Join us on March 6th to cheer on the 11 shortlisted startups competing in the 2025 Desjardins Startup Prize Pitch Competition!
This year’s competition will take place as part of True Blue Impact Day on March 6th, in the culmination of U of T Entrepreneurship Week.
The Desjardins Startup Prize is U of T Entrepreneurship’s annual business pitch competition, awarding $100K in prizes to recognize, reward, and accelerate the University of Toronto’s most innovative startups.
Early Stage = Startups that have received less than $50,000 in cumulative funding or investment and less than $25,000 in cumulative revenue as of November 30, 2023.
Late Stage = Startups that have received between $50,000 and $250,000 cumulative funding or investment, and less than $100,000 in cumulative revenue as of November 30, 2023.
Presented by
*First place winners in both categories will also win a DELL Latitude Laptop and a pass to StartupFest in Montreal. All winners will get up to $5,000 in-kind legal counsel from Cassels and an ONRamp Membership.
Elev8 and Perform has created a wearable technology leveraging quantum nanotechnology biology to enhance athlete longevity and performance. Elev8 works with members of the Olympics, NBA, and Harvard, revolutionizing how athletes train, recover, and excel at all levels.
Medium AI delivers Canada’s most accurate and secure multilingual medical scribe system, empowering English, Mandarin, and Cantonese-speaking clinicians to save up to 8 hours weekly while boosting clinic revenue by $150,000 annually through precise and efficient workflows.
Our generative AI platform delivers personalized, real-time addiction psychotherapy, at scale — helping healthcare organization reduce costs, serve more clients, and streamline clinician workflows.
NanoMorphix pioneers adhesive and coating materials with unique nano-reinforcement for transparent armors and beyond. These state-of-the-art materials deliver high-energy impact protection and are versatile across various substrates, fuelling innovation in defense and industrial applications.
PocketClass is an all-in-one platform that connects students with trusted, expert instructors. For students, PocketClass saves time and ensures reliability through verified reviews, secure payment processing, and seamless booking and scheduling. For instructors, it offers tools to streamline business operations, allowing them to focus on teaching and their craft.
Vrit is transforming surgical care with a handheld bioprinter that eliminates the need for autografts, enabling advanced, minimally invasive procedures. Our innovative product line includes novel bioinks and the handheld bioprinter, empowering surgeons with cutting-edge tools for improved patient outcomes.
AeroMater Innovations develops cutting-edge thermal management solutions using advanced aerogel technology. Our FlexiTherm product enhances efficiency, safety, and sustainability in consumer electronics, data centers, and EVs, reducing overheating risks while improving performance and energy efficiency.
Dinamik Therapies is a clinical stage biotechnology start-up being incubated at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto Canada. We create precision nanomedicines to transform the care for the 450,000 patients and survivors with oral cancers.
Flow Robotics, a Toronto-based med-tech startup, is revolutionizing small intestinal diagnostics and treatment by developing innovative, less invasive endoscopic solutions that enhance efficiency, accessibility, and outcomes for healthcare providers and patients alike.
Less than 14% of gene therapies succeed due to off-target effects causing harm. We have developed an algorithm to design a mini GPS to improve targeting and safety in gene therapies while reducing toxic side effects, and increasing success rates.
Our mission is to transform preclinical pain testing and improve clinical outcomes for patients with pain. Our robot RAMalgo enables better, faster, more comprehensive pain testing. By identifying better drugs at the preclinical stage, more of them will succeed in clinical trials.
Satish Kanwar is a technology entrepreneur and business leader based in Toronto, Canada. He is the Co-Founder of Good Future, a family office investor and operator building a multidisciplinary community…
Elina Chow-Clark is a retired mining executive with over 18 years of extensive experience the industry, both within private and publicly traded companies. Renowned for her expertise in stakeholder relations,…
Nishant Raizada is a Senior Director, Technology and Innovation Banking at Desjardins, and is based out of Toronto. His role is to lead Desjardins’ tech banking offering in the Ontario…
Programs Lead, ICUBE, University of Toronto Mississauga Kayla Sousa is the Programs Lead with ICUBE at the University of Toronto Mississauga. In her role, she supports early-stage entrepreneurs in overcoming…
