Introducing the 20 Startups of the Movement51 Founder Lab: 2024 Cohort
As the Great Wealth Transfer unfolds, women and women founders are poised to gain unprecedented access to financial resources, fostering greater entrepreneurship, investment, and economic empowerment. This shift signals a new narrative where women inherit, create, and control wealth more than ever before.
To support this momentum, the Movement51 Founder Lab, a one-of-its-kind investment readiness program in Canada, is championing women and gender-diverse entrepreneurs to navigate fundraising challenges and build financing strategies from Pre-Seed to Series A.
Heading into our third cohort, the equity-free, 10-week intensive hybrid program has evolved and gotten even better. We’ve developed a tailored playbook for our participants, and based on feedback we’ve received, we’ve adapted and included new modules to fulfill what founders today are looking to learn—all of which we’ve invited our past cohorts to engage with and upskill.
Earlier this year, we put out a call for applications for our Founder Lab. Today, we are excited to announce the 20 companies joining the 2024 Founder Lab cohort.
Meet them here:
Alea (Quebec) is on a mission to make clean and sustainable period products more accessible, offering a turnkey solution to organizations that wish to provide free organic, non-toxic, and sustainable period care products to their employees/students.
Binoloop (Alberta) helps organizations make better, faster and fairer decisions for critical applications about people, companies, and technologies through their flagship product, Tally.
DOUBL (Ontario) is the first to market made-to-measure bras ordered and fitted directly from your smartphone in your living room.
EmployNXT (Nova Scotia) revolutionizes recruitment by combining AI technology with community-driven events to foster diversity and inclusion in hiring practices.
FLIGHTFUD (British Columbia) was created so that you can travel more and stay healthy with their flagship products: a formulated superfood healthy travel drink mix which supports travel health 6 ways.
Helpful Places (Ontario) works with organizations around the world to deploy the open-source communication standard Digital Trust for Places and Routines so that they can operationalize smart city and innovation principles.
Kindr (Alberta) is a social impact platform that connects impact organizations, investors, and individuals to drive measurable, transparent, and collective change.
LifeEngine (Quebec) is the only user-friendly dynamic blood flow simulation on a realistic human model or cadaver that can be easily deployed in any simulation center, providing labs, medtech companies and surgeons the opportunity to extensively test and practice new techniques at lower costs and risks.
My Normative (Alberta) is a female-focused health platform disrupting the sex and gender data gap through validated data collection, management, and analytical processes.
My Well Self (Ontario) helps employees hack their HSA (health spending account) dollars and help better organize their well-being with AI and virtual support.
Ricci Cannabis (Prince Edward Island) sells non-alcoholic wine beverages infused with cannabis.
RLP Industries (Quebec) creates both software-only and wearable technology solutions to combat women's safety issues in public and private life.
7 Summits Snacks (Alberta) is a women owned and led superfood chocolate company that provides purposeful chocolate, made by athletes, for athletes.
LEWK (Alberta) leverages the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning to deliver hyper-personalized styling advice and shoppable mood boards for online shoppers.
Small Bits of Happiness (Alberta) provides tools for individuals of all ages to find more happiness daily, build happy habits, and connect parents with their children and teens.
Smart Home Gadgets (British Columbia) is a one-stop smart home shop that combines the best knowledge, compatibility, and selection of smart home devices in one comprehensive platform, to make it simple to build the perfect smart home.
Spero Careers Canada Inc. (Ontario) builds employment solutions with the neurodivergent community through asking, listening, and being creative to help solve the unemployment crisis.
Starluv (Newfoundland and Labrador) offers a community-driven platform where Canadians can buy and sell new and pre-loved items with ease and confidence, set apart by their commitment to sustainability, fostering a positive community, and dedication toward more responsible consumption.
The Better Butchers (British Columbia) develops meat alternatives powered by mushrooms for a superior nutrition, taste, and texture for clean proteins that are better for you, better for the planet, and better for the animals.
VVector Bio (Quebec) is developing innovative technologies to alleviate current biomanufacturing challenges for cell and gene therapies to treat incurable diseases.
The Founder Lab is powered by TD National Bank, NRC IRAP, and Alberta Innovates, and it’s with their support we look forward to kicking off this cohort on April 23, 2024! All classes are led by accomplished founders, angels, and venture capitalists, and combine traditional lectures with hands-on learning to help these talented and motivated founders build their playbook.
If you read through these companies and thought, “I’d love to support an idea or founder like that someday!” we’ve got programs for being on the other side of the table as an early-stage investor, too.
Explore how your dollars can power the next generation of future-fit, feminist businesses through upcoming one-day Investor Lab Bootcamps or our full Investor Lab.
Recommended reading:
Meet Founder Lab alumni: Genna Woolston, Cheryl LaBarr
