The world's largest pre-seed startup accelerator, the Founder Institute, in Montreal announces the newest alumni from the virtual winter 2021/2022 program.
Over 180 prospective founders applied to the program, and after an intense four months of aggressive business-building sprints and constant evaluation and feedback from investors and mentors, just four companies were able to make it through.
Each of these Founders have demonstrated a very high level of perseverance and creativity, and their businesses have been thoroughly vetted and supported by a panel of Montreal's top startup experts and investors.
Introducing the new Alumni of the FI Montreal Winter 2021/2022 accelerator:
Hivenue
Hivenue is a co-living rental marketplace helping people to list and rent furnished and flexible rooms with like-minded roommates. Our verification and payment platform let the host accept verified roommates based on their profiles, receive automatic payments, and earn more by renting individual rooms. We also make sure that renters match with the right roommate and with the right neighborhood, based on their interests and lifestyle, thanks to our AI-profile matching system.
- Fully transactional, booking and listing marketplace released in March 2022
- 2,700+ users registered, with an average of 100 new users per month
- 550 furnished rooms listed
- Between 7-15 sent communication messages per day
- MITACS funding to develop an advanced AI-profile matching system
- Planning to open 2 additional cities by this summer: Toronto and Ottawa
Fields: AI, Hospitality, Co-living, PropTech, Rental Marketplace
With more than 10 years experience in product design and user experience, Hivenue’s co-founder and CEO, Nassim Bahloul, has developed hundreds of digital products used by everyday consumers. He’s supported by a strong technical team composed of Didier Noumia, head of security and senior architect at National Bank of Canada, Krishna Nadarassin, head of payment and senior architect at Best Buy, Louenas Hamdi, product owner and scrum master at SAP, and Samuel Ethier, data science advisor at Ubisoft.
ViaWarn
ViaWarn provides a collision prevention, early warning road safety management solution, for the trucking industry. Our AI Speech-To-Intent technology recognizes common expressions used in truckers' CB Radio Communications to power our advanced road safety management system which delivers real-time alerts to truck drivers and their fleet managers through their Electronic Logging Devices (ELD).
Key Advantages for the Trucking Industry:
- Enhanced Road Safety
- Enhanced Route Optimization
- Enhanced Freight Dispatch Communications
- Leverages Existing Technology Investments
Timeline:
- Beta release of ViaWarn App by end of Q2 2022
- Pilot Program in Q3 2022 for trucking fleets (2 Companies (GEOTAB ELD), 12 trucks, and more participating companies to come)
Fields: AI, Transportation, Supply Chain
With more than 20 years experience in financial services, including the design, implementation and management of an award-winning systematic diversified managed futures program, Pierre Thauvette acquired significant experience in research, trading, operations, marketing and IT at one of Quebec’s largest independent asset management firms.
Aletia
Aletia is a Mexico-based career success platform focused on developing AI & ML tech talent from LATAM through immersive remote courses. While US & Canada have a tech talent shortage, Latin America has a large talent pool of IT professionals. Our training system allows them to acquire the necessary skills to be hired in AI & ML remote roles within startups and large companies in North America.
Video for Students (En Español):
- Our 3 mentors work for KPMG, HP. One holds a master’s degree in Data Science in England and one has 10+ years of experience in financial institutions like Metlife and Santander.
- We launched our first bootcamp on April 4th 2022 in Mexico city. This first curriculum is designed to develop Data Analysts. Our next goal is Data Engineers and then Data Scientists.
- Our offer includes an 8 week immersive program to improve technical English while they are being trained for the recruitment processes in Northamerica
- We implemented a learning management system (LMS) to streamline the scalability of our platform across Latin America."
- We have $3000+ USD in revenue so far.
- We closed one US company who will hire one Data Analyst from our community.
- We have 300+ people in our community.
- We are currently finalizing the development of our soft skills assessment tool to help companies in US & Canada improve their selection and hiring processes.
- Some of the soft skills being assessed are: Logic reasoning, creativity, abstract capacity, cognitive flexibility, planning, problem solving
Fields: AI, Data Science, Marketplace, Ed Tech, HR Tech.
Marco García, the CEO and founder of Aletia, is the former co-founder and CEO of a small business called Vélez in Mexico City. Marco has 7+ years of experience in the education industry and he has been supported by his mentors: Juan Camilo Pineda, current CEO at Vetta; corporate startup generator, Natalia Putrino, PHD in psychology, and José Manuel Carpinteyro, Data Scientist with 10+ years of experience.
Demeter Restaurant
Demeter is an online loan application platform helping restaurant owners or any food passionate to be connected with lenders in order to get funding for their businesses. Our solution offers a full automated process that empowers users to create an impressive loan application with our services packages or by outsourcing the most time-consuming tasks to local service providers.
- 4 L.O.I. 's signed with local restaurants enrolled in our pilot.
- 70 % of the content of our packages have been completed.
- 25+ partnership signed with local service providers.
- Brand awareness and lead generation campaigns started (FB, IG, Google ads)
- 150+ people in our community.
- We launched our beta version through one of our partnerships.
- 1 Blog article post per week related to the services we are covering
- 3 attendances to major events related to the restaurant industry in the upcoming weeks.
- 2 free consultations completed.
- Planning to start the development of the second version of our platform by mid-June.
Fields: AI, Finance, Restaurants, FoodTech
With almost 3 years’ experience in commercial banking and over 5 years’ experience in corporate finance and IT, Demeter’s co-founder and CEO, Daniel Richard Kamdem, has become familiar with local credit policies and has worked on numerous commercial financing cases. Demeter’s business development is also supported by Patrick-Olivier Ndoumbe Co-founder and CTO with over 10 years of experience in computer science and statistics, by Ayyoub Oulidi-Omali a Senior Research and Development Engineer and Francesco Prince as a product owner and developer.
The Montreal Winter 2021/2022 program would not have been possible without help, because it truly takes an entire region to raise a successful startup. We would first like to thank the Montreal Founder Institute directors: Sergio A. Escobar and Ben Melchionno. Our local directors play an incredibly important role in building the local Founder Institute program, and Sergio Escobar and team have created an exceptional environment and network in Montreal conducive to building great companies, with many success stories to show over the past 9+ years.
In addition, the Montreal Winter 2021/2022 accelerator cohort was supported by some of Montreal's top technology organizations, including:
- BCF Ventures (https://bcfventures.vc/)
- OVH Digital Launch Pad (https://www.ovh.com/)
- Richter (https://www.richter.ca/)
- Fasken (https://www.fasken.com/en/offices/montreal)
- Futurepreneur Canada (https://www.futurpreneur.ca/)
- Scale AI (https://www.scaleai.ca/)
- Startup Montreal (https://startupmontreal.com/)
- Fundica (https://www.fundica.com/)
- MedStack (https://medstack.co/)
- Hubspot (https://www.hubspot.com/)
- Startup Canada (https://www.startupcan.ca/)
- MAIN (https://mainqc.com/)
Some of Montreal’s top startup mentors helped our founders in the program, including:
- Aaron Carr: CEO & Founder, Qarrot Performance
- Abdullah Snobar: Executive Director , DMZ
- Afsoon Soudi: Co Founder & VP R&D, IRYStec
- Alessia Talarico: Investment Analyst, BCF Ventures
- Alex Nemeroff: Co-Founder, Creative Director, Dynamo
- Alex Barrett: Investment Associate, iNovia Capital
- Alex Norman: Partner, N49P
- Alexandre Witkowicz: Analyst, WhiteStar Capital
- Alice Dinu: VP Student Success & Research, Ready Education
- Amélie Morency: CEO, The FoodRoom
- Amy Pollard: Startup Program Manager, OVHcloud
- Angelique Mannella: Strategic Global Alliances, Amazon
- Ashok Prabhu Masilamani: CTO & Founder, Stratuscent
- Balaji Gopalan: Co-Founder and CEO, MedStack
- Ben Yoskovitz: Founding Partner, HighlineBETA
- Ben Melchionno: Associate Partner, IBM
- Benjamin du Haÿs: Founder & CEO, Mobeewave
- Benjamin Tuff: Managing Partner, Benjamin David Group
- Beth Thouin: CMO-for-Hire, Beth Thouin Consulting
- Bonnie Chau: Portfolio Manager, BCF Ventures
- Brandon Waselnuk: Product Manager and Principle, CoVenture
- Brian Church: Country Manager, Canada
- Brian Zubert: Director, Thomson Reuters Labs
- Brice Scheschuk: CEO, Globalive Capital
- Caitlin Mac Gregor: CEO & Cofounder, Plum.io Inc.
- Caroline Pelletier: Vice President Screening and Investment Support, Anges Quebec
- Cesar L. Patricio: CEO & co-Founder, WorkMesh.co
- Chevonae Walcott: Associate, Relay Ventures
- Chris Arsenault: Managing Partner, iNovia Capital
- Chris Atkinson: CEO & co-Founder, FleetOps
- Claude Théoret: Founder, Nexalogy
- Clement Cazalot: Managing Director, Self
- Code Cubitt: Managing Director, Mistral Venture Partners
- David Dufresne: Partner, Panache VC
- David Sciacca: COO, LIFT session
- Dax Da Silva: Founder/CEO, LightSpeed
- Deborah Hayek: Senior Product Owner (Manulife's Innovation Lab), Manulife
- Dennis Van Staalduinen: President & Executive Strategist, Brandvelope Consulting
- Diana Cheptene: Senior Product Manager, Shopify
- Diana Sciortino: Investment Analyst, BCF Ventures
- Dr. Alexandra T. Greenhill: CEO, Careteam Technologies Inc.
- Eleonore Jarry Ferron: Investment Associate, BrightSpark
- Elizabeth Wasserman: Co-Founder & CEO, Mate1.com Inc.
- Ella Hilal: Director of Data, Shopify
- Eryk Warren: Co Founder & CTO, Unito
- Ethan Song: Co-Founder & CEO, Frank & Oak
- Francis Wenzel: Founder & CEO, TickSmith
- Francois Poirier: COO, Parcours entrepreneurial Rémi Marcoux
- François Arbour: CEO / VP Music & Video, Premiumbeat / Shutterstock
- Frantz Saintellemy: President & COO, Leddartech
- Frederic Scherer: CEO & co-Founder, Jitbase
- Frederick Townes: Co-Founder & CTO, Boundless Life
- Geoffrey Bernard: Senior Director, Growth, Analytics & Data Science, La Presse
- George Korkejian: Venture Manager, BCF Ventures
- Gian Carlo Di Tommaso: Chief Operating Officer
- Giselle Bisson: Managing Director, Chain Reaction PR
- Greg Isenberg: Digital Marketer and Angel Investor
- Ha Nguyen: VP, McRock Capital
- Hakim Merah: Senior Manager, Acceleration & AI Ecosystem
- Ian Jeffrey: VP Product Marketing Marketing, PasswordBox
- Isaac Souweine: Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Real Ventures
- Isaac Adejuwon: CEO & Founder, Metricsflow
- James Slifierz: CEO, SkyWatch Space Applications
- Javier Gotschlich: Head of Partnerships - Hubspot for Startups, HubSpot
- Jay Ferst: Managing Partner, Ferst Capital Partners
- Jean Benoit Richard: COO, Alexsei
- Jean David Begin: Co-founder & CEO, Guestful
- Jeremy Geiger: CEO, Funding Lab LLC
- Jerome Soucy: People & Operations, Hykso FightCamp
- Jessica Korthuis: Founder & CEO, SOHUIS
- Joanne Wong: Partner, REDDS Capital
- Joel Yaffe: Founder, GuestDriven, iTechnique, Potcoin, Glace des Arts
- John Espinoza: Co-founder , Unito
- Jonathan Greechan: Co-Founder & CEO, Founder Institute
- Jonathan Brun: Vice-President, White Star Capital
- Jonathan Druker: Director of commercialization and innovation, PME MTL
- Jonny Caron: Launch Specialist, Unbounce
- Jose Martins: Director , Founder Institute Boston
- Josette Renée Landry: CEO, Streamline Genomics
- Julien Denaes: Co-Founder , Alpin
- Justin Sherratt: Founder, Sortbox
- Justin Evans: Co-Founder, LANDR Audio
- Kevin Swersky: Research Scientist @ Google Brain, Google Austria
- Khalil Zahar: Founder & CEO, FightCamp
- Kookai Chaimahawong: VC Associate, Pangaea Ventures
- Kyell Vyncke: VP Sales & Marketing, TrackTik
- Laviva Mazhar: Investment Analyst, Luge Capital
- Leah Mazur: CEO & Founder, Loop Digital Marketing
- Lee Silverstone: Co founder/ EVP strategic partnerships, Mystral Venture Partners
- Leo Lax: Managing Director, L-Spark/Wesley Clover
- Lisa Cashmore: Vice President, Start and Scale, Communitech
- Lloyed Lobo: Co-founder, Boast.AI
- Lorne Lieberman: Managing Partner, Jant Ventures
- Louis François Hogue: Strategic, Advisor
- Louis Philippe Maurice: Louis Philippe Maurice - Founder/CEO, Busbud (Montreal FI), Busbud
- Luc Filiatreault: Luc Filiatreault - VP Venture Development, OpenText (Barcelona FI), OpenText
- Lucas Francioli: Founder & CEO, MoveMate
- Madusha Cooray: Manager, Developer Relations, Google Canada
- Magaly Charbonneau: Principal, iNovia Capital
- Mano Kulasingam: Venture Partner, Good News Ventures
- Marc Alloul: Managing Partner W2/W3, W Investments
- Marc Boscher: Founder & CEO, Unito
- Marc Chriqui: Angel Investor & Former CEO, Raymark (acquired by Mi9 Retail)
- Marc Antoine Ross: Angel Investor & Chief Innovation Officer, Diagram Ventures
- Marcos Carvalho: Co-Founder & Head of Demand Generation, Boundless Life
- Marcus Daniels: Co-Founder & CEO, Highline VC
- Mariah Lichtenstern: Founder-CEO, DiverseCity Ventures
- Martin Sendyk: President & CEO, Lytica
- Matt Smith: C-Level Tech Startup Expert, Consulting
- Matthias Bedard: Co-Founder & CTO
- Matthieu Houle: VP Digital Media, Yellow Pages Canada
- Mauro Repacci: Co-Founder & CEO, Boundless Life
- Mazen Elbawab: Project Lead Programmer - Rainbow Six Siege, Ubisoft
- Mehdi Mehni: Co-Founder & Head of AI Engineering, INTO AI
- Mehdi Merai Merai: CEO, Dataperformers
- Melissa Belbeck: Senior Associate, Whitecap Venture Partners
- Mercedes Bankston: Founder, Funderstar LTD
- Meryeme Lahmami: Associate, Strategic Investments & Women in Tech, BDC Capital
- Michael Katchen: Founder & CEO, WealthSimple
- Michel Jamati: CTO, Lexop
- Mike Silagadze: CEO, Top Hat
- Mike Kirkup: CTO, enCircle
- Mike Cegelski: Managing Partner & Angel Investor, Panache Ventures
- Mike Apted: Principal Solutions Architect - Startups, AWS
- Mohan Markandaier: Managing Partner, Good News Ventures
- Mohannad El Barachi: Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, SweetIQ Analytics Corp.
- Nadeem Ghafoor: VP, Canadensys Aerospace Corporation
- Nancy Eperjesy: CEO & co-Founder, Mettle (acquired by Adobe Systems)
- Naomi Goldapple: Head of AlayaLabs, AlayaCare
- Narjes Boufaden: CEO & co-Founder, Keatext
- Neha Khera: Venture Partner, 500 Startups
- Pablo Srugo: Principal, Mistral Venture Partners
- Paul D'souza: President and CEO, The D'Souza Group
- Paul Ortchanian: Vice-President, Product Development, WatchMojo.com
- Peggy Van De Plassche: Managing Partner & Board Member, Roar Growth & Invest Canada
- Phil Rivard: Director of Ventures, NEXT Canada
- Philip Cutler: President & CEO, GradeSlam
- Pierre Luc Laparé: Co-Founder, Golf Avenue
- Prathna Ramesh: Managing Director & Chief Compliance Officer, Maple Leaf Angels
- Przemyslaw (Marco) Janeczek: Managing Partner, Infinite Venture Partners
- Raff Paquin: Director, Data, LightSpeed
- Raffi Tchakmakjian: CEO, LIFT session
- Raymond Luk: CEO, Hockeystick
- Rob Attwell: Founder, COO/CFO, Careteam Technologies Inc.
- Russ Armstrong: Head of Business Development, Boast.AI (Boast Capital)
- Sanjay Singhal: Co-Founder and CEO, 500 Startups
- Sanjay Zimmermann: Investment Associate, White Star Capital
- Sebastien Roy: Director, Data Science, Wheels Up
- Sergio Escobar: CEO & Partner, BCF Ventures, Managing Director, Lalotte Ventures
- Shahab Samimi: Senior Associate, 7 Gate Ventures
- Shahzad Khan: CTO, Gnowit Inc
- Shiva Bhardwaj: Founder, CEO, Pitstop
- Siddharth Srivastava: Vice-President, McRock Capital
- Sophie Boulanger: CEO, BonLook
- Steven Abrams: Partner, IT Venture Fund, BDC Capital
- Suzanne Grant: cofounder and ceo, iBIONICS
- Taylor Sicard: Co-Founder, BVGrowth
- Thomas Punch: VP Business Development, WatchMojo.com
- Tim Jodoin: Founder - President, Edispin Inc.
- Tom Lowden: Head of Labs, US East and Canada, WeWork Labs
- Trevor Longino: Founder & CEO, CrowdTamers
- Udit Bhatnagar: Investment Associate, McRock Capital
- Ulrich Soeffing: Data Science Manager, MarketMuse
- Vanessa Cherenfant: Managing Director, Sadax Technologies
- Vaughn DiMarco: Director, INVEST-AI
- Vicken Kanadjian: Co-Founder & Managing Director, Cesium Inc.
- Yishel Khan: CEO & Founder, DOT Mind Unlocked
- Yona Shtern: Founder/CEO, Beyond The Rack
In the Founder Institute's pre-seed accelerator program, early-stage entrepreneurs and teams build their business alongside a critical support network of local startup experts that share equity in their success, and through a structured and challenging business-building process that has helped alumni raise over USD $1.75 billion.
After Graduation, the new Montreal Founder Institute portfolio alumni have a fast-growing company that has been fully validated by experienced startup founders, with access to the Founder Institute's global network and post-graduate support programs to continue building their business.
Leaders of the world’s fastest-growing startups have used the Founder Institute to raise funding, build a co-founding team, get into seed-accelerators, generate traction, recruit a team, build a product, transition from employee to entrepreneur, and more. Based in Silicon Valley and with chapters across 200+ cities and 100+ countries, the Founder Institute’s mission is to Globalize Silicon Valley and empower talented and motivated entrepreneurs to build companies that will create one million new jobs.
The next Montreal Founder Institute Virtual 2022 program is being planned now. If you are interested in being notified when applications open, visit FI.co/apply/Montreal.
Alumni of the Founder Institute are creating some of the world's fastest growing startups, having raised over $1.85BN in funding, and building products people love across over 200 cities worldwide.
See the most recent news from our Grads at FI.co/news, or learn more about their stories at FI.co/journey.
