Startup Canada announced the 2023 winners of the Startup Global Pitch Competition Grand Finale. Amidst the full house crowd of the final Startup Canada Tour stop in Brampton, Hamilton-based startup ImaginAble Solutions was named the first-place winner, taking home $30,000. Liza Akvhledziani of Chexy Co. took home the second-place prize, winning $15,000. Rashmi Prakash of Aruna Revolution, the third-place winner, collected $7,500. Last but not least, Jessica McNaughton of memoryKPR Technologies was selected as the 2023 People’s Choice winner, securing a $2,500 cash prize. Alongside monetary prizes, these ventures will also receive in-kind support from the Startup Global program’s extensive partnership network!

• First place winner: ImaginAble Solutions – Founded by Lianna Genovese, ImaginAble Solutions is a social impact venture creating assistive technology to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities. Lianna is on a mission to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities.
• Second place winner: Chexy Co. – Founded by Liza Akvhledziani, Chexy Co. is a technology startup focused on creating innovative solutions to streamline everyday processes and enhance productivity. Liza is dedicated to building tools that make work and life more efficient and accessible for everyone.
• Third place winner: Aruna Revolution, – Aruna Revolution, led by Rashmi Prakash, is a forward-thinking company driving sustainable change through innovative approaches in its industry. The team is committed to developing solutions that create a meaningful impact on communities and the environment.
• People’s choice winner: memoryKPR – Founded by Jessica McNaughton, memoryKPR is a tech company developing solutions to improve memory care and cognitive support. The team’s mission is to empower individuals and caregivers through technology that enhances quality of life and independence.

Startup Canada announced the 2022 winners of the Startup Global Pitch Competition Grand Finale. Amidst an electric full house Calgary-based startup RetinaLogik was named the first place winner, taking home $30,000. PragmaClin took home the second place prize and won $15,000. Last but certainly not least, the third place winner Arbre will collect $10,000. Alongside monetary prizes, these ventures will also receive in-kind support from Startup Global’s partnership network.

• First place winner: RetinaLogik – Co-founded by Julia St. Amand and Abdullah Sarhan, RetinaLogik is an innovative vision screening startup reimagining the health-tech industry. The team is on a mission to unlock access to proactive vision screening for everyone with their revolutionary eye exam technology.
• Second place winner: PragmaClin – Out of St. John’s, Newfoundland, PragmaClin is changing the way we manage neurological diseases, such as Parkinson’s. Founded by Bronwyn Bridges, the team has developed a flagship software solution – PRIMS –  that can monitor, analyze, and rate the severity of a full range of symptoms.
• Third place winner: Arbre – Arbre, co-founded by Stephanie Tien out of Toronto, is pushing the limits in the beauty and wellness space with their innovative products – dry shampoo with SPF for your scalp.

The other Startup Global 2022 finalists included:

• Nancy Wingham, Nuez Acres – Langley, British Columbia.
• Joey Hébert, MOS – Quebec City, Quebec.
• Jessica Yang, Tochtech Technologies Ltd. – Vancouver, British Columbia.
• Allex Laurin, Cheelcare – Midland, Ontario.
• Sang Le, Peko Produce – Vancouver, British Columbia.
• Edouard Romeus, Buyer Folio Inc. – Montreal, Quebec.
• Annika Mang, Trail Collective – Regina, Saskatchewan.
• Michael W. Palmer, Solve Strips – Calgary, Alberta.

2022, also marked a new era of the Startup Global Pitch Competition that introduced special prizes for select demographics. From a pool of 100 semi-finalists, three outstanding ventures were selected to receive $5,000 each to grow their businesses:

• Rural Entrepreneur Special Prize: Bronwyn Bridges, Co-Founder and President of PragmaClin.
• Seniorpreneur Special Prize: Ron Benegbi, Founder and CEO of Uplinq Financial Technologies.
• Social Entrepreneur Special Prize: Kayli Dale, Co-Founder and CEO of Friendlier.

The 2021 Startup Global Pitch Competition winners were announced. ALT TEX was named the winner of the startup category, taking home $5,000. The scale-up category winner, Kind Laundry, won $25,000 and additional in-kind support. The 2021 UPS People’s Choice Award winner, EuthaBag, will collect $5,000 in cash.

• Startup category winner: ALT TEX – Toronto-based ALT TEX is an innovative biomaterials startup reimagining the clothing industry. Founded by Myra Arshad, ALT TEX has developed a sustainable, carbon neutral, and biodegradable polyester replacement made from re-engineered food waste. One single shirt has the power to divert 9kg of carbon emissions from the air, 4kg of microplastic pollutants from the ocean, and 1kg of food waste from landfills.
• Scale-up category winner: Kind Laundry – Also based in Toronto, Kind Laundry is a scale-up venture pushing the limits of the detergent and clothing-care industry. Co-founded by Angie Tran and Bernard Law, Kind Laundry’s innovative Detergent Sheets are a zero-waste, eco-friendly alternative to traditional powder and liquid clothing detergents already on the market. The product is also travel friendly, eliminates mess, and features 100% recyclable packaging.
• People’s choice winner: EuthaBag – Out of Hemmingford Québec, EuthaBag is changing the way the world says goodbye to their beloved furry friends. Created by Founder and Veterinarian Dr. Céline Leheurteux, EuthaBag is a respectful and ecological body bag that offers veterinarians a professional and practical solution for the transportation, cremation and burial of deceased pets that is, most importantly, respectful for the animal and their caregiver.

Top 5 Scale-ups:

• 3F Waste Recovery
• EuthaBag
• Kind Laundry
• Nonavegan
• Off the Grid

Top 5 Startups:

• Algi Foods
• Alt Tex
• B12Give
• Decap
• Troj AI