UpNext World Tour
Forty-five AI startups pitched across four PitchFest qualifier rounds at SAAS NORTH AI in Ottawa. DOUBL took the $10,000 prize by audience vote, with miRoncol Health in second. Here is every company that pitched, what founders told us, and what investors said about Canada’s missing lead.
Investor Insights
Sovereignty was the word of the week in Ottawa. Underneath it, investors kept describing the same problem: the money behind Canada’s ambition still isn’t reaching early-stage startups, because everyone wants a lead and few will take that role.
UpNext Briefing
SAAS NORTH AI opens in Ottawa on November 4 with a new defence and dual-use summit, DEPLOY, and 43 pitch finalists. Here is what to watch, and six companies worth a closer look.
Flashpoint POV
Neto Concon found his first business idea in a WhatsApp group full of complaints. After a frightening first import in Brazil, he and his co-founders built HeyShip, an AI platform that predicts landed costs, flags margin risks, and now serves more than 300 companies. Payments and fintech are up next.
UpNext World Tour
Money20/20 USA ran October 18 to 21, 2026, in Las Vegas. Charm Security won the Early Stage Startup Grand Prix and Trace Finance won the Growth Stage Grand Prix at the Money Awards. We cover the winners, a silver and bronze medalist, and one more finalist.
UpNext World Tour
Denver biotech Intero Biosystems won the $100,000 Startup Battlefield Cup at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026. Its lab-grown gut tissue beat 199 other companies.
UpNext World Tour
RankWit AI, an Italian startup that tracks how chatbots describe hotels, won the $10,000 Supernova pitch at Ai Everything Abu Dhabi. It beat four finalists from four countries. Their customers show where applied AI is already earning revenue.
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Avenue3 took Start-up of the Year at the Leeds Digital Festival Awards, Enablis won Growth Company of the Year, and Senflow won Tech4Good with software already in 110 schools. Each one sells into a sector that still runs on paperwork.
Six Italian companies pitched at Nrth 2026 with the Italian Trade Agency. We met them after the stage to find out what they build, why they chose Canada, and who they want to meet here.
Elevate became Nrth, and its startup stage ran seven pitch sessions plus Tangerine's $50,000 elevator pitch. Moro Technologies, MoVA Realities and Cotriply took home the prizes. Here is every company that pitched and what they are building.
NewGen Health took the $30,000 top prize at Innovation Factory's 16th annual LiONS LAIR with an at-home urine screening device for early kidney disease. Seven of the ten finalists are building in health and life sciences, and every one came up through Founders Fast Track.
Corintis won the Top100 Swiss Startup Award for the second year in a row, with legal AI company DeepJudge second and space startup PAVE Space third. Six new special awards went to a newcomer, a biotech, a cleantech, a robotics company, the year's biggest raise and its biggest exit.
Daniela Allerbon solved aquaculture’s antibiotic crisis by shifting from external additives to biological amplification. Her team uses a protein salmon naturally produce to boost immunity, eliminating antibiotic dependency and achieving industry-leading survival rates.
Ten startups pitched to five of Canada's most active fintech investors in Montreal. Fireraven won with AI security for AI agents. But the real story was the thread running through the entire conference: what does speed cost in trust?
Abhishek Dixit scaled a startup to $70M, then realized AI companies understand human psychology better than people do. His question led to CosmicSoul, a new architecture that proves frontier AI can run locally on any device with 3GB of RAM, no GPUs, no cloud, and no data leaving your device.
Elevate Festival brings more than 10,000 founders, investors, executives and tech leaders to Toronto from September 22 to 24. Here is what is worth your time, and how to walk in already knowing who to find.
Sai Zhou discovered that cardiac ultrasound doesn't need specialist gatekeeping. It needs better technology. His AI-powered wearable device brings heart imaging home in minutes, not months, earning 1st place at the American Society of Echocardiography conference.
Pontosense discovered that seniors refuse the surveillance technology designed to protect them. Their platform uses invisible sensors to detect what is happening, giving families peace of mind without the cost of watching.
Jilma spent a decade in hospitals learning what doctors need and what patients fear. Then she built CanScan, a breath test detecting breast cancer with 95% accuracy for $20. It reaches the billions of women mammography never could, without radiation, without pain, without infrastructure.