Founders of VendorPM, Shakudo, Moment Energy among C100’s 2023 fellows

Shakudo closes $9.5-million CAD Series A to help companies adopt generative AI

C100 also appointed PointClickCare CEO Mike Wessinger, Kijiji founder as co-chairs.

Non-profit Canadian tech member association The C100 has unveiled the participants in this year’s installation of its fellowship program, including founders of notable early Canadian startups such as VendorPM, Shakudo, and Moment Energy.

The C100’s annual fellowship program was created in 2010 to provide support and mentorship to about 20 Canadian early-stage startups. Since its inception, the organization claims 300 founders have gone through the program.

Under the yearlong program, participating founders will receive mentorship and attend collaborative events meant to help them “navigate the challenges of scaling their ventures and impacting the Canadian tech ecosystem.”

The cohort will meet in San Francisco in September to participate in 48Hrs–the C100’s flagship event that gives a select group of Canadian entrepreneurs access to networking, mentoring, and business growth opportunities in Silicon Valley.

A number of startups included in this installment of the C100’s fellowship program have achieved several business milestones in the last couple of years.

VendorPM, which was founded in 2018 by Emiel Bril, raised a $20-million Series A round last year. This week, the Toronto-based proptech startup was named recipient of the “Commercial Property Management Platform of the Year” award by market-intelligence organization PropTech Breakthrough.

For Shakudo’s part, it secured $9.5-million in Series A funding in July after raising its $4.2 million seed round in 2021. Founded in 2021 by Yevgeniy Vahlis, Stella Wu, and Christine Yuen–who have collective experience from Georgian Partners, Borealis AI, and BMO–Shakudo aims to make it easier for firms to adopt AI through its software platform.

RELATED: Shakudo closes $9.5-million CAD Series A to help companies adopt generative AI

Moment Energy, which is based in Port Coquitlam, BC, creates energy-storage solutions from repurposed electric vehicle (EV) batteries. Led by Edward Chiang, it previously raised $3.5 million in seed financing in 2021 and has established supply agreements with EV makers like Nissan Motor Co. and Mercedes-Benz.

Here is the full list of startups and their founders participating in C100’s fellowship program this year.

Agora – Charlie Feng, Kent Fenwick
Gotcare – Chenny Xia, Carol MacDonald
Three Ships Beauty – Connie Lo, Laura Burget
Pilot – Connor Wilson
Moment Energy – Edward Chiang
VendorPM – Emiel Bril
Rebelstork – Emily Hosie
CentML – Gennady Pekhimenko, Shang Wang, and Akbar Nurlybaev
FutureFit AI – Hamoon Ekhtiari, Teralynn Forsyth
Durable – James Clift
Minerva AI – Jennifer Arnold
DINR – Jennifer Tremblay
Vivid Machines – Jenny Lemieux, Jonathan Binas
A&K Robotics – Jessica Yip
Masterpiece Studio – Jonathan Gagne
Shoelace Learning – Julia Rivard Dexter
Flint Healthcare – Kenton Jarvie
Halp – Matthew McLellan, Justin Mills, Marc Fielding
Periculum – Michael Collins
Private AI – Patricia Thaine
Stan – Vitalii Dodonov
Shakudo – Yevgeniy Vahlis, Stella Wu, Christine Yuen

To bolster its support for Canadian founders, the C100 recently made a couple of new additions to its board. In July, it enlisted PointClickCare CEO Mike Wessinger as co-chair, alongside Kijiji founder and Canadian venture capitalist Janet Bannister. Pacaso COO Lara Cumberland was also appointed to the C100’s board of directors.

Feature image courtesy Shakudo.

.

Author: George Holt