto Founder Institute; Kamal Hassan, the CEO of entrepreneurial management platform IncMind; Ilona Hassan, a fashion entrepreneur and communication specialist; and Sunil Sharma, Managing Partner of Extreme Venture Partners, one of Canada’s best performing seed-stage venture capital funds. Our Local Directors play an incredibly important role in building the local Founder Institute program, and creating an environment in Toronto that is conducive to building to great companies.
In addition, we would like to thank the Mentors of the Toronto Winter 2014 semester for providing expert training and feedback throughout the program. In particular, we would like to recognize:
- Aaron Baer: Partner, Renno & Co
- Aaron Albert: CEO and Co-Founder, Mine'd
- Abdel Ali: Investment Analyst, Relay Ventures and Alate Partners
- Adeo Ressi: CEO, Decile Group / VC Lab
- Alan Trieu: Senior Director, Sales , Cinchy
- Alexander Mc Isaac: Principal, Strategic Investments and Women in Tech, BDC Venture Capital
- Alexander Jager: Founding Partner, Amplifier Advisors
- Ambles Kwok: Head of Engineering (Toronto) / Co-Founder, Thumbtack / Therapia
- Amir Alikhanzadeh: CEO and Co-Founder, Madlipz
- Andrei Poliakov: CEO, APX Lending
- Andrew D'Souza: Founder and CEO, Sfoundation
- Anna Hu: CEO and Co-Founder, Brizi
- Aran Hamilton: President & Co-Founder, Vantage
- Ashley Martis: Co-Founder & CEO, StartupFuel
- Ashley Hahn: Head of Startup Developer Ecosystem, Canada, Google
- Aurélio Araújo: CEO, Leadfy
- Ayhan K. Isaacs: Head of Global Growth, Founder Institute
- Balaji Gopalan: Independent Product Management Educator, Mentor, Consultant and Advisor, self
- Ben Sanders: CEO and Co-Founder, Davispier.ca
- Ben Baldwin: Founder, Upteaming.com
- Bilal Tariq: Technical Talent Connoisseur , GuruLink
- Bob Kyryliuk (CEO-P2P): CEO & Founder, CEO-P2P.com
- Brice Scheschuk: CEO, Globalive Capital
- Bryan Gold: Co-Founder and CEO, #paid
- Bryan Smith: Co-Founder & CEO, ThinkData Works Inc.
- Callum Travaglini: Strategy & Program Manager, Office of the CEO, Wealthsimple
- Chevonae Walcott: Associate, Relay Ventures
- Chris Ye: Co-Founder, Uken Games
- Chris Hobbs: President, TTT Studios
- Chris Adams: Founder and Managing Partner, Adams Hamilton
- Christopher Leacock: Founder , Jillionaire LLC
- Corey Gross: CEO, Sensibill
- Cory York: CEO and co-Founder, PowerStores
- Craig Asano: CEO, National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association of Canada
- Dan De Mers: CEO and Co-Founder, Cinchy
- Daniel Bishun: Economic Development Officer , City of Brampton
- David Winterstein: CEO, Velocia
- David Jorjani: Founder, Qatalyst Labs
- Derrick Fung: CEO, Drop
- Dinah Davis: Founder, Code Like A Girl
- Don Samoil: Managing Partner, Trusted Scale
- Drew Lindsay: Co-Founder, GuruLink
- Duncan Brown: Partner, Penrose Partners
- Dustin Betz: Director of Operations, White Rose Ventures
- Edmundas Balčikonis: CEO and Co-Founder, Eddy Travels Inc.
- Erich Ko: CEO, Hop In Technologies
- Eropa Stein: CEO, Hyre
- Favour Ori: Founder, CEO, Payday
- Fion Lee-Madan: Technical Co-Founder, COO and Customer Success, Fairly AI Inc.
- George Bordianu: Co-founder & CEO, Balance
- Gilberto Gandra: Founder, Gandra & Co
- Graeme Millen: Director, Technology Banking, Silicon Valley Bank
- Hamid Akbari: CEO, BlancLink
- Hamoun Karami: CEO and Co-Founder, Smartbin.io
- Haoyang Liang: Director of Product Development, Orbiseed
- Harsh Pujara: Co-Founder, Actuality
- Hussam Ayyad: Chief Accelerator Officer , Highline Beta
- Idowu Akinde: MD/CEO, Impact Hub Lagos
- Ignacio Castro: Managing Partner, 128vc
- Ilya Brotzky: Founder and CEO, VanHack
- Jack Liu: CEO and Co-Founder, Orbiseed (Techstars 2020)
- Jafar Owainati: Co-Founder, Loopio
- James Meier: CTO, Synervoz Communications
- Jason Atkins: General Partner, 360insights
- Jeff Hohner: President, Tecumseh Capital Ltd.
- Jelmer Stegink: Program Director, DMZ Innisfil
- Jennifer Turliuk: CEO and Founder, MakerKids
- Jeremy Potvin: Founder, World of Angus
- Jeremy Glassenberg: Product Management, APIs, Developer Experiences, Marketplaces, API Strategist
- Jeremy Kuo: CEO, Ever
- Joe Parenteau: CEO and Co-Founder, Fable (Techstars 2020)
- Jonah Midanik: COO & General Partner, Forum Ventures
- Jonathan Ip: Founder, Iterative Law
- Jordan Jocius: Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Founder Institute
- Joseph Dales: Co-Founder & Director, RHA Partners
- Juanita Lee Garcia: Executive Director, The Upside Foundation of Canada
- Kayla Isabelle: Executive Director, Startup Canada
- Kesem Frank: Founder, Mavennet and AION
- Kevin Gervais: CTO @ Touchless, Co-Founder @ Auto Genius, Statflo, Touchless
- Konata Lake: Partner
- Kristine Beese
- Kweku Essien
- Kyle Collier: Co-founder and CEO, Phaze
- Lance Cottrell: Founder, Feel the Boot
- Lucas Porter-Bakker: Head of Product and Design, PDS
- Luke DeCoste: Entrepreneur in Residence, Davispier.ca
- Maarij Rehman: CEO, Envoi
- Majdi Alnabih: CEO, ZipLunch Inc
- Mara Rada: Chief Operations and Strategy, Loon (loonbio.com)
- Marat Mukhamedyarov: Managing Partner, Good News Ventures
- Marcello Tommasi: Co-Founder & COO, Envoi
- Mark Smith: Canada Startup Ecosystem Lead, Amazon AWS
- Maryam Nabavi: Founder and CEO, Babbly (Techstars 2020)
- Matt O'Leary: CEO and Co-Founder, Treasure Financial
- Matt Lee: Investor, Dr. Matt Lee Family Office
- Mercedes Bankston: Venture Partner, Loyal VC
- Michael Young: CTO, Reuters News and Media
- Michael Kosic: Founding Partner, Loyal VC
- Michael Collins: Founder | CEO, Periculum
- Michele Romanow: Co-Founder, Sfoundation
- Mike Suprovici: Head of Acceleration, VC Lab
- Mike Hollinger, Dentons LLP
- Mike Apted: Principal Solutions Architect - Startups, AWS
- Milad Zabihi: CEO & Cofounder, Peekage
- Mohan Markandaier: Managing Partner, Good News Ventures
- Nabil Fahel: Head of Partnerships and Community, Terminal, Inc.
- Neha Khera: Venture Partner, 500 Startups
- Nicole Verkindt: Founder and CEO, OMX
- Noah Dolgoy: CEO, Tread
- Noah Wallach: Founder, Hope OS
- Onyeka Akumah: CEO, Treepz
- Pamela Draper: CEO, Bitvo
- Paul Parsons: Partner, Metaii
- Peter Ma: Co-Founder, MixPose
- Philippe LeBlanc: CEO, Flixel Photos Inc
- Phillip Gales: CEO, inate.ai
- Pooja Viswanathan: CEO, Braze Mobility
- Preet Singh: Founder, Designx
- Rain Takahashi: Founder and CEO, Jauntin
- Ravin Shah: Co-CEO & Founder, QuickTapSurvey
- Raymond Luk: CEO, Hockeystick
- Reuven Cohen: Managing Director, Alystic Holdings
- Richard Hyatt: Co-founder, BlueCat Networks
- Robert Whiteside: Director, Founding Partner, Treemark Capital
- Ron Gentile: Founder, Moodfit
- Ron Benegbi: CEO, Uplinq Financial Technologies
- Roy Pereira: CEO and Founder, Zoom.ai
- Russell Brand: CEO & Founder, Responsible Solutions Limited
- Ryan Micheletti: Head of Global Operations, Founder Institute
- Ryan Perera: CEO and Co-Founder
- Sameer Sortur: Founding Partner, SquareCircle Ventures
- Sameer Khan: Sameer Ahmed Khan, Social Champ, Inc
- Sami Dalati: Cofounder, Brizi
- Sanjay Nediyara: Founder and CEO
- Sara Bentham: Director, Georgian College Entrepreneurship Centre
- Saroop Bharwani: CEO and Co-Founder, Senso (Techstars 2018)
- Sean Yo: Product Management Fellow, ISPMA
- Sergey Kalnish: CEO, SmartHire
- Seun Sanni: COO, PayFi
- Sharoon Thomas: CEO and Founder, Fulfil.io
- Shibin Muhammed: Portfolio Manager, Techstars Canada
- Sina Roshan: Cofounder & CPO, Peekage (Techstars 2020)
- Slawek Potasz: CEO, CarScanner
- Sodruldeen Mustapha: Co-founder and CTO, Raenest
- Steve Dixon: SMB Leader (Canada), Apple
- Sunil Sharma: Managing Director, Founder Institute Toronto
- Tarun Sachdeva: GM, Wattpad
- Tauseef Riaz: Cofounder ConsidraCare, Stock Target Advisor and Mashkraft, ConsidraCare.com
- Thomas Park: Partner, BDC Deep Tech Fund
- Tom Lowden: Head of Labs, US East and Canada, WeWork Labs
- Tony Sabeta: Partner / Patent Agent, Aird & McBurney LP
- Tovit Neizer: Chief Storyteller, Yellow Bricks
- Tracy Leparulo: Founder, Untraceable
- Trevor Longino: Founder & CEO, CrowdTamers
- Tyler Bryden
- Uchi Uchibeke, Chimoney
- Vatsal Shah: Co-founder, CTO , Speak Ai
- Victor Wong: Managing Director, Operations, Flipp
- Vikas Gupta: CEO, AVARA
- Will Greenblatt: Co-Founder & Managing Director, OutLoud Speakers School
- Yemi Oluseun: Growth & GTM For FinTechs, The Change Hive
The following partners of the Winter 2014 Semester also deserve recognition for their generous support:
- WeirFoulds LLP
- Richter LLP
- IBM Bluemix
- NACO Canada
- PowerStores
- Futurpreneur Canada
- Fundica
- GirlsinTech Toronto
- Pakathon
- REVCA
- Girls Raising
If you would like to attend the graduation on April 20th at 5:30 (reception) or 7:00 (presentations), to see some of Toronto's most promising tech companies, email ilona.hassan@founderinstitute.net for an invitation.
