PITCH With a Twist - Celebrating International Women's Day

March 8, 2023

5:30PM – 7:30PM EST

$10,000 in cash prizes!

PITCH showcases innovation and entrepreneurship from University of Toronto and our greater community. Focusing on early-stage ventures, we bring together innovators from a variety of sectors to pitch their businesses for cash prizes and in-kind support.

Join us on March 8th, 2023 for our fourth PITCH, International Women’s Month Edition, to stand in support of women entrepreneurs at a competition that promises to break down barriers and reward great ideas from diverse voices.

With a panel of women-identifying judges and all the people pitching will be women-identifying, coming in from two streams of ideas and early stage startups, come celebrate creativity and entrepreneurship for all. Learn from amazing speakers sharing their experiences, network with great companies, and witness exciting pitches as companies compete at the hub of entrepreneurship in action.

Speaker:

Lesley Hampton (she/her)

Lesley is an Anishinaabe Artist and Fashion Designer focused on mental health awareness, body positivity, and authentic representation in fashion and media. She is the Creative Director of LESLEY HAMPTON, an Indigenous-owned, women-led, size-inclusive clothing and accessory brand based in Toronto, ON. She is also a model/content creator represented by BNM Model Management, and speaker on Indigenous entrepreneurship and diversity in fashion. Lesley Hampton aims to decolonize euro-centric standards in the fashion industry, inspire the next decade of Indigenous leaders and entrepreneurs, and create space for empowerment and representation in fashion, media, and beauty.

Lesley has been described as “an important Indigenous face in the Canadian fashion landscape” by the Globe and Mail, number one Canadian Brand to keep your eye on from VOGUE, and “Wherever her career takes her, activism and style will always go hand-in-hand” according to The National Post. Lesley has also been the cover story on Now Toronto.

Lesley Hampton is a member of Temagami First Nation, located in northern Ontario, and she identifies as an adult ‘Third Culture Kid’ with her formative years spent in Canada’s Arctic and Atlantic, Australia, England, Indonesia, and New Caledonia. This amalgamation of her Anishinaabe indigeneity and her international nomadic upbringing nurtured a passion for socio-cultural causes.

Venture Categories:

Early stage

Do you have a business idea that will change the world for better? If you have an idea that aligns with the UN Sustainable Development Goals then you should apply here!

Eligibility Criteria:

Must have a self-identified woman founder or co-founder
Submission to uphold equity and inclusion practices, which includes “creat[ing] a climate of understanding and mutual respect for the dignity and worth of each person”, in keeping with the Ontario Human Rights Code.
Registrants must be a student or alumni of the University of Toronto; OR participants of any U of T CLA/Incubator programs
Product or service idea must not be in the market (pre-launch)
Less than $25k in investments (Angels, VCs, grants) as of February 7^th, 2023

Prizes Details Announced Shortly!

Later stage

If you are the founder of co-founder of an early-stage start-up that aligns with the UN Sustainable Development Goals then you should apply here!

Eligibility Criteria:

Must have a self-identified women founder or co-founder
Submission to uphold equity and inclusion practices, which includes “creat[ing] a climate of understanding and mutual respect for the dignity and worth of each person”, in keeping with the Ontario Human Rights Code.
Must be incorporated in Canada
Registrants must be a student or alumni of the University of Toronto; OR participants of EDGE or any of the U of T CLA/Incubator programs
Less than $100k in cumulative revenue and/or external investment (Angels, VCs, grants) as of February 7^th, 2023

Prizes Details Announced Shortly!

All finalists must be able to:

Have a Pitch practice session with an ICUBE staff member
Available to present in-person on March 8th as a finalist
U of T students and alumni are strongly encouraged to register and complete the free UTE IP Education Program – Level 1 modules (~2 hours) before the competition.

Important Dates:

Applications open – February 7th
Applications deadline – February 28th
Event: March 8^th, 2023 5:30-7:30 pm

Our Judges:

Zahra Qureshi
Zahra Qureshi

Zahra Qureshi works with changemakers and founders to support their passion for positive impact on people, communities and the planet. A Chartered Professional Accountant (CMA) committed to doing business with heart, she launched Optinum Professional Corporation with a mission to reduce the overwhelm and stress caused by accounting systems, finance concepts and impact planning tools. As a coach and consultant, Zahra brings 12+ years of experience to help entrepreneurs and changemakers build confidence and strategic clarity for achieving financial sustainability, powerful growth, and positive social change. Optinum’s support includes outsourced services for finance/accounting and social impact management, strategic coaching for building these processes internally, financial analysis for growth-oriented organizations, and securing and managing grant funding. We are proud to serve a client portfolio working on 10 of the 17 United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

In 2020, Zahra founded Social Venture Circuit with the vision to build a community of social enterprises that could grow and learn together. She is also the community leader for Startup Social Enterprise at Startup Canada, bringing social enterprise resources to entrepreneurs across Canada. These programs have supported many social entrepreneurs to learn and connect.

Zahra shares her passion and knowledge through workshops and mentorship at 15+ entrepreneurship programs across Canada, covering topics such as accounting basics for new founders, financial empowerment, getting funding, the power of budgeting, and creating an impact blueprint.
Stephanie Buryk-Iggers
Stephanie Buryk-Iggers

Stephanie Buryk-Iggers is dedicated to health equity. She is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Sparked Inc. – a medical technology company working towards accessible risk screening for cardiovascular disease. In this role she has led Sparked to be named the number on early-stage company by University of Toronto Entrepreneurship ('22), award winner of iCUBE's Pitch with a Twist ('22), and the number one female-led company by H2i's FemSTEM pitch competition ('21). She has honed her leadership experience having directed the development of health programs in the most marginalized areas of the world, as well as technical skills with a Master’s in biomedical engineering. She is furthering her research training as a PhD student at the University of Toronto, focusing on the design and implementation of preventative-medicine programs in Toronto General Hospital.
Taryn Carr
Taryn Carr

As Head of Partnerships at Ownr, Taryn Carr teams up with like-minded businesses like Monday Girl, Xero, and Bookmark to equip budding entrepreneurs with the tools they need to succeed. Ownr is a venture within RBCx and Canada's largest small business and legal management platform. To date, Ownr has helped over 85,000 Canadians register their own business.
Nicola Geary
Nicola Geary

Nicola Geary is a partner in the Business Law Group at Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP. Nicola’s practice emphasizes private corporate transactions, including mergers & acquisitions, private equity, venture capital, corporate reorganizations, and corporate finance. Nicola has extensive experience in domestic and cross-border transactions across various industries. Her experience includes acting for investors, founders, issuers, and underwriters in corporate finance transactions, including private placements, private equity, and venture capital financings, acquisitions (including strategic, new platform, and tuck-in), and dispositions. Nicola also offers valuable expertise in the formation of, and investment in, private equity funds as well as experience in advising funds making downstream investments. For her work, Nicola is recognized as a leader in her field by Best Lawyers in Canada.

2022's winners:

HDAX Therapeutics Inc.
First Place Early Stage Winner

Sparked
Second Place Early Stage Winner

Hope Pet Food
First Place Later Stage Winner

Liohan
Second Place Later Stage Winner

Arbre
People's Choice Winner

2021's winners:

Mommy Monitor - Early Stage Winner

The Mommy Monitor app is a maternal health platform that provides on demand, customized support pre/postnatal for parents & a clinical tool to predetermine pregnancy complications.

MedEssist - Later Stage Winner

MedEssist turns pharmacies in Canada into proactive healthcare hubs for their communities. By modernizing these pharmacies, MedEssist is revolutionizing how population-scale health initiatives can be adapted to meet the requirements of local communities by enabling the first and only inventory-based solutions for pharmacy. Scaling across the country during the global pandemic, MedEssist’s proprietary patient triaging software is matching patients based on personal risk to local vaccine inventory to ensure equitable, accessible, and rapid deployment of the COVID-19 vaccine distribution.

Axonaly - People's Choice Winner

Axonaly is a startup venture revolutionizing mental health care. We are creating a mobile application along with an innovative sweat-sensing patch that tracks key biomarkers and calculates the onset of anxiety attacks. Our mobile application provides users with a range of programming to provide relief when an attack is detected. Axonaly places empirical mental health management in the hands of consumers.

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ICUBE, The home of Social Entrepreneurship at UofT, offers resources, programs, workshops and mentorship for people who are changing the world. If you want to make a difference, ICUBE is here to help you make it.