Copy of Which startups will you peer inside?
Curated opportunities, talks, workshops, and events for those interested in creating a startup, growing one, or who want to connect with GTA startups.

Techstars Startup Digest Toronto

Locally curated opportunities, talks, workshops, and other events for those interested in creating a startup, growing one, or who want to connect with startups in the Greater Toronto Area.

Hello Toronto startups and entrepreneurs! Our local startup ecosystem is strong, in part because of the diversity of its talent, but also due to the wide range of opportunities for founders to turn their ideas into successful ventures.


These opportunities — incubators, accelerators, pitching, and the like — are also diverse in location, and not clustered around a few areas downtown. To the northeast, the TMU's Brampton Venture Zone (BVZ) has been helping create successful startups for five years, and has recently renewed its partnership with the City of Brampton for five more.

Brampton sits within North America’s third-largest biotechnology cluster, where employment in health and life sciences has grown by 50 percent since 2005. The city is also home to major firms including Medtronic, Dynacare, Sun Pharma Canada, Boston Scientific and Canadian Blood Services.


Still, BVZ is not positioning itself in biotech or pharmaceuticals. […] Instead, it is concentrating on digital health, wellness, and early-stage medtech, from preventative care and chronic disease management to efficiency tools and supply chain solutions.

Toronto also has a diversity of funding sources, which recently grew by two: one specific to Toronto, and one for Canadian tech ventures. Local VC Radical Ventures, with a history of investing in AI firms like Cohere and Waabi, recently closed a $650M fund to invest in early-stage AI companies in the city, while a new SPAC run by former Dye & Durham execs, Toronto-based MAK Acquisition, recently set up with $100M to acquire Canadian tech companies and either amalgamate some, or take a single large company public.


Pitchbook's annual university rankings came out recently and listed the University of Toronto as Canada's top university for producing venture-backed entrepreneurs and rising eight spots to seventeenth in the world for producing undergraduate alumni founders, having raised a total $75.6B in the past ten years. To be fair, some $60B of that is due to OpenAI and its cofounder Ilya Sutskever, who attended U of T for his Bachelor, Masters, and PhD studies.


Have a great week!



Ian Stevens ◦ ianstevens.ca@istevens



Promotion from TechCrunch

Meet leaders seeking a product like yours and investors looking to fund at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025

Take your startup to the next level alongside 10,000 founders and investors this October 27–29 in San Francisco. Learn from 250+ leading voices across 200+ sessions on five industry stages, breakouts, and roundtables built to fuel your growth. Register before doors open to save up to $444. Register Now

Community Opportunities

Here are some upcoming deadlines for applying to accelerators, grants and funding, or other competitions and programs. Don’t miss out! If you know of others, please submit any application deadlines and I’ll post them if they’re relevant.



Apply now - Parkdale Centre for Innovation Fall 2025 Programs


Parkdale Centre is an incubator and accelerator that supports entrepreneurs, with a focus on equity, accessibility, and inclusion for underrepresented people, namely women, Black, Indigenous, people of colour, and newcomers to Canada. The Centre is accepting applications for both its Women Founders stream, and Early Stage Startup stream. Both programs are intended for those looking to set and meet revenue and growth goals for their business over the next three to nine months, and willing to execute on the program’s short-term milestones, stay on track with consistent webinars and mentorship. The Women Founders stream focuses on providing accessible and inclusive leadership, business training and entrepreneurship skills to self-identifying woman and/or non-binary founders, while the Early Stage stream supports entrepreneurs with a focus on preparing for user growth, team growth, revenue growth, and fundraising.


Apply now - DMZ Incubator Program


DMZ formally onboards Incubator startups twice a year (fall and spring), with applications open year-round. Be one of the ten to fourteen companies — never one of hundreds — to scale alongside driven, battle-tested founders who know what it takes. Unlike traditional accelerators, DMZ’s Incubator is designed to meet you where you are, so you can scale faster on your terms. You'll get a custom growth plan, unlimited meetings with our experts for strategic guidance, fractional support and mentoring, as well as fundraising and investor access, global exposure and media opportunities, exclusive perks and partner benefits (including $1M+ in tech credits, discounts, and resources), and a top-tier workspace with a vibrant founder community.


Apply now - YSpace Tech Incubator


This YSpace incubator membership aims to support early-stage entrepreneurs developing innovative technology-based startups with a unique network and support system of mentors, subject-matter expertise, and workshops designed to elevate their entrepreneurial journey. Participants will develop and strengthen their knowledge through virtual webinars and educational workshops, and engage with program advisors, entrepreneurs-in-residence, and industry experts to build strategic direction and drive tactical execution of their company goals. Come join a network of like-minded individuals and discuss business challenges in peer-to-peer circles. This program has an open intake throughout the year


Apply now - YSpace Women in Tech JumpSTART Incubator


The Women in Tech JumpSTART Incubator program is a bespoke and flexible membership program supporting Ontario-based women-led tech ventures to scale and grow. This program is offered in partnership with YSpace, Schulich School of Business and Treefrog Accelerator and was created with generous funding through the York Region Innovation Fund. With a network of industry experts, entrepreneurs, and advisors, the membership is designed to help founders to navigate the growth journey beyond the launch. Participants will develop and strengthen their knowledge through virtual webinars and educational workshops, and engage with program advisors and industry experts to build the strategic direction and drive the tactical execution of their company goals. Come join a network of like-minded women tech founders and discuss business challenges in peer-to-peer sessions. Applications are open year round, with selected ventures incubated for six months.


Apply now - DMZ Pre-Incubator Program


The DMZ’s Pre-Incubator program helps turn your vision into reality, validate your business idea, establish a minimum viable product, and secure customers for your venture. Participants receive over twelve hours of curated on-demand content, hands-on support, including regular 1:1s with in-house experts, relevant workshops, and progress check-ins, and are eligible for over $470K in perks from 80+ partners, exclusive invites, and the opportunity to proceed to DMZ Incubator's program, with up to $10K in grant funding, and over 18 months of additional support, office space, and more. Applications and program intake occurs on a rolling basis, with new startups joining the program at the beginning of each month.


Apply now - Brampton BHive Startup Incubator


BHive is an initiative powered by the City of Brampton with a goal to empower the next generation of innovators, accelerate their journey, and create a positive impact for the entrepreneur, economy, and community as a whole. The program has been strategically designed to ensure startups have everything they need to scale and grow. Successful applicants will have access to an unrivaled ecosystem and expertise to support exceptional founders in building successful companies. Our integrated approach involves thoughtfully designed programs, one-to-one mentorships, and access to our entire portfolio of service.


Apply now - Futurpreneur Canada Black Entrepreneur Startup Program


This program, delivered by Futurpreneur, will provide young, Black entrepreneurs age 18-39 across Canada with a comprehensive offering of $5,000–$60,000 in startup loan financing, as well as up to two years of mentorship, opportunities to engage with a national network of Black entrepreneurs, leaders and community organizations at a range of entrepreneurship events, and a variety of relevant tools and resources. Participants who are keen to scale their businesses even further will also be eligible for up to $40,000 in follow-on financing funded by RBC, based on the first two years of successful business performance.


Join - Science Discovery Zone at TMU


At the Science Discovery Zone (SDZ) we help people take evidence-based approaches to test big ideas and discover new ventures. We aim to serve as a model for strong collaboration across all disciplines (not just the science ones) that fuels innovation and entrepreneurial discovery. What makes the SDZ stand out amongst other incubators are the unique services and opportunities we create for our community, which are geared towards fostering your goals and success!

Would a friend like this newsletter?

Like this newsletter? Share it!


I write this newsletter each week to encourage those with an idea for a tech product or service to take it to the next level, with the help of the many startup resources Toronto has to offer. If you know someone who could use a nudge towards that first step on their startup journey, get them to subscribe. They might thank you for it.


Events this week

Tuesday

18:00-20:00 ◦ YSpace Founder Fundamentals Workshop Series: Financial Modeling


Interested in building your entrepreneurial skills to launch your startup? Founder Fundamentals is a twelve-week workshop series brought to you by YSpace and powered by the Markham Small Business Centre (MSBC) designed to help you kickstart your entrepreneurial career. Whether you are a professional services company, brick and mortar or technology startup, the program aims to equip you with the essential skills and knowledge needed to succeed. Spanning across topics such as business plan writing, bootstrapping, and setting up a Shopify store, this program provides a wide range of learning. The program also connects you with local resources for potential next steps as you progress in your entrepreneurial ventures.


18:00-21:00 ◦ AI Startup Founders Mixer and Networking


Come join us for a night of networking and fun with fellow AI startup founders. This in-person event is the perfect opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals, share ideas, and enjoy some drinks. Whether you're a seasoned entrepreneur or just starting out, this mixer is the place to be. Don't miss out on this chance to build valuable relationships and expand your network in the AI startup community.

Wednesday

15:00-20:00 ◦ ECHO PITCH 2025


Come to this special event where five top cardiovascular health startups compete for funding from a $250K pool in front of a panel of judges and a live audience. These finalists have been selected from the Entrepreneurship for Cardiovascular Health Opportunities (ECHO) program, where they received twelve months of hands-on entrepreneurship training and mentorship. Meet, connect, and share ideas with exceptional entrepreneurs, scientist, clinicians, business leaders and investors. Gain insights from a multi-sectoral panel of judges as well as expert keynote speakers.


17:00-18:00 ◦ Entrepreneur Self-Care with Feel Your Way Therapy and Futurpreneur


Join us for an engaging in person workshop and networking event with Arkadiy from Feel Your Way Therapy and Futurpreneur Canada. This in-person session is designed for small business owners, entrepreneurs, and aspiring founders who want to strengthen both their business strategy and their mental well-being.


17:30-19:30 ◦ Happy Hour with Hyde Park Venture Partners


​Founders and investors, please join us for happy hour from at The Parlour in downtown Toronto. You can expect appetizers, drinks and great conversations with the startup ecosystem in Toronto. We hope you can make it!


17:30-20:00 ◦ MAXPitch: Live Pitch Night at Deloitte


Looking to source the next unicorn or become the founder of one yourself? Wondering what it's like to pitch ideas live in front of investors? ​Join us for MAXPitch’s Live Pitch Night, a high-energy evening where bold ideas meet the capital needed to bring them to life. Whether you're an investor, an aspiring founder, a startup enthusiast, or just curious about the tech ecosystem, this night is for you. Do these founders have what it takes to get investor buy-in? Come find out!


19:00-20:30 ◦ Startup Help - Apex Program


The Startup Help Apex Program is a dynamic, hands-on initiative designed to empower aspiring entrepreneurs with the knowledge, skills, and resources needed to build and scale successful businesses. This comprehensive seminar and workshop series combines expert-led sessions, interactive workshops, and personalized mentorship to provide a structured pathway for business success.


19:00-22:00 ◦ Startup Pitch and Networking Toronto


Meet and get acquainted with startup founders, business professionals and investors. Pitch to the audience with your project and seize your chance to dive into the world of business, technology, and venture capital. Engage with leading experts and founders in tech and dusiness, and top investors to gain deep insights and valuable networking. This event i