Brand Health: Building Brands People Feel — Fireside + Sober Party at Canada's First Non-Alcoholic Bar
A fireside chat with Ivan Ho and Kyle Collier, moderated by Ryan Peerwani — followed by Toronto Tech Week's most unexpected after-party: a professional DJ, full sauna and cold plunge, and Canada's first fully non-alcoholic bar.
Run of show
7:00–7:30 — Welcome in the sauna. Get loose, meet the room, settle in.
7:30–8:00 — Fireside chat with Ivan Ho (NRG Haus) and Kyle Collier (Neobanc), moderated by Ryan Peerwani
8:00–10:30 — Sober party. Music, full mocktail bar, sauna and cold plunge open all night.
The founders
Ivan Ho is the founder of NRG Haus and the operator behind Fit Factory Fitness — recognised as Toronto's Best Boot Camp, Best Gym, and Best Fitness Club multiple times. Thirteen years of building a fitness brand people are genuinely devoted to, and a new venture (the one you're sitting in) that opened to a waiting community before it ever ran an ad.
Kyle Collier is the CEO and Co-founder of Neobanc — a Systems Design Engineer from UWaterloo, serial fintech entrepreneur with 15+ years of experience and multiple exits, who has grown past startups to over 80 million users globally and spoken at the United Nations on fintech innovation. Neobanc itself? 800% growth in five months on only half a million dollars of funding — the math only works when users bring users. That's not a funnel. That's a cult.
Different industries, same thesis: brands people feel aren't built by marketing. They're built by founders who understand what they're actually solving, then earn trust one user at a time. The brand is the relationship.
Notes
Bring swimwear for the sauna welcome — towels and robes provided
Phones go in lockers. Be present.
Functional mocktails all night — Lion's Mane, Ashwagandha, vitamins. Stay sharp.
About the space
NRG Haus is Toronto's first social wellness club — a 5,000 sq ft Liberty Village space combining guided contrast therapy, functional beverages, IV recovery, and intentional social design under one roof. Inside: a 55-person sauna, four immersive cold-plunge tubs each paired with a 16-foot LED screen running ocean waves and icefields, a tea lounge with a water-vapour fireplace, and a zero-proof bar pouring adaptogenic drinks built around Lion's Mane, Ashwagandha, and vitamins instead of alcohol. Phones go in lockers. Be fully present. You leave grounded, energized, and clear-headed — not depleted.
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.