Boast Funding Stage
Are you a CEO, COO, or CFO at a tech startup thinking about how to fund the next stage of growth?
This session is designed to help founders and operators understand the full funding journey - from bootstrapping and early traction to growth capital, international expansion, and the road to IPO.
We’ll break down the financing options available at each stage, explore the tradeoffs between dilutive and non-dilutive capital, and share practical insight on how to match the right funding strategy to the business you’re actually building - not just the one sitting in your spreadsheet.
If you’re trying to make smarter capital decisions, avoid common funding mistakes, and understand what options are really on the table, this session is for you.
Speakers
Jack is the CEO and Founder of Clio, the global leader in legal technology. An experienced business leader, technologist, and entrepreneur, Jack has propelled Clio to the forefront of the industry, shaping the future of how legal professionals work.
Robert Moore Ede is Senior Manager, Client Delivery at Boast, bringing over 25 years of experience in SR&ED, property assessment, and government incentives and compliance. He has managed multimillion-dollar claims across a wide range of industries, including automotive, aviation, construction, and utilities, and is known for his ability to translate complex technical content into clear, measurable value for clients.
Mike McDerment is the co-founder of FreshBooks, one of the world’s leading cloud accounting platforms for small businesses. He led the company as CEO for almost 20 years and remains board chair. He is also the co-founder and board chair of Briza, an insurance technology company focused on modernizing commercial insurance distribution. Mike is a builder, investor, advisor, and board chair with a long-standing interest in software, entrepreneurship, and how technology changes work. Mike is working on something new.
Anita Balakrishnan covers the professional services sector for The Logic, a Canadian tech and business news website. Her beat includes global accounting and consulting firms, the legal industry, and investments in the mining industry. She previously covered the auto industry and automotive tech. Before joining The Logic in 2021, Anita was a business reporter and editor at The Canadian Press and at Thomson Reuters’ Law Times, and was a tech and business reporter for CNBC.com. She is based in Toronto.
Mathew Mozaffari is the Founder of Speer, CTO of Grata, and one of Canada’s most recognized young technology entrepreneurs. He has been named a Top 30 Developer Under 30, represented Canada at the G20 Summit, and built and led companies recognized by The Globe and Mail as among Canada’s Fastest-Growing Companies in 2025. His work spans software engineering, intellectual property policy, and entrepreneurship, and he is a frequent speaker across the Canadian technology ecosystem.
Reza Khadjavi is the Co-Founder and CEO of Motion, with 10 years of experience building companies in the direct-to-consumer commerce space. Before Motion, he co-founded Shoelace - one of the first Shopify apps to automate advertising for merchants - which eventually evolved into a growth marketing agency serving top ecommerce and DTC brands.
Matt Mayers is the co-founder and COO of Spellbook, the leading AI product suite for contract workflows. Coming from an engineering and product design background, Matt was inspired to drive change in the legal industry after struggling to find accessible legal services as an entrepreneur. Spellbook is backed by leading investors such as Khosla Ventures, Inovia, RBCx, Thomson Reuters, and N49P.
Karamdeep Nijjar is a Partner at Inovia Capital, where he has spent over fourteen years building the firm's venture practice with a focus on B2B software and emerging technologies. His work has been central to building Inovia's presence in Toronto and the Kitchener-Waterloo region, and he has a track record of backing companies that go on to define their categories - including several acquired by Google, Rockwell, Vista Equity, and others. Before Inovia, Karam worked at RBC on cross-enterprise software architecture, and holds an MBA from Ivey and a degree in Math and Computer Science from the University of Waterloo.
Thanks To Our Partners
Boast is an R&D tax credit solution that combines technical and R&D tax expertise with AI to simplify claim preparation and maximize returns in Canada and the United States.
Co-organized with the Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus - U of T Ecosystem team, connecting innovators and leaders shaping the future of tech.
TechTO is Canada’s largest community of tech builders - connecting 60,000+ founders, operators, and investors through year-round meetups, curated dinners, peer tables, and media storytelling. Interested in learning more? techto.org. For sponsorship inquiries, reach out to [email protected].
Toronto Tech Week is a citywide celebration of the people building what’s next. From May 25–29, 2026, founders, investors, and builders come together for hundreds of community-led events across Toronto, connecting tens of thousands of people around Canadian tech. Torontotechweek.com
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