Elevate Festival returns to Toronto from September 22–24, 2026, bringing together world-class innovators, industry leaders, founders, investors, and the brightest minds in tech to celebrate and accelerate the future of Canadian innovation. For three unforgettable days, the Festival will put a global spotlight on Canada’s rapidly growing tech ecosystem through bold ideas, transformative conversations, and powerful connections that drive what’s next.

As a proud partner of Elevate Festival, the University of Toronto will have a considerable footprint featuring talks from our thought leaders and startups. Come say hello to our staff and entrepreneurs at the Defy Gravity booth.

Get 20% off your ticket to Elevate using discount code ELEVATEUOFT26, redeemable via the Elevate Festival website.

• Industry-Leading Speakers
• Cutting-Edge Content
• Startup Opportunities
• Next-Level Networking

Feature Event
Rocket Pitches: University of Toronto

Thursday September 24 | 11:15 a.m.

Meridian Hall, 1 Front St E, Toronto, ON M5E 1B2, Lower Lobby

Get a glimpse at the early-stage startups that will be making headlines and raising funding in the months and years ahead. This showcase will feature some of the most promising ventures from across the University of Toronto in areas including bioprinting, AI powered translation solutions, superconductors, organic waste processing, and data intelligence. Get to know these companies before your competitors do!

Moderated by Jon French – Director, University of Toronto Entrepreneurship (UTE), the central office that represents a tri-campus network of 13 accelerators supporting over 1400 teams annually.

Featured U of T Startups

• Aiko Translations – is building a healthcare-compliant conversational translation device for care home environments serving older adults, including long-term care, assisted living, memory care, and home care.
• MEISSNER – combines artificial intelligence, quantum simulations, and experimental synthesis to dramatically accelerate the search for new superconducting materials.
• SymBL Innovations – is a biotechnology start-up revolutionizing organic waste processing by converting traditional anaerobic digestion processes into efficient, high-value chemical manufacturing systems.
• VRiT – is a Canadian medtech startup developing a handheld, in situ bioprinting platform for autograft-free skin regeneration, enabling surgeons to directly deposit conformal regenerative biomaterials and cell therapies onto complex wounds.
• Wamiri – builds applied intelligence for finance and operations, with its flagship product, ALK, turning complex documents into auditable work.

U of T – Affiliated Speakers

• Alice Luo – Investment Associate, BDC Capital
• Amanda Baron – Co-Founder, Jointly
• Anita Chauhan – Fractional CMO, InGoodCo.
• Angelo Del Duca – Chair of the Board, Co-Founder of AID, Investor, Angel Investors Durham (AID)
• Azam Khan – Co-Founder & CEO, Trax
• Catherine Xiong – Founder & CEO, Aiko Health Solutions Inc
• Christian Weedbrook – Founder & CEO, Xanadu
• Clare Barnett – Director, Economic Development, City of Toronto
• Connor Bowers – Co-Founder, Symbl
• Danielle Klein – Director of Product Design, 1Password
• Dejana Dua – Head, Hardtech Investor Network & Capital Services, ventureLAB
• Ellen Hlozan – Director of Strategic Alliances, Trax
• Ferhan Bulca – Director of the Board, Maple Leaf Angels
• Francesco Iorio – CEO & Co-Founder, Augmenta
• Francois Chadwick – Chief Financial Officer, Cohere
• Hanna Zaidi – VP, Payments Strategy & Chief Compliance Officer, Wealthsimple
• Ivan Semeniuk – Science Reporter, The Globe and Mail
• Jason Baibokas – Managing Director, BDC Black Entrepreneur Fund
• Jaxson Khan – Senior Fellow, University of Toronto, Munk School
• Jenny Yuen – Executive Vice President, Strategic Partnerships & Government Relations, Kids Help Phone
• Jessica Yip – Co-Founder & COO, A&K Robotics
• Jon French – Director, U of T Entrepreneurship, University of Toronto
• Juanita Lee – Chief Operating Officer, Growclass
• Justin Scaini – Executive Vice President, Technology and Data, Kids Help Phone
• Kath Intson – CEO, Sentinel R&D
• Kesem Frank – CEO, Canada Stablecorp
• Laura Gabor – Founder, What in the Tech
• Lior Ron – CEO, Waabi
• Lucy Hargreaves – Co-Founder & CEO, Build Canada
• Martin Rutter – Director, Business Development, National Research Council of Canada
• Melissa Sariffodeen – Founder, Arcbright
• Michael Pelosi – Country Manager, Canada, Cohere
• Mina Mitry – Co-Founder & CEO, Kepler Communications
• Mohamad Sawwaf – CEO, Manzil
• Mona Minhas – Managing Partner, BDC Thrive Venture Fund
• Olivia Leng – CEO, MEISSNER
• Parnian Majd – Founder & CEO, Fibra Inc.
• Pedro Serrador – Angel Investor, Maple Leaf Angels
• Rahul Goel – CEO & Founder, NordSpace
• Sally Morris – Managing Partner, Women’s Equity Lab
• Seher Shafiq – Global Community Lead, Mozilla
• Shahir Daya – CTO and Head of AIOS, Zafin
• Shevonne Chin – Founder & CEO, Flik Industries
• Stefanie Marotta – Banking Reporter, The Globe and Mail
• Sushant Singh – CEO, Vrit Inc.
• Tolu Alebiosu – Founding Partner & CEO, Wamiri
• Tom Lowden – Managing Director, TD Innovation Partners
• Tracey Black – President, GFH Group Inc.
• Victoria Wilkes – Director, Corporate Development, Moneris
• William Ma – MD, MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund (iAF)
• Yasaman Soudagar – Co-Founder & CEO, Exhilarare Inc.