CIX • Canadian Innovation Exchange

🔌 Semiconductors are fueling the future—powering #AI, automotive, and next-gen computing. At CIX Summit 2025, one of our panels featured industry leaders from Markham-based companies to share how Canada is pushing the boundaries of chip innovation and securing its spot in the global semiconductor race. Key takeaways: 🔹 Scaling deep tech—now is the time to build globally competitive semiconductor companies from Canada. 🔹 As a seasoned data scientist, Branson Zhao encouraged founders to leverage AI, especially within areas of deep tech like data validation. 🔹 Niraj Mathur encouraged Canada to become more entrepreneur friendly by providing options for for startups who have made it past Series A and B funding. Canada’s semiconductor ecosystem is thriving—now is the time to innovate and lead. 🌍 💡. Thanks to our presenting partners ventureLABand the City of Markham Don’t miss our 2026 CIX Summit sessions - tickets are at the lowest price now! https://hubs.li/Q03f-SKM0 #CIXSummit #DeepTech #FutureOfTech

🎤✨ CIX Summit 2025 powered by Elevate brought together the brightest minds in tech, innovation, and investment—fueling game-changing ideas, fostering powerful connections, and driving real impact. 🚀🔥 A huge shoutout to the incredible founders, investors, and industry leaders who are shaping the future of Canada’s innovation ecosystem. Your vision, dedication, and collaboration are strengthening our tech landscape, paving the way for a brighter, more competitive future on the global stage. 🌎💡 🍁 The thread that tied CIX together was national pride—remember, Canada has all we need to succeed within our own borders! If we all work together we can create the change we want to see. Swipe through for the highlights and the moments that are pushing Canadian innovation forward! #CIXSummit #TorontoTech #CdnTech

Reflections from CIX Summit🚀 What an energizing day at the CIX • Canadian Innovation Exchange Summit in Toronto! The room was buzzing with innovation and brilliant minds tackling some of today's biggest challenges. Highlights: 🌟 Connected with founders building truly groundbreaking solutions 🌟 Networked with key investors and accelerator leaders 🌟 Engaged in thought-provoking panels and conversations 🌟 Met a couple of founders who will be a part of my village (for my fellow founders, you know what this means!) One fascinating discussion centered around navigating the current political climate while building in Canada. As someone who's been developing a CPG startup for 3+ years, I've experienced firsthand the challenges of finding sufficient support from Canadian suppliers, investors, and mentors—not to mention the challenging unit economics! Many fellow founders shared similar experiences yesterday. While we all want to build and grow authentic Canadian brands, the ecosystem for CPG startups needs strengthening to truly enable us to thrive here. Another interesting discussion was that despite shifting DEI policies south of the border, I've often found more access to capital, strategic partnerships, and mentorship there than in Toronto. This sentiment resonated with many founders I spoke with yesterday. I'm grateful to CIX • Canadian Innovation Exchange for creating a space for these crucial conversations with individuals who can genuinely impact our ecosystem. The collective brainpower and innovation in that room was truly inspiring! Special shoutout to my IDEA Mississauga & EmpowHER ladies Sneha Punwani, MBA Diana Al Dajani Jennifer Ai Silvana Mello—always worth attending just for our mini-reunions 🫶! What was your experience at CIX Summit? Would love to hear your takeaways in the comments below! #CIXSummit #Startups #Founder #beautytech #TorontoTeche

And that's a wrap on CIX • Canadian Innovation Exchange! As much as doom and gloom might try to sneak into every conversation, I’ve always thought entrepreneurs are some of the most energetic and proactive folks out there—after all, they kinda have to be, right? 😅 So it was awesome to see so many founders keenly receptive to untapped opportunities in European markets, with the UK (and London, especially) on the radar for Canadian tech companies buzzing with a need to spice up their market game. It was a blast meeting some of incredible award recipients at the kick off event (Albert Mansour P.Eng., MBA, PMP, ConeLabs; Fiona Simpson, BioMimir; Alik Sokolov, Sibli). Big love to Sunil Sharma, self-proclaimed London lover and all-around tech ecosystem connector (letssssss go London>Africa>Toronto!!) Networking is where it all begins and I really enjoyed supporting Oury Clark's Happy Hour following CIX. We put the best of Britain on show with Emma Florentin-Lee, Paul Webster, Mandy Chan, and the UK’s Department for Business and Trade deal maker Stephen Mooney for Toronto's tech innovators. The best executed expansion journey is one that gets the expert advice beforehand in the planning phase, and the team at Oury Clark are not only amazingly fun and friendly, they offer a full suite of services to support you throughout the process. Great to also meet/catch-up with John Cassidy, SVG Ventures | THRIVE; Richard Pietro, Skinopathy; Jonathan Brent, Finliti; Vikram Bhatia, e-Zinc; Yugbodh Singh, TechBeat Canada; Laney Lui; Lauren Valliere, GrowWise; As always, reach out if you got London on your mind :P Grow London Stephen Feline Penny Harwood

Grateful for the opportunity to attend CIX • Canadian Innovation Exchange conference last week! A wonderful event full of Canadian founders, investors and innovators. Discussed opportunities for collaboration and partnership with a few attendees and looking forward to seeing the impact this event will have on Immitracker's growth during 2025. Huge thanks to the people who made this entire conference and after event both a fun and productive experience starting with Dragos Cada ☕ David Bryckine Terry Wang Adyan Tanver Michael Hashizume Jibran Khan Marium Kirmani Benjamin Dryden Roy Pereira and many more!

Our Technology and Innovation Group of Banque Nationale du Canada is proud to participate to the CIX • Canadian Innovation Exchange , Canada’s largest startup awards program that brings together the country’s most promising tech founders, global investors, and industry advisors. We had the pleasure of co-hosting the official CIX VIP cocktail on March 25th alongside Gowling WLG and IDA Ireland, where we met many promising startups, ecosystem investors, and partners! On March 26th, our team was also present to engage in enriching discussions, including @Danielle Smith and @Jacqueline Tiffin who were hosting one-on-one meeting exchanges, @Jeffrey Bennett, who was judging the Startup World Cup - Toronto regional event, and @James Povitz from #NAventures, who was leading an investor roundtable discussion. Other colleagues from our amazing Tech Team, including @Tuyen Vo, @Nik Rasskazovskiy, @Daryl Johnston, @Andrew McGee, and @Emmanuel Philippe were also on-site to establish meaningful connections.

Incredible experience at CIX • Canadian Innovation Exchange. Finally connected with some amazing people I’ve been meaning to meet and caught up with friends and colleagues doing great things. Truly admire what CIX and the #Toronto ecosystem are building to support Canadian startups — proud to be a part of it. #CIX2025 #TorontoTech #CanadianStartups #StartupEcosystem #FoundersJourney #InnovationInCanada #Networking Rutuja Jori Suvid Ajmera Rishabh Gupta Harshal Pathak Nick Kuryluk Lauren DeSouza Rohan Goswami Randall Howard

Our Technology and Innovation Group of Banque Nationale du Canada is proud to participate to the CIX • Canadian Innovation Exchange , Canada’s largest startup awards program that brings together the country’s most promising tech founders, global investors, and industry advisors. We had the pleasure of co-hosting the official CIX VIP cocktail on March 25th alongside Gowling WLG and IDA Ireland, where we met many promising startups, ecosystem investors, and partners! On March 26th, our team was also present to engage in enriching discussions, including @Danielle Smith and @Jacqueline Tiffin who were hosting one-on-one meeting exchanges, @Jeffrey Bennett, who was judging the Startup World Cup - Toronto regional event, and @James Povitz from #NAventures, who was leading an investor roundtable discussion. Other colleagues from our amazing Tech Team, including @Tuyen Vo, @Nik Rasskazovskiy, @Daryl Johnston, @Andrew McGee, and @Emmanuel Philippe were also on-site to establish meaningful connections.

🍁 🇨🇦 Oh Canada! It was an honour to witness the Made in Canada panel featuring Arlene Dickinson (District Ventures Capital), Benjamin Bergen (Council of Canadian Innovators | Conseil canadien des innovateurs (CCI)), Raymond Luk (Deloitte), and Amber Kanwar at CIX Summit, powered by Elevate. 🦫 Together they emphasized approaches to fostering a thriving Canadian business ecosystem that balances global engagement with domestic strength. 💪🏿 As Ben Bergen noted, "Democracy is a verb, not a noun." He emphasized the need for Canada to be more strategic and build economic sovereignty through innovation. Arlene Dickinson highlighted that now is the time for Canada to seize opportunities and focus on the last mile of productization and commercialization. Raymond Luk advocated for diversity as an engine of innovation, stating, "I believe in DEI... to hear from all communities that make up the tech community" to generate "the most diverse and best ideas." Thank you to our speakers for engaging with these vital conversations about Canada's innovation and tech strategy. 🍁 What's your vision for Canada's moonshot? 👏 Join the conversation. #CIXSummit #MadeInCanada #CanadianBusiness

🚀 CIX Innovator of the Year: Clio 🚀 A huge congratulations to Clio - Cloud-Based Legal Technology, our 2025 CIX Innovator of the Year! 🎉 #Clio has transformed #legaltech with cutting-edge, cloud-based solutions that streamline practice management and enhance client experiences. At #CIXSummit, Jack Newton sat down with Clio’s lead investor, Tony Florence, for an insightful fireside chat on Clio’s journey from startup to industry leader. Lisa Zarzeczny, Elevate Cofounder & CEO, presented the award with Claudio Rojas, CEO at the National Angel Capital Organization. Their discussion highlighted the power of innovation, perseverance, and scaling a disruptive business in Canada. Special thanks to NACO Canada for partnering on this session! 👏 Here’s to pushing the boundaries of tech & celebrating Canada’s brightest innovators! #AI #CdnInnovation