Startupfest 2027

About the event

Startupfest is an annual startup conference in Montreal, running since 2011 and describing itself as Canada's original startup event. It takes the form of a three-day, festival-style gathering on the Old Port waterfront rather than a conventional hall-based conference.

The program rests on three parts: stage content from speakers who also act as mentors, the Startupfest Village for networking, and pitch competitions with investment prizes. The organizer says it has awarded more than $9M in investment prizes over its history, with $100K prizes in categories such as Best of the Fest, Women in Tech and Black Entrepreneurs. In the Village, founders can book Mentor Office Hours, join Braindates and take part in curated Match-Ups. Topics are broad technology entrepreneurship, not mobile apps specifically.

The audience is founders, investors, accelerators, large companies, industry veterans and startup community members. The organizer states that a quarter of attendees are in a position to sign a term sheet, so the event is relevant for founders looking for early-stage capital and for investor conversations.

For app founders it is a general startup and fundraising event. It is not focused on app M&A, and there is no indication that app buyers or acquirers attend as a distinct group, so it is better suited to raising money and building contacts than to selling an app.

Who should attend

Best suited to early-stage founders, including app and SaaS founders, who want to meet investors and accelerators, get mentor feedback and possibly compete for investment prizes in a relaxed festival setting. Investors and accelerators can use it to see a broad range of startups.

Tip: before the event, prepare a short deck with your key metrics (revenue, retention, growth) and list the investors on the speaker and mentor pages you want to approach. If you plan to sell an app, use the event mainly to build relationships, since acquirers are not a stated audience.