StartupFest, Canada’s biggest gathering of startups, VCs, angels, and accelerators is happening from 13 July to 16 July. TechPortfolio will be there in Montréal, covering all the discussions that matter.
What StartupFest Is
StartupFest isn’t a typical conference with rows of chairs and a slide deck. It’s run with a festival-style atmosphere, with plenty of room for founders to bump into investors between sessions. According to the organizers, the event has been running since 2011 and puts a heavy focus on pitch competitions, where startups compete for investment prizes in front of a panel of investors.
Those prizes have launched real companies. The festival’s site quotes Guy Rosen, whose startup Onavo was later bought by Facebook: “I was here and pitched Onavo, my company, we picked up one of the top prizes and later we get picked up by Facebook. It’s awesome.”
That mix of big-name speakers, practical sessions and real money on the table is what makes it a fixture on the Canadian startup calendar. Here’s what’s on the program for 2016.
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The Headline Speakers
Kara Swisher, executive editor of re/code, will talk with Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke on how the company went global, with customers including the LA Lakers and partners such as Singapore’s SingTel, while remaining true to its Canadian roots. Swisher will also discuss her cameo on HBO’s Silicon Valley. Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit, will talk about pseudonymity and community-building.
Shopify is a natural headline act for a Canadian startup festival. The e-commerce company is one of the clearest examples of a Canadian startup that grew into a global player without leaving home, which is exactly the story Lütke and Swisher are set to dig into.
Sessions on Building and Funding
There will also be plenty of material for startups looking for insights on business building and funding.
Robert Simon, Senior Managing Partner at BDC IT Venture Fund, David Beyer, Investor at Amplify Partners, and Whitney Rockley, Managing Partner of McRock Capital, will be participating in a VC AMA allowing audience members to pose questions and find out what they look for in early-stage businesses. Jevon MacDonald, co-founder of Startupnorth.ca, will talk about lessons learned from successful entrepreneurs.
An AMA, short for “ask me anything,” is an open question-and-answer format popularized on Reddit. For early-stage founders, it’s a rare chance to hear directly from investors what makes them say yes, and what makes them pass, without having to land a pitch meeting first.
Opening the festival will be specific streams catering to scale-ups, angel investors and more. Ben Zifkin, Founder and CEO of Hubba, and John Ruffolo of OMERS Ventures will be among those lending their expertise in special roundtable discussions. What’s more, angel investors are roaming the festival – impress them with your idea and you may be shortlisted to win $200K of funding.
How the 2016 Festival Played Out
The pitch competition turned out to be even bigger than advertised. As TechPortfolio reported after the festival, competition was so fierce that the judges added more money to the pot and split it three ways: $160,000 to Toronto cinemagraph startup Flixel, $50,000 to Hello MD and $35,000 to 18-year-old Shaun Maclellan of YouCollab.
Lütke’s conversation with Swisher also made news, with the Shopify CEO calling Canada the best place for a startup to knuckle down and work on a product it believes in.
Where They Are Now
Several of the 2016 headliners have grown a lot since. In May 2020, as the pandemic pushed retailers online, Shopify passed RBC to become Canada’s most valuable public company, according to The Logic. Shopify now says businesses on its platform have made more than $1 trillion in sales.
Recode, the site Swisher co-founded, was folded into Vox, which retired the Recode brand in March 2023. Vox noted that Swisher stepped down as Recode’s editor-at-large in 2019 and has since focused on her podcasts, On with Kara Swisher and Pivot.
StartupFest itself has kept going. The organizers say it has awarded more than $9 million in investment prizes since it began, now runs on Montréal’s Old Port waterfront, and has announced its next edition for July 7 to 9, 2027. Shopify’s Harley Finkelstein is among the speakers and mentors listed on its site.
Follow us on Twitter @TechPortfolio and let us know if you’re attending. We’d love to chat.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is StartupFest?
StartupFest is a festival-style gathering of startups, VCs, angels and accelerators in Montréal that has run since 2011. The 2016 edition was billed as Canada's biggest event of its kind.
Who were the headline speakers at StartupFest 2016?
Kara Swisher of Recode was set to interview Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke about how the company went global, and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian was to talk about pseudonymity and community-building.
What is a VC AMA?
AMA stands for "ask me anything," an open question-and-answer format. At StartupFest 2016, investors from BDC IT Venture Fund, Amplify Partners and McRock Capital took audience questions about what they look for in early-stage businesses.
Who won funding at StartupFest 2016?
The judges added to the original $200,000 prize and split it three ways: $160,000 to Flixel, $50,000 to Hello MD and $35,000 to 18-year-old Shaun Maclellan of YouCollab.
Is StartupFest still running?
Yes. The organizers say it has awarded more than $9 million in investment prizes since 2011 and have announced the next edition for July 7 to 9, 2027, on Montréal's Old Port waterfront.