Pitches & Pitchers 2019: The Best Yet
This November, members of our innovation ecosystem came out to witness the next generation of ventures in the HATCH Accelerator program pitch at entrepreneurship@UBC’s Pitches & Pitchers 2019! What resulted was an evening packed with people, connections and compelling ideas set to impact the future of BC's tech and startup landscape.
Pitches & Pitchers is an annual pitch event that celebrates our incredible ecosystem of entrepreneurs. Selected ventures from the HATCH Accelerator program go through rounds of pitch training to perfect their presentation skills and clarify their key asks in preparation for the event.
This year was hosted by Entrepreneur in Residence Jon Cartwright, Founder and Chairman of Foodee and Chief Growth Officer of Zolo Realty. Packed with over 120 people, the room was teeming with anticipation as 13 entrepreneurs from the HATCH Accelerator program shared their game changing solutions to some of the world's most intricate problems.
Kicking off the evening, entrepreneurship@UBC Managing Director, Kari LaMotte, recognized the many organizations, institutes and people who have made the HATCH Accelerator program such a success. She thanked those who’ve played a critical role in helping the entrepreneurship@UBC ecosystem thrive, supporting the many passionate, skilled and ambitious entrepreneurs in the HATCH Accelerator program. She was followed by Rob Rohling, Director of the Institute for Computing, Information and Cognitive Systems (ICICS) who echoed her gratitude for the community.
“Pitches & Pitchers is an opportunity to share in the success of ventures who are part of the HATCH Accelerator program with our vibrant community of industry partners, collaborators and mentors. Much of our success is due to their ongoing support and generosity, and is just as much a celebration of them as it is the ventures.”
- Kari LaMotte, Managing Director, entrepreneurship@UBC
Sporting bright orange lanyards, founders pitched their venture in 90 second rounds in front of investors, industry partners, UBC faculty, mentors and more. In what shaped up to be the event’s biggest year to date, ventures delivered their solution to problems ranging from joint pain and delivery kiosks to chronic snoring and AI solutions for hiring. The ventures themselves ranged in maturity as two alumni, HeadCheck Health and Aeriosense, made an appearance, giving those in attendance an idea of the impact HATCH Accelerator graduates are having on the world.
“Pitches & Pitchers is an evening elevating the status of ventures in the HATCH Accelerator program, giving us the chance to show our progress and directly access a network of professionals who can help us achieve critical milestones in our venture building journey.”
- Brianna Blaney, Founder and CEO of deepND
Thank you to those who came out to support our community and give back to our outstanding ecosystem of entrepreneurs!
Next on the calendar, Investor Day 2020. We’ll see you there!
