On November 25th, 2021, Haltech Regional Innovation Centre hosted its 5th year of the Hi5 Pitching Competition. Returning to the Remo show floor for the third time since all events went virtual, the competition showcased 5-high potential Haltech clients who pitched their business to a panel of judges for a chance to win $5,000.
Haltech E.D. Shann McGrail sharing opening remarks
What is Hi5?
Hi5 is an annual pitch competition organized by Haltech Regional Innovation Centre and our valued corporate sponsors and partners. Our goal with Hi5 is to provide our founders and their start-ups with an opportunity to generate awareness for their company and brand, build the skills necessary to present in front of a broad audience and gain exposure to our broad ecosystem of industry partners to form new strategic connections.
The Ground Rules
Finalists are given 5-minutes to pitch their companies. After each presentation, the judges are given up to 10 minutes for Q&A.
- Business concept
- Target customer and market problem
- Uniqueness to competition
- Go to market strategy
- Overall presentation
The Finalists
A.I. Materia
AI Materia is a uniquely trained AI platform to accelerate accurate decision-making process for better and faster product development. By leveraging smart data infrastructure and advanced machine learning tools, the AI Materia’s technology integrates the technical materials and processing data with established scientific knowledge and provides actionable insights and solutions for more efficient development, optimization, and manufacturing.
Our mission is to accelerate sustainable innovations in materials development and manufacturing.
Nova
Nova is a powerful digital workspace where you and your team can work from idea to implementation and every step in between. Build a collaboration process with your team or for your clients, share it, template it, and repeat.
Not sure how to start? Browse Novas’s pre-built templates. You can choose from ready-to-use workflows – or create a custom process yourself and save it for future projects. Each tool and workflow is designed to guide you and your team through a structured process to help you achieve your goals.
Social Robots
Founded by Lee St James in 2019, Social Robots is a tech start-up specializing in using companion robots to support older adults. Her vision is to build Social Robots into a strategic partner to retirement homes. The goal is to help recreation leaders to leverage technology to better engage, educate and entertain residents and help older adults to thrive.
Sigma HealthTech
Sigma HealthTech are a group of Canadian physicians and technology leaders with more than four decades of experience, supported by world-class advisers and market leaders. We are unified with a common goal of creating disruptive change and innovation in the way healthcare engages with patients.
We leverage our expertise in Canadian healthcare and striving towards developing a broad portfolio of products designed to empower healthcare providers and patients.
We envision a world where everyone in the healthcare ecosystem is securely connected and in control of their information.
The GlobalPass
The GlobalPass was created with the objective of simplifying your pathway to an international destination. We aim to help you have the simplest of transition in order to get you to your international goals in a simple, quick and affordable manner.
Founded in 2020 for immigrants by two immigrants Christian Atangana and Adam Czach; The GlobalPass has been focused on building a modern tool in order to make the path of every student and immigrant as simple as possible as they are entering a new chapter of their lives.
The Awards
People’s Choice
Congratulations to Lee St. James of Social Robots for winning this year’s People’s Choice award, containing a cash prize of $1,000.
Hi5 2021 Winner
Congratulations to Dr. Rozario of Sigma HealthTech for being named this year’s competition winner. Our first place winner received a cash prize of $5,000. On top of that, Dr. Rozario will also receive complimentary access to ACE Coworking Oakville‘s private meeting room valued at $1,200, and complimentary Intellectual Property training up to $1,500 in value, courtesy of Bereskin & Parr.
Thank You
Panel of Judges
Check them out on socials:
- Jamie Barron | BDO Canada
- Izabela Goclik | TechPlace
- Maria Wei | Bereskin & Parr
- Neil Wilkinson | Equation Angels
- Jerome Joseph | OKR Financial
Pitch Practice Mentors
Thank you to our pitch practice mentors who donated their valuable time and expertise to ensuring this year’s finalists were well-prepared for their pitches.
Check them out on socials:
Sponsors and Partners
