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The marquee event of DMZ’s Women Innovation Programs, which have supported 4,200+ founders and helped raise $522M+ in capital, returns for its fourth year as AI, cybersecurity and defence signal a new chapter for women-led startups.
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Toronto, March 20, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Canada’s innovation ecosystem gathered in Toronto this week for DMZ’s fourth annual Women Innovation Summit, bringing together founders, investors and industry leaders to spotlight women-led companies building the future of technology. The Summit provides founders with the tools to become investor-ready, a national platform to showcase their work and direct access to an ecosystem invested in their success.
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At the centre of this year’s Summit, in partnership with Elevate, was a live pitch competition where 10 women-led startups from across Canada took the stage to present their companies. Selected through a national application process, this year’s finalists — Knead Technologies, ClassClown, Haibu Health, Dawn Energy, Athel AI, Quip Medical, Drawbridge, TalentIQ Technologies, Coraltalk and July Health — span sectors including AI-powered readiness intelligence for defence leaders, women’s reproductive health technology and climate tech, underscoring the breadth of impact women founders are driving across Canada’s startup ecosystem.
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Introduced this year, selected founders participated in a fundraising bootcamp in the weeks leading up to the Summit, designed to help them become investor-ready, strengthening their narratives, financial models and overall readiness for due diligence and investor conversations.
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DMZ Ventures led this year’s investments and is now proceeding to finalize investment terms.
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- July Health, a virtual reproductive health clinic providing early diagnosis and preventative care, received $100,000 in investment commitments.
- Knead Technologies, an all-in-one platform that helps organizations reduce food waste, received $50,000 in investment commitments.
- ClassClown, a voice-based AI learning platform that delivers personalized learning at scale, received $50,000 in investment commitments.
- In a surprise announcement, Isabelle Hudon, President and CEO of BDC, presented a $10,000 grant to Haibu Health — named the most courageous company of the event, a reflection of one of BDC’s core values.
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“Coming into this, I really felt like an underdog. I have no business background and we hadn’t won a pitch competition before. But I believed in what we’re trying to do, said Julie Mai Founder and CEO of July Health. For the last two years we’ve been bootstrapping, doing the best we could, and now we know our business works. This investment means we can help more Canadians get there a lot faster. It feels exciting, but also relieving that this is finally being recognized.”
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“Women founders across Canada are building in some of the most important and fast-moving sectors right now,” said Abdullah Snobar, Executive Director of DMZ and CEO of DMZ Ventures. “The Women Innovation Summit is designed to be a national platform that brings that work to the forefront, connecting founders to the capital, networks and insights they need to scale. As areas like AI, cybersecurity and defence quickly evolve, there is a real opportunity for founders to step in and lead. Our goal this year was to not only spotlight that opportunity, but to help founders understand where they fit and how to move.”
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