Boast Funding Stage @ TechTO HQ
Build, Scale, Expand: A Founder’s Guide to Funding the Journey
Are you the CEO, COO or CFO of a technology company? Are you curious about different ways to fund your business? This half-day event will walk you through every step of a company's funding journey from bootstrapping to IPO.
Agenda
The day will run approx. 4.5 hours with plenty of time for the audience to engage and ask questions. The programming will include sessions on the following topics:
Introduction on Stages of Tech Financing
Bootstrapping
Raising VC in the US (Canadian VCs in the US)
Non-Dilutive Financing Options
Funding International Expansion
Private Equity
The Road To IPO
Featured Speakers
Alex Norman is the Partner of N49P, Co-Founder of TechTO, and AngelList Canadian Partner. Previously Alex established and led AngelList Ventures in Canada, co-founded HomeSav which was acquired by Rebellion Media and helped launch Simply Business which was acquired by The Travelers Cos. Alex also has significant professional services experience having worked for McKinsey & Company and Lehman Brothers in their technology mergers and acquisition group.
Dylan Itzikowitz is a proud Canadian who has spent the last eight years working in venture capital across the UK, NYC, and San Francisco. He is currently on the investment team at South Park Commons VC Fund, where he focuses on being the best early partner to founders and scaling the SPC NYC community. Previously, Dylan was a Principal at Expa in NYC, investing in early-stage startups. He is an active contributor to the NYC startup ecosystem, regularly hosting meetups, dinners, and events that engage thousands across the community. Before Expa, Dylan spent several years in London as an investor at Founders Factory, a pre-seed fund and venture studio.
Jordan Wan is the General Partner at CoFound, a pre-seed and seed fund helping startups find product-market fit and build a scalable go-to-market motion. CoFound invests in thesis-driven founders who are taking a disruptive new approach to complex problems often combining software, hardware, services, and other modes of innovation. Previously, Jordan was the founder of Formative, an early stage executive search firm that scaled 900+ startups, including Algolia, Oscar Insurance, Datadog, and Monday.com. He started his career at Bridgewater Associates and led GTM strategy at ZocDoc. Jordan holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Computer Science from MIT and is a CFA charterholder. His investments include unicorns such as Grow Therapy, Garner Health, and many other breakout companies where he helped the founders in the earliest stages of founder-led sales.
Gaurav Jain is the Co-Founder of Afore Capital, the largest venture fund solely focused on pre-seed investments with over $500M in assets under management. Afore backs companies at their earliest stages, often before other VCs are ready, and helps them scale to institutional readiness.
Before Afore, Gaurav made 26 seed-stage investments at Founder Collective, including Cruise Automation (acquired by GM for $1B+) and Firebase (acquired by Google). He was also among the first Product Managers for Android, leading the Nexus product line and receiving the Founders Award, Google’s highest employee honor. Earlier in his career, he co-founded Polar, a pioneering native ads platform launched in 2007.
Carlos Coelho is Heads of Sales at Boast, he brings over 20 years of experience in sales, business development, and marketing across both startups and global tech companies. As a passionate tech leader and mentor, he thrives on helping innovative teams grow and succeed. At Boast, Carlos leads the Sales team and has driven 4x ARR growth in just three years. Boast has delivered over $600M in tax credits using a unique blend of AI and R&D tax expertise to support companies across Canada and the U.S.
Kevan Olander is a Principal at Spectrum Equity, a leading growth equity firm that invests in innovative software and data companies. With over 30 years of experience, Spectrum has partnered with founders of category-defining businesses like Ancestry, Verafin, Lynda.com, Definitive Healthcare, GoodRx, Varicent, Lucid, and SurveyMonkey. The firm is currently investing out of its $2 billion tenth fund. Since joining in 2020, Kevan has worked on investments in Headspace Health, Otter.ai, Employee Navigator, Rover, Scribd, ExamSoft, and Teachers Pay Teachers. He brings deep expertise in scaling tech-enabled businesses and is a graduate of Boston College.
Tarig Abdellatief is the Managing Director at Arctech Accelerate, where his leadership has helped clients secure over $300 million in funding across diverse industries. With deep expertise in government grants, contracts, and policy navigation, Tarig and his team empower tech companies, startups, and not-for-profits to achieve sustainable growth. His approach combines strategic partnerships, business development acumen, and a relentless focus on innovation and client success. Under his direction, Arctech Accelerate has become a trusted advisor and catalyst for organizations seeking to maximize funding opportunities in today’s competitive landscape.
More to be announced. Stay tuned!
Thanks To Our Sponsors!
If you would like to know more about our sponsors, please visit:
Boast
Export Development Canada
Spectrum Equity
We are officially part of Toronto Tech Week 2025, a weeklong citywide collection of events to connect and celebrate the builders. June 23 → June 27, 2025 | torontotechweek.com.