Elev8 & Perform and My Well Self Win Big at Elevate Pitch Competition

Canada’s top talent in tech and innovation gathered earlier this month for Elevate Festival. Started in 2017, Elevate is the largest Canadian-grown tech and innovation festival. The conference brings together global leaders, startups, investors, media and policymakers, to showcase the immense talent and exciting future of Canada’s innovation economy.

H2i’s venture community was well represented at this year’s conference. Able Innovations and Maman Biomedical took the stage on Day 1 as part of the Pitch Showcase. Toothpod and SilicoLabs were featured in the Univeristy of Toronto Rocket Pitches Showcase on Day 2. On the final day of the conference, OXCan CEO Peter Jianrui Liu was a panelist for a discussion focused on drug development and importance of active involvement from patients.

H2i would like to extend a big congratulations to Elev8 & Perform and My Well Self, who won 1st and 2nd place after pitching in the Black Innovation Zone Showcase, hosted by the Federation of Black Canadians.

Elev8 & Perform, pitched by Founder and CEO Bren Kugamoorthy, took home the $5000 top prize for the venture’s work creating a wearable device that helps improve athletes’ biological capacity.

Of the win, Kugamoorthy shared: “It was an incredible honor to pitch my company and emerge as the top startup in Elevate’s pitch competition. Congratulations to all the talented startups who presented and made it to the finals. Winning this competition is not just about the cash prize; it’s about the opportunity to showcase how we’re transforming the future of longevity and human performance through our technology.”

Brenda Ahenkorah, Founder and CEO of My Well Self, was awarded the $3000 second prize. My Well Self is an AI powered recommendation tool that helps people to utilize their health benefits health spending account (HSA) dollars smarter with Abby their digital well-being advisor.

Ahenkorah reflected: “It was our first time attending Elevate and with that it was great to have our innovation recognized by the Elevate ecosystem with the pitch competition we participated in. Right now, we’re really excited to launch Abby, our digital well-being advisor with our HSA provider partners. It’s a really exciting time.”