Sudbury-based startup wins People’s Choice at NORCAT’s annual PITCH event

Karen Hastie was just looking for an investor as passionate about small business as she was.

The founder of Chamber Perks Mobile App ended up taking home the People’s Choice PITCH at Venture North PITCH 2024 in Sudbury on Thursday.

Sudbury-based NORCAT provides mentorship and direction to startups. It’s been holding its annual PITCH event for the past 10 years.

Four startups pitched their plans before the three judges and a crowd in the auditorium at Place des Arts in downtown Sudbury.

Hastie took the People’s Choice, which was decided by the audience. The prize was $5,000 and a one-year Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce membership.

Chamber Perks Mobile App is a platform for chambers of commerce that directly connects them with consumers through exclusive perks from local businesses.

"As a small business owner myself I’ve always struggled with finding ways to grow my network, advertise and really get to save money and make money," Hastie said.

"So to me, the technology became something that I thought we needed to look at. I just wanted to be able to help chambers and get money back into our local economy."

Sudbury-based NORCAT provides mentorship and direction to startups. It’s been holding its annual PITCH event for the past 10 years. (Angela Gemmill/CTV News)

The Judge’s Choice went to VETSon, which was pitched by founder Dr Colin Yates of Norwich, Ont. That prize was $10,000 and in-kind vouchers to support business development. VETSon is a telemedicine platform for veterinary practices.

Two other startups from Nova Scotia also pitched their businesses: Scient, by founder Masoud Aali, and Drinkable, by founder Matt Mizzi.

The guest speaker for the event was Sean Wise, an entrepreneur and university professor in Toronto, who knows what it takes to not only pitch a business investment but what it takes for that business to succeed.

Adviser on Dragon's Den

His expertise includes 10 years of working and advising behind the scenes on the television show, Dragon’s Den.

"It’s never a straight line," Wise said of succeeding at business.

"Every entrepreneurial journey is filled with obstacles and problems. You have to learn to be resilient in those situations and instead of being perfect, just focus on one foot in front of the other on the way to success."

Along with being the guest speaker at Venture North PITCH 2024, Wise moderated some fireside chats and helped judge the annual PITCH event.

"We’ve been working with the startups for a couple of months now, perfecting their pitch," said Brendan Skiffington, manager of NORCAT innovation.

"Really, it’s about delivering in the 10 minutes all the information an investor wants to know and intrigue them to have a follow-up meeting with them afterwards to learn the details. So enough to entice an investor (to) let them know they’re going to make some money from their investment."

For this year’s event, NORCAT joined forces with Northern Ontario Angels, which links investors with potential partner companies.

"Companies have accessed the mentorship and expertise within NORCAT to really get their business to a certain point where it's ready to attract investment," said Ian Lane, of Northern Ontario Angels.

"That’s where we come in through the Northern Ontario Angels. We have several of our angels in the crowd tonight and hopefully they’re compelled enough to write some cheques to these companies to help them grow and innovate in Sudbury and northern Ontario."

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Hastie said she was also hoping to connect with an investor for her business, someone "passionate about helping small business and sees the value of putting money back into our local economy."

"That’s what I was hoping to do tonight," she said.

Also new this year was the addition of the Sudbury Catalyst Fund. The four startups will do a secondary pitch to board investors and the winner will win the $250,000 investment opportunity.

Because this decision involves a board, that announcement could take a few weeks. To be eligible, candidates must commit to operating the majority of their company in the City of Greater Sudbury and must have qualified investment interest from Angel investors.