Cultivator and Conexus Venture Capital take on Startupfest

We had an incredible experience at the 13th edition of Startupfest in Montréal, which returned with a fresh and thrilling direction. The 2023 event focused on two significant societal shifts: the fusion of humans and machines and the newfound value of authentic human connections.

Cultivator and Conexus Venture Capital collaborated to bring a delegation of 11 high-growth and investment-ready companies to Startupfest. Our primary goals were to connect these companies with investors, communicate the benefits of our programming and make connections with top mentors and speakers for Startup Summit 2023. We had a tent situated in the Startupfest Tent Village that allowed us to network with attendees and promote Startup Summit as an event to attend later this fall in Regina, Saskatchewan. The tent was a great way to connect with friends in the startup community and catch up on the latest updates from our local tech ecosystems.

Startupfest is an immersive experience that infuses multiple elements that engage attendees through keynotes, mentorship sessions, pitch opportunities, tent activations, and curated meetings in the ‘brain date lounge‘. Among the esteemed lineup of featured guests at the event were Harley Finkelstein, President of Shopify; Monique Woodard, Managing Director of Cake Ventures; Paige Bailey, Lead Product Manager for Generative Models at Google DeepMind; and Dr. Theresa Johnson, Product Manager for Airbnb.

We set out on the mission to create “genuine connections in the digital world” with a special invite from Startupfest! Our Cultivator and Conexus Venture Capital teams were asked to organize the Investor Match-ups at the conference. This was a great opportunity to connect our founders with investors from across North America.

The Investor Match-ups provided a unique opportunity for top venture capitalists to engage in one-on-one meetings (20 mins) with high-growth startups from across Canada. During these sessions, they discussed crucial aspects such as fundraising, challenges, strategies, and direction. It’s a platform where valuable insights and expertise were shared, fostering meaningful connections between investors and promising entrepreneurs. Over the course of 3 hours, we facilitated 105 matches between 38 investors and 51 founders that signed up prior to the conference. With such high popularity, we had over 100 startups added to a waitlist.

Thank you to the Startupfest organizing team for inviting us to be a part of this exceptional event. We are already looking forward to attending again next year. With such incredible success and demand for Investor Match-ups, we are excited about the prospect of nurturing even more meaningful connections between startups and investors in the future.