The Sauga Startup Pitch and Showcase, Mississauga’s flagship startup pitch competition, took centre stage on November 12, spotlighting nine finalists from four regional incubators and accelerators. With $15,000 in cash plus in-kind prizes up for grabs, the event showcased the thriving entrepreneurial spirit in Mississauga and its surrounding communities.
Presented by IDEA Mississauga, ICUBE, SpinUp at the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM), and EDGE at Sheridan College, alongside FedDev Ontario, the competition demonstrated how a unified support network fuels local innovation. Eligible startups were affiliated with one of the participating programs and featured students or alumni of UofT and Sheridan College, as well as residents of Mississauga.
In front of an audience of investors, industry leaders, and aspiring entrepreneurs, competitors pitched in three categories: Innovation in STEM, Later Stage, and Early Stage. They were judged on overall business potential, including problem, solution, size of opportunity, and traction. A fourth award was given out to a People’s Choice winner.
Winner: Innovation in STEM
Water purification startup Xatoms, which leverages quantum chemistry and AI to tackle global water scarcity, claimed the $5,000 prize for Innovation in STEM. No stranger to winning big, Founder and CEO Diana Virgovicova reflected on the fierce competition and the validation that winning brought.
“This specific competition I think was very competitive. It really meant to me that we are building something that people appreciate,” she said.
Xatoms, currently incubated at UTM’s SpinUp, uses subsidized wet lab space to develop its groundbreaking technology.
“So far, it’s been amazing because they give us access to cheaper lab space than we could get anywhere else. And the equipment is also amazing for our experiments,” Virgovicova said.
With their first fundraising round underway, Xatoms aims to execute paid pilots in Kenya, South Africa, and the U.S., with the $5,000 prize money supporting equipment for a project delivering clean water to 10,000 people.
Winner: Later stage
Philer, an AI-powered startup simplifying real estate closings through advanced online legal services, won the $5,000 Later Stage prize. CEO Ankita Sharma, who pitched in the same competition last year but did not win, said winning this year was very reassuring.
“The judges and everyone were very excited to see our growth and the momentum we have created. It was very reassuring that we’re heading in the right direction,” she said.
Sharma plans to use the $5,000 winnings to host a community event for women in real estate, saying, “No one is bringing together women professionals, which is 60 percent of the industry. It comes from a personal place where we want to empower women professionals in the industry. And Mississauga is very diverse, very multicultural. We wanted to bring our diverse community together.”
Winner: Early Stage
Kushi Kaur, Founder and CEO of MangoVisa, shared similar sentiments about Mississauga’s diverse community, crediting her latest success as the pitch competition’s Early Stage category winner to the city’s supportive startup ecosystem.
Initially focused on helping international students find credible lawyers in Canada, MangoVisa is now expanding to serve young Canadians who want to work abroad.
“We are digitizing immigration for global citizens,” said Kaur. “When I was talking to lawyers, I realized they were looking for good clientele but not able to find them. Both of the marketplaces were in need of each other.”
MangoVisa’s victory was a testament to Mississauga’s growing support network, with Kaur praising IDEA Mississauga, a 4,300-square-foot facility created for local startups, scale-ups, corporate leaders, and investors to collaborate and grow together.
“IDEA was the first incubator where I didn’t have to drive 50 minutes into Toronto. And whoa, what a beautiful space it was,” said Kaur. “It’s a committee of people from the Mississauga library and the Mississauga government and people from the tech sector as well. The team was just so impressive to me. They were able to actually get meetings for me to be able to move forward to the next step.”
Winner: People’s Choice
A partnership between Nobellum and ICUBE, the home of social entrepreneurship and early-stage start-ups at UTM, is what helped Founder Abdel Ali win the People’s Choice award for his startup Kiwi Charge.
A robotics startup transforming EV charging, Kiwi Charge helps builders avoid the costly infrastructure required to set up charging stations by making robot chargers that autonomously navigate parking lots to charge vehicles.
“Nobellum and the support we received from UofT has been instrumental in getting us to where we are today,” said Ali. “The connections we made from the competition are crucial. We know it’s going to open up a lot of doors and give us exposure.”
Kiwi Charge is already operational in three buildings, with over 100 on the waitlist. After launching just a little over a year ago, they’re preparing for a pilot with a major developer and are planning to raise a seed round in the new year.
“A lot of times we’re at the leading edge of innovation and we’re doing things that no one else is doing,” said Ali of his fellow startup founders. “Winning is an opportunity to get validation to help you continue on your journey.”
All images provided by City of Mississauga Economic Development Office.
Learn more about the City of Mississauga’s IDEA Step-Up Program, which helps innovative and inclusive companies grow and overcome barriers. Applications are being accepted now.
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