#CCS2016 Blog | March 9, 2016

SmartHalo, Rna Diagnostics, The Sharing Depot and Yirego receive "Front of the Line" Golden Tickets to CBC Dragon's Den audition

On Thursday, March 3, 12 finalists pitched their startups in front of a panel of judges and the crowd at the 2016 Canadian Crowdfunding Summit (#CCS2016) at MaRS Discovery District. 4 out of the 12 finalists won a “Front of the Line” Golden Ticket to the Toronto audition of CBC Dragon’s Den, guaranteeing them a chance to pitch in front of the infamous dragons! Winners will also receive a copy of Mark Evans book Storytelling for Startups, as well as one hour of free consulting with Mark himself.

The winners of each session are as follows: SmartHalo (Xavier Peich), Rna Diagnostics (John Connolly), The Sharing Depot (Ryan Dyment) and Yirego (Megan Savage).

Xavier Peich of SmartHalo

John Connolly of Rna Diagnostics

Ryan Dyment of The Sharing Depot

Megan Savage of Yirego

Each pitch session was led by a #CCS2016 startup ecosystem partner, with the following schedule and judging panel:

1. Live Pitching Live Pitching 1 – Session Lead: DMZ (1:15 PM post-revenue)
   • Pitchers: Pinnguaq (Ryan Oliver), SmartHalo (Xavier Peich), Riipen (Richard Tuck)
   • Judges: Bill Morrow (Angels Den), Sherif El­Tawil (DMZ), Kathryn Wortsman (MaRS)
2. Live Pitching Live Pitching 2 – Session Lead: Founder Institute (2:00 PM pre-revenue)
   • Pitchers: Vizwik (Simon Gauvin), Flipd (Andres Moreno), Rna Diagnostics (John Connolly)
   • Judges: Kamal Hussein (IncMind), Dr. Marat Ressin (YEDInstitute), Russell Samuels (Whitecap Venture Partners)
3. Live Pitching Live Pitching 3 – Session Lead: Startup Canada (3:00 PM post-revenue)
   • Pitchers: Stashbelt (Jonah Brotman), Comfable (Neda Ghazi), The Sharing Depot (Ryan Dyment)
   • Judges: Sean Burke (Frontfundr), Jim Orlando (OMERS Ventures), Sean Wise (Ryerson University)
4. Live Pitching Live Pitching 4 – Session Lead: MaRS (3:45 PM pre-revenue)
   • Pitchers: Yirego (Megan Savage), NERv (Amr Abdelgawad), Eye-LIVE (Murray McKercher and David Baker)
   • Judges: Ben Zlotnick (INcubes), Mark Skapinker (Brightspark Ventures), Anthony Lipschitz (Thinking Capital)

Congratulations to the winners and all the companies who pitched! We look forward to #CCS2017! Click here to view the full #CCS2016 photo album.

The National Crowdfunding Association of Canada (NCFA Canada) is a cross-Canada non-profit actively engaged with both social and investment crowdfunding stakeholders across the country. NCFA Canada provides education, research, leadership, support and networking opportunities to over 1300+ members and works closely with industry, government, academia, community and eco-system partners and affiliates to create a strong and vibrant crowdfunding industry in Canada. Learn more About Us or visit ncfacanada.org.