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- He said "no" wasn't the answer. Then he closed $1.3M.
He said "no" wasn't the answer. Then he closed $1.3M.
Vancouver's fastest-growing startups. One stage. Monday night.
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Canadian platforms wanting to offer lending were almost always told no. Scott Elliot decided to build around it anyway.
🚀 When the default is "no," build around it.
At Brex, at Airwallex, at Keep, Scott watched the same problem repeat: platforms had the data and the customer relationships to offer financing to their SMB customers. What they didn't have was 12 to 18 months and bank-level compliance infrastructure to build it from scratch.
So he and co-founder Devin Picciolini built Slate - embedded lending infrastructure purpose-built for Canada, where open banking was finally shifting and the playbook from the US flatly didn't work. Slate handles the underwriting, the compliance, the capital, the risk. A platform plugs in and can offer lending in days, not months.
Scott spent over a decade in risk before this. That training almost worked against him. "In the startup I have to be on offense," he said on our Vancouver stage in February. "Most startups fail - balancing that reality with trying to grow has been incredibly painful."
But with ruthless iteration, something shifted.
"Watching it seem like we actually bend the odds."
Then Slate closed $1.3M in pre-seed, backed by N49P and North Exit Ventures.
Monday, he's back. This time on the Vancouver Rocketships stage, stop one of TechTO's national tour. And he's not alone.
Here are the 2026 Vancouver Canadian Rocketships Nominees:
Scott Elliot - Slate │ N49P
Embedded lending for Canadian platforms. $1.3M pre-seed closed. He talked about building through the no in February. Monday is what the yes looks like.
Athanasios Caramanolis - Soma Energy │ Chris Neumann
Built AWS's renewable energy team to 10 GW. Left to solve the same problem for the whole grid. $7M raised, out of stealth last month.
Shelby Yee - GroundedAI │ StandUp Ventures
AI-driven underground mapping for mining. Customers cutting data-to-reporting timelines by 50%+.
Cameron Frayne - Asset │ Ripple Ventures
Embedded AI accounting for vertical SaaS. The unglamorous infrastructure layer that breaks most companies quietly.
Anton Solonnikov - VitaminLab │ Relentless Ventures
Personalized supplements, formulated and manufactured in BC. Series A closed, 40+ employees.
Each VC gets 60 seconds. Each founder gets three minutes. Every company that takes the stage lands on the Canadian Rocketships shortlist - the annual ranking of high-velocity startups that top talent and serious investors watch heading into fall.
After the spotlights, 300+ builders, investors, and operators stay for the Web Summit Social. The week Web Summit hits Vancouver, this is where it starts.
Which sector on that list surprises you most? Hit reply
YC Canada - this week in review
Monday night, 42 founders came to our Y Combinator S26 prep session. Canadian YC alumni sat with them and went through real applications - line by line, out loud, before the 8pm PT deadline.
Wednesday night, the YC Canada Spring Social. Past and present YC founders in one room. With the community that keeps forming around almost two decades of batches. The people in that room on Wednesday were once exactly where Monday's applicants are now.
Jason Goldlist said it best:
So here is what this community keeps proving:
Apply before you feel ready. The bar is conviction, not credentials. Not age, not the perfect deck.
Obsess over the problem, not the pitch. YC doesn't fund ideas. It funds founders who understand their problem so deeply they can't be talked out of it.
Success doesn't replace community. Exits, backing from the best funds in the world, and they still show up on a Wednesday night in Toronto. That's what this community looks like.
Make something people want. Almost two decades. One lesson. Still the only one that matters.
Didn't apply this round? August is next. We prep every batch. Your spot at the next YC Canada Holiday Social is waiting.
Beyond the Trade - A New Era for Canadian Fintech
Questrade shipped more products in 2025 than in the previous seven years combined. They manage $85B in assets. They just secured a Schedule I banking license. They're moving faster than they ever have.
On May 26, senior and principal engineers and product managers get inside Questrade's new downtown Toronto office. A fireside with Chief Product Officer Hwan Kim and President of Growth Portfolio Salim Naran. A technical deep dive with heads of Technology, Customer Experience, and Banking. Open Q&A. Networking reception after.
This is part of our Toronto Tech Week events calendar. One of Canada's most established fintechs, at full speed, opening its doors.
Approval required. Spots are limited.
🗓️ TiEQuest Summit 2026: Monday, May 25 @ 8:30am - GET TICKETS
🗓️Beyond the Trade - A New Era for Canadian Fintech with Questrade: Tuesday, May 26 @ 4:30pm - REQUEST TO JOIN
🗓️ People First, Product Second: A Consumer Deep Dive with Maveron: Wednesday, May 27 @ 1:00pm - REQUEST TO JOIN
🗓️ Beyond the Bubble: An Intimate Chat with Will Hsu and Alex Norman: Wednesday, May 27 @ 4:00pm - REQUEST TO JOIN
🗓️ TechTO Summer Social: Wednesday, May 27 @ 6:00pm - GET TICKETS
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