MaRS Capital x Growth Partners: Date The Funds
About The Event
This past May during Toronto Tech Week, 300 founders and 75+ investors filled a room for our inaugural Meet The Funds event and watched Canada's most active funds pitch founders, instead of the other way around.
In the last two months: one deal has closed and four more are in diligence.
Date The Funds during Toronto’s Elevate Festival is what comes next, and we’re deliberately making it smaller.
This one is about depth, not breath.
The volume turned down and the matching turned all the way up.
Format
It's lunch, not speed dating.
A room with round tables and curated investors and aligned founders at each.
Nobody picks their own seat. We build the chart by hand from what both sides tell us on the application: stage, sector, cheque size, revenue, raise timeline. Founders are placed in front of investors who write cheques at their stage. Investors get a table built around their thesis.
You’ve been set up.
That’s the whole point.
If you're a founder
You may have heard some VCs pitch at our first Meet The Funds event.
Now they hear you.
You'll get to know the investors at your table and other Founders building in the same space. Then you'll have the floor for about 5-10 minutes, uninterrupted, to share your pitch and anwer any questions from the VCs at your table.
If you're an investor
You may have pitched at our Meet The Funds event. This time you listen.
A table with Founders, screened before they sat down.
None of them a surprise. We know their sector, business model, revenue, what they've raised, and how much they’re looking for in their next round. We won't seat anyone with you who's outside your stage or your thesis.
A week of sourcing calls, compressed into a 90-minute lunch event.
It's a first date
We want to be clear about what this is. Nobody is closing a round over lunch and nobody is writing a term sheet on a napkin. This is the start of something, not the close. One or two real conversations with people who were chosen for you, and a reason to follow up on Wednesday.
Agenda
12:00 pm - Open Networking & Lunch
12:15 pm - Opening Remarks
12:20 pm - The Setup (round table pitches)
1:20 pm - Closing Remarks
1:30 pm - Doors Stay Open for Networking
Lunch is served and we’ll make sure to have some gluten-free and vegan options.
Your Hosts
Growth Partners - A fractional CFO advisory firm that helps seed and Series A startups build the financial infrastructure to raise, scale, and win.
AND
Liam Gill - Leads the Capital Program at MaRS Discovery District, supporting Canadian ventures in raising the capital they need to grow and scale in Canada and beyond. Liam is a former startup founder, angel investor and lawyer.
This event is hosted at MaRS Discovery District.
ATTENDANCE BY INVITATION ONLY
If you haven't been invited but want to attend, go ahead and apply. Our organizing team will get in touch when they see your application.
Location
MaRS Centre, Collaboration Room 3 (661 University Ave)