TiEQuest Summit 2025: Building in Canada for the World
TiEQuest Summit is where the boldest founders, sharpest investors, and most innovative industry leaders collide.
From unfiltered VC insights to game-changing startup pitches, this event is the stage for those shaping what’s next in tech and entrepreneurship. Whether you’re here to learn, invest, or compete, expect big ideas, real talk, and a high-stakes pitch competition.
At TiE Toronto’s annual conference, we shine a spotlight on the bold entrepreneurs who are creating world-class companies from coast to coast - and scaling them to global markets.
Agenda
This year's theme is: Building in Canada for the world. This year’s theme, “Building in Canada for the World,” is a rallying cry for founders, investors, and ecosystem leaders who believe in the power of Canadian ingenuity, diversity, and resilience to solve global challenges.
9:00am - 9:30am- Registration Opens
9:30am - 9:35am- Opening Remarks
9:40am - 10:10am- Opening Keynote Fireside with Joanna Griffiths, Founder & President, Knix
10:15am - 10:45am- Thinking Global From Day One a conversation with Jack Newton, CEO & Founder at Clio hosted by Benjamin Bergen, President at Council of Canadian Innovators
10:50am - 11:10am- Keynote presentation on The GeoTab Journey by Neil Cawse, CEO & Founder, Geotab
11:15am - 11:50am- Founders Building In Canada for The World, Panel featuring Mallorie Brodie, CEO & Founder, Bridgit and Ron Benegbi,CEO & Founder, Uplinq Financial
12:00pm - 1:00pm- Lunch & Networking
1:00pm - 1:35pm- VCs Investing In Canada a panel featuring Matt Golden, Founder & Managing Partner, Golden Ventures and Prashant Mata ,Managing Partner, Panache Ventures. Hosted by Michael Hyatt, Investor & Entrepreneur. Current Executive Chairman, DataStealth
1:40pm - 2:10pm- A rare intimate discussion with Avlok Kohli, CEO, AngelList hosted by Alex Norman, Partner at N49P and Co-Founder of TechTO
2:15pm - 2:45pm- An in-depth fireside chat with Carl Rodrigues, President & CEO of SOTI hosted by Upasana Sharma, President at TiE Toronto
2:50pm - 3:20pm- Closing Fireside with Michael McDerment, Co-Founder & Board Chair at FreshBooks hosted by Bharat Rudra, President at TiE Ottawa
3:20pm - 4:00pm- TiEQuest Regular Track Finals
4:00pm - 4:50pm- TiEQuest MedTech Finals
4:50pm - 5:00pm- Awards & Prizes
5:00pm- Closing Remarks, End of the Event
Featured Speakers
Our VC's Investing in Canada panel will be hosted by, Michael Hyatt – Entrepreneur, Investor, and Scale-Up Strategist
Michael Hyatt is a serial entrepreneur, celebrated investor, and trusted voice in Canada’s tech ecosystem. Best known as the co-founder of BlueCat—acquired for over $700M—Michael has built, scaled, and exited multiple companies and now helps others do the same.
A Dragon on The Next Gen Den and a frequent advisor to top startups and scaleups, Michael brings sharp insight into what it takes to grow a business, lead through uncertainty, and think like an owner. He’s also a founding partner at the Hyatt Family Office, backing ambitious entrepreneurs across North America.
Whether you're just getting started or scaling your second venture, Michael’s perspective is a masterclass in focus, grit, and long-term thinking.
Matt is the Founder and Managing Partner at Golden Ventures, Matt has focused on startups his entire career. He has been engaged in all aspects of building and guiding disruptive companies from their very early stages.
In 2011 Matt started Golden Ventures, one of the earliest micro venture capital funds, with the goal of supporting early stage founders in their journey of realizing their vision and potential. Many funds later, Matt brings the same excitement when meeting founders building transformative technology companies. Matt previously led deals at BlackBerry Partners Fund and Brightspark Ventures. Matt cut his entrepreneurial teeth as a co-founder of Tira Wireless, a mobile games publisher and content deployment technology and services provider. Tira became a recognized industry leader in both mobile games publishing and content deployment. Matt is trained as a lawyer, specializing in business technology, financial services and M&A at Osler, one of Canada’s premier law firms. He has an LLB / MBA from the University of Ottawa, and a BA in Economics from York University.
Neil Cawse is the CEO and Founder of Geotab, a global leader in connected vehicle technology and data analytics. His passion for innovation, AI, IoT, and sustainability has driven Geotab’s exponential growth, reaching millions of subscriptions across 150+ countries. Under his leadership, Geotab empowers businesses with insights to enhance safety, efficiency, and environmental impact. Neil’s entrepreneurial vision and commitment to technology continue to shape the future of fleet management and connected mobility, positioning Geotab at the forefront of digital transformation in transportation.
Mallorie Brodie is the CEO and Founder of Bridgit, a construction technology company transforming how contractors manage projects and resources. Bridgit has raised over $43 million from investors including Camber Creek, Storm Ventures, and BDC Capital.
Avlok Kohli the CEO of AngelList, he is also the creator and founder of Fastbite, a lightening fast food delivery service. Because of Mr. Kohli’s leadership and Fastbite’s incredible value to customers, Square (led by Jack Dorsey, Founder / CEO of Twitter) acquired Fastbite a few months since launch and has since integrated it into Square's own delivery product as "Fastbite by Caviar". Avlok Kohli also plays an active role in other rapidly growing technology companies as an angel investor, advisor, and founder.
Ron Benegbi is the Founder & CEO of Uplinq Financial Technologies, a global platform improving credit access for small business owners. A serial entrepreneur, Ron has launched five startups, led multiple successful exits, and helped scale Canada’s fastest-growing tech company in 2016 from 0 to $100M in five years. Inspired by his immigrant roots, he founded Uplinq to address the barriers small businesses face in securing affordable capital. Ron is a recognized fintech thought leader, featured in podcasts and industry publications, known for his candid perspective on the challenges and opportunities in entrepreneurship.
Joanna Griffiths is the Founder and President of Knix and Kt by Knix, leading brands in intimate apparel and activewear. She pioneered the leakproof underwear category, transforming the lives of millions globally. In 2022, Joanna made history with the largest publicly disclosed sale of a private Canadian company by a solo female founder when Essity acquired 80% of Knix. She holds an MBA from INSEAD, multiple patents, and serves on the board of TIFF. Her accolades include EY Entrepreneur Of The Year® and Glossy’s 2024 Founder of the Year. She’s also the author of Life After Birth and Some Periods.
Jack Newton is the CEO and Founder of Clio and a pioneer in cloud-based legal technology, has spearheaded efforts to educate the legal community on the security, ethics, and privacy issues surrounding cloud computing, and has become a nationally recognized author and speaker on these topics. Jack has set a mission for himself and Clio to transform the practice of law, for good, and for over a decade, his commitment has been unwavering. Jack’s tremendous vision has already made a deep impact on one of the world’s oldest professions.
Benjamin Bergen is the President of the Council of Canadian Innovators, a national, non-partisan business council for the 21st century economy, led by over 150 CEOs of Canada’s fastest growing homegrown technology scale-ups. CCI is focused on optimizing the growth of Canada’s innovation-based sector, and Benjamin leads the execution of its ambitious economic development agenda.
Carl Rodrigues is the President & CEO at SOTI, he was working as an IT consultant when he realized the potential of viewing and managing mobile device screens from a desktop display. This early innovation allowed him to start his own business, putting SOTI ahead in one of the largest growing markets – Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM). Building on this early lead, Carl’s passion for innovation, and focus on high quality products and solutions, has helped SOTI become one of the fastest growing, profitable and self-sustaining companies positioned for global expansion. Carl has taken Mississauga-based SOTI from a one-person start-up in his basement to a multi-billion dollar global leader in enterprise software, with over 2,000 talented employees across 28 countries around the world. He continues to lead the company on a strong growth trajectory, and as a trailblazer in the industry, has become an industry thought-leader speaking on the topics of mobility and innovation, mobile industry trends, cybersecurity and entrepreneurialism.
Mike McDerment is a Canadian entrepreneur and technology leader best known as the co-founder and Board Chair of FreshBooks, the cloud-based accounting platform built for small businesses. He founded FreshBooks in 2003 after accidentally overwriting an invoice, growing it into a global SaaS company serving over 30 million users. In 2016, McDerment co-founded Briza, an insurtech startup offering a unified API for commercial insurance distribution. He serves as Briza’s Board Chair, helping bridge insurance carriers with digital platforms to streamline policy quoting and binding. McDerment remains active in supporting entrepreneurs and scaling digital infrastructure for small business ecosystems.
Prashant Matta is Managing Partner at Panache Ventures, a leading early-stage venture fund which invests in visionary founders and helps them transform their ideas into successful high-growth companies. Prior to launching Panache Ventures, Prashant was an investor at Omers Ventures and a product strategist at Samsung. He actively supports Canada’s startup ecosystem as a board member at CVCA and Junior Achievement, and as a mentor at CDL. Prashant is also the venture capital program director for Executive Education at the Schulich School of Business.
Thank you to our amazing partners:
If you would like to know more about our partners, please visit:
Tie Toronto
ICICI Bank Canada
Baylis MedTech
City of Toronto
Angel Investors Ontario
RBC
Capital World
Tangentia Ventures
BDO
Bond Consulting
We are officially part of Toronto Tech Week 2025, a weeklong citywide collection of events to connect and celebrate the builders. June 23 → June 27, 2025 | torontotechweek.com.