Women in Tech Investment Prize Stole the Spotlight at Startupfest 2026 In Montreal
Women in Tech Investment Prize, funded by The Firehood and judged by a panel of women angel investors handed out $100,000 to a worthy team The top ten Startups spanned fertility diagnostics, hormone care, blockchain payments, and hive health.
Ten founders took the stage in Montreal for Startupfest 2026's $100,000 Women in Tech Investment Prize, funded by The Firehood and judged by a panel of women angel investors. The 16th edition of the festival closed on July 10 with founders, investors, and ecosystem players from across Canada converging for three days of pitches and networking. The cohort spanned fertility diagnostics, hormone care, blockchain payments, and hive health, with one team walking away with the check and a second taking home a separate award the same weekend
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The Women in Tech Prize Winner
LymeAlert™ [Healthtech] won the $100,000 Women in Tech Investment Prize at Startupfest 2026. The Cambridge, Mass.-based company makes an at-home test kit that detects the bacteria behind Lyme disease directly from a tick, delivering results in about 30 minutes instead of the days a lab test takes. Founder and CEO Erin Dawicki, a physician associate, built the company with co-founders Brenda Ong and Dr. Michelle Rauch Ewy as MIT Sloan Fellows in 2024. LymeAlert also won Startupfest's Audience Choice Award, taking two prizes from the same festival.
The Top Three
The Women in Tech competition's top three finishers were LymeAlert™, July Health, and SciCortex Technologies Corporation.
July Health [Healthtech] — Founder Julie Mai, a registered dietitian who was diagnosed with PCOS and ADHD herself, built a virtual clinic connecting Canadians with dietitians, therapists, and nurse practitioners for hormone and neurodivergent care. The Toronto-based platform has been featured in The Globe and Mail and the National Post.
SciCortex Technologies Corporation [Hardware] — Led by CEO Ania Muller and CSO Dr. Eilif B. Muller, this Montreal hardtech team is developing hardware infrastructure through the Centech accelerator program.
Special Awards
AgroGene Solutions [Biotech / AgTech] won Startupfest's separate $100,000 Best of the Fest Investment Prize the same weekend. The Moncton, New Brunswick team, led by CEO Dr. Pascale Michaud alongside co-founders Dr. Luc Boudreau, Dr. Nicolas Pichaud, and Dr. Gilles Robichaud, builds a molecular diagnostic and data platform that lets beekeepers detect hive infections before symptoms appear.
Standouts
Kavodax [Fintech / Blockchain] — Founder and CEO Gharsa Amin is building a Canadian dollar-backed stablecoin and cross-border payments rail designed to cut multi-day bank wire transfers down to 30 to 60 minutes. The platform holds one physical Canadian dollar in a custodian bank for every token issued and is pursuing Money Services Business registration while engaging with the Bank of Canada. Kavodax won $25,000 at the Startup World Cup Ottawa Regional Competition in 2026, with Amin named the event's most fundable founder, and is headed to the global final in San Francisco to compete for a $1 million investment.
Begin Fertility [Healthtech] — Co-founders Jacob Ruiter and Layla Freig are building a digital health platform for early-stage fertility care, combining at-home hormone testing with algorithm-informed diagnostics and virtual follow-ups from licensed providers. The Westmount, Quebec company is a member of the Femtech Canada network.
ValorixAI [AI] — Co-founder Filip Valocký's tool turns a single product photo into a complete Etsy listing, generating SEO-optimized titles, tags, and descriptions in seconds.
Eamico [Fintech] — Toronto-based fintech venture co-founded by COO Kalen Johnson.
Also in the cohort: L'Officiel Unofficial and LogikBee. We were unable to confirm founder identities for these two companies in time for publication and will update this post if that changes.
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Why It Matters for the UpNext Network
Two of Startupfest's marquee $100,000 prizes this year went to founders solving problems inside the body: a tick test that shortcuts a week-long lab wait, and a hive diagnostic that catches bee infections before a colony collapses. The rest of the cohort points at where founders are placing bets right now: rebuilding cross-border payment rails on stablecoins, and building AI tools thin enough to run a one-person e-commerce shop.
