The Women Behind the Next Great Innovations

🌟 SPEAKER SPOTLIGHT

Meet the women behind the best health tech companies and ideas transforming the industry. They will all join us on September 10 to present their takes and advice for what’s next in health and how you can get your own ideas off the ground.

Fazila Seker, CEO of Insight Medbotics, is revolutionizing prostate cancer care with MRI-compatible robotics. Her company’s technology provides greater precision for needle procedures in soft tissues, a problem affecting millions. The inspiration for the company's direction came from extensive market research and direct conversations with physicians who rely on MRI information but lack the tools to perform procedures inside the machine. Now, with a FDA 510(k) clearance (the only company to achieve this for use of a robot with an MRI) and a growing list of interested hospitals and strategic partners, the market's strong reception is a testament to the team’s rigorous upfront discovery and how new innovations continue to propel us forward in the space.

What you’ll learn:

• How to better understand your customer: Learn how to gain a deep understanding of who you're building for.

• How you can develop strong alliances: Get tips on how to build powerful partnerships within your industry.

• The ultimate guide to gaining industry traction: Discover key insights on how to get your business moving and gain momentum.

• How to build a company: With two successful ventures, you’ll hear about how Fazila managed to make multiple impacts in the health space.

After her mother’s passing from late-stage cancer in 2011, Optimity Co-Founder and CEO Jane Wang, pivoted from her career in mortality risk to a personal mission: making preventative health more accessible. She was inspired to transform overwhelming topics like health and finance into engaging, rewarding experiences. After co-founding her first company in 2013 and testing an early version of a health-coaching app, she and her team eventually built Optimity's platform, which uses gamification, micro-learning, and behavioral science to encourage users to improve their well-being. Jane advises other founders to lead with integrity, build resilience, and recognize that every "no" is a step toward a "yes."

What you’ll learn:

• How you can make a real-world impact: Learn how to create a meaningful difference with your work.

• How to find the right mentors: Discover how to identify and connect with mentors who can guide your business.

• Why you need to build a supportive network: Find out how to surround yourself with people who will support you as you build something impactful.

Lori Casselman is the founder and CEO of June Health, a virtual care platform dedicated to supporting women through perimenopause and menopause. The company provides personalized, expert-led care through a multidisciplinary team of healthcare professionals, with a focus on serving as a workplace benefit for employers. The inspiration for June Health came from Casselman's own seven-year journey to get a perimenopause diagnosis and treatment, which highlighted a major gap in healthcare and employee benefits.

What you’ll learn:

• How any experience can spark innovation: Casselman's frustration with the healthcare system motivated her to create a solution for a critical, unmet need.

• Why industry expertise is key: Her leadership roles at Sun Life and Telus Health provided her with the deep knowledge needed to build her company.

• Why partnerships are essential to your business/idea: Her story highlights the importance of building strategic relationships to successfully launch a new solution.

As the founder and CEO of Maman Biomedical, Latchmi Raghunanan is tackling a major pain point in fertility treatments: the burden of daily injections. Her company is developing novel drug delivery systems, like therapeutic patches and microneedle platforms, to replace the multiple injections currently required. The inspiration for this venture came directly from her own challenging experience with fertility treatments, where she saw a clear need for a more patient-friendly solution.

What you’ll learn:

• Why personal experience is important for fuelling innovation: Raghunanan's frustration with an outdated system drove her to create a new solution.

• How non-linear career paths are valuable: She transitioned from a successful academic career to a startup, proving that impactful opportunities can arise outside of traditional career progression.

• Why lived experience is a powerful motivator: Her unique background was the most compelling reason for her to build a better solution.

🔥 TORONTO TECH WEEK REPLAY

Toronto Tech Week was busy- TechTO produced 17 events in just one week! We’ve got hours of footage, and over the next month we’ll be dropping a few talks per week so you can catch the highlights (or rewatch your favorites) even if you weren’t among the thousands who joined us live at the TechTO HQ at StartWell.

💡This panel discussion, presented in partnership with StandUp Ventures, CIBC, Mantle and Dentons, featured three inspiring women Founders, all of whom shared their powerful takeaways on how today’s leaders are building and the most important lessons that will support you on your own founder journey.

What you’ll learn from Mallorie Brodie, Candice Faktor and Shelby Austin:

• The importance of failing and trying again → As founders, it’s all how we approach failures of building. How do we pivot and learn from the past in order to keep building for the future.
  

• Why you don’t always have an ‘aha’ moment → Gain diverse perspectives on getting started. It doesn’t always begin with a lightbulb moment.
  

• Creating a powerful dynamic that attracts investors → How to get interest from one that can lead you to interest from many.
  

• Facing early startup challenges → How you can pivot in tough moments to get back on track, especially early on.
  

  
  

👉 If you’re building a company or looking for inspiration for your journey, this talk is packed with powerful lessons on fundraising, finding your footing in your industry, building powerful relationships, and staying resilient.

^{Thank you to our production and venue partner StartWell for supporting us during Toronto Tech Week. Learn more about StartWell’s campus and production options at https://startwell.co.}

✨ UPCOMING EVENTS

Don’t forget to join us IRL again on September 8!

Get ready to level up. The biggest tech meetup in Toronto is back, and we’re bringing together the next great ideas and innovators, together in real life.

With over 500 tech leaders, innovators, and creators all in one room, this isn't just a networking event—it's the epicenter of the Canadian tech scene.

• Emma Stern (Felix Health) co-founded Canada's first fully integrated digital healthcare platform and now serves 1M+ Canadians across 16+ treatment areas- with a focus on stigma-free, inclusive care.
  
  

• Colin Gagich (Inference Labs) is building verifiable and decentralized AI infrastructure at the intersection of AI and Web3.
  
  

• Raz Zohar (Mave) discovered real estate agents spend 35+ hours per transaction on admin work, so he built an AI assistant that works via text messaging. Just raised a $2M pre-seed.
  
  

• JUST ANNOUNCED — Madge Rumman (Blair Health) with an impressive career of building and scaling companies, Madge joins us to share how she is revolutionizing the health space with her current venture, Blair Health and how you can start scaling your ideas today.

Don’t forget to lock in your year of TechTO! Subscribe to our full events calendar

💼 NEXT BIG GIGS

Check out the next big gigs in tech we think you’ll love:

• Sentry, who is helping developers find broken code fast using its state of the art debugging platform, is currently hiring 11 roles across Product Design, Engineering, Product Marketing and more!
  

• Are you interested in joining a Canadian prop-tech startup leading the charge in real estate innovation? Join myabode as their next Head of Financial Planning and Analysis in Toronto.
  

• Relay Financial, whom is reinventing the way small businesses bank, is looking for their next Talent Acquisition Partner to help execute their full recruitment cycle. Be part of hiring the next best talent for a rapidly growing FinTech company.

Looking to hire or get hired? Check out the TechTO Job Board to see 1,000+ opportunities and learn how to get your companies jobs featured.

🤝 GET MORE WITH TECHTO

If you’re looking for more ways to connect with the tech world, our TechTO Membership is a great way to interact with others building in the space.

Our membership program already supports hundreds of entrepreneurs and professionals building the next best companies in Canadian tech. Take advantage of exclusive members-only events, and opportunities to meet those who will inspire your next big idea. Learn more about our Membership options here.