DISRUPT with Ravi Ravindran

David joined York University in 2017 as the Entrepreneurship Manager for YSpace Markham. Prior to joining York University, David held various roles at The DMZ at Ryerson University, ranging from business development to creating programs for incubated startups. In addition to this, David has co-founded ZerotoStartup after graduation and he is involved with several non-for-profit organizations such as SAGE Canada and Pledges for Change.

David joined York University in 2017 as the Entrepreneurship Manager for YSpace Markham. Prior to joining York University, David held various roles at The DMZ at Ryerson University, ranging from business development to creating programs for incubated startups. In addition to this, David has co-founded ZerotoStartup after graduation and he is involved with several non-for-profit organizations such as SAGE Canada and Pledges for Change.  YSpace is York University’s community innovation hub located in Downtown Markham. They support a growing number of innovators by providing space for entrepreneurs and community members alike to collaborate and connect to resources within the University and throughout the York Region. YSpace welcome all innovators – whether you’re a student, alumni, or community entrepreneur, we want to create a diverse and supportive community!

Inclusivity, equality, transparency, and decentralization. These were the reasons Ruiting made the leap from a cushy 9-5 at one of Canada’s largest wealth managers to the exciting and unpredictable world of blockchain & crypto. Today, she leads talent acquisition & employee engagement initiatives at SwissBorg, a community-centric wealth management ecosystem using blockchain technology to give people greater control over their wealth. Her role is to build and retain a diverse global team of fintech experts, scientists, engineers, and designers spread across 4 countries.

She is also the proud co-founder of Tech & Tea, an inclusive Slack community that is focused on diversity in tech and connects tech workers, enthusiasts & entrepreneurs via free or heavily discounted events in Toronto. Filling an unmet need in Toronto’s tech ecosystem, the group has experienced rapid organic growth of over 1575% in just 3 months via word of mouth. She’s passionate about tech, education, financial inclusion, and the intersection between the three to make building wealth more accessible.

The SwissBorg Project aims to revolutionize asset management solutions with a community-centric approach powered by Ethereum. Members will be able to optimize their cryptocurrency holdings with the help of our Cyborg advisors and deep learning algorithms.

Ivy is the Co-Founder and Vice President of CMEOW. Her first entrepreneurial experience was when she was 17, running a fashion e-commerce business. When Ivy graduated from Ryerson University, she worked full time on her current food tech business scaling from 6-figures in revenue.  

CMEOW is Canada’ largest Asian food platform that unifies local restaurants with the community. Find an extensive selection of Asian restaurants around your neighbourhood that offers food delivery, mobile pickup, coupons and deals.

CMEOW is operating across 7 cities in Canada (Greater Toronto Area, Waterloo, Halifax, Edmonton, Ottawa, Montreal, Winnipeg, Waterloo). Our vision is to bridge the culture gap with a strong focus on authenticity and an uncompromising commitment to encourage discovery in Asian foods.

Peter Meng is a business designer with a passion to create. He bootstrapped a long-distance ride-sharing startup hoping to improve how North Americans travel in-between cities.

Weav believes with any journey, who you travel with can be more important than your destination. Their unique algorithm simplifies carpooling by matching riders and drivers travelling in the same direction together. This creates a seamless arrangement of shared rides between users and provides them with an application that is effortless, efficient and enabling. All you need to do is sign-up and tell us where you want to go. They automate the scheduling, payment and connect a community of carpoolers. As a driver, you can cover your costs and subsidize your journey by providing a rider with an empty seat. As a rider who may not have readily access to a vehicle, you can find someone travelling the same direction to get you where you want to go quicker. Weav presents the novel solution to city-to-city travel, commuting and carpooling problems

DISCLAIMER: the views, information, or opinions expressed during this episode are solely those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of the City of Toronto and its employees.

Over the span of his career Lawrence has been involved in a wide range of technology industries, holding various senior leadership positions including, Global Director of Customer Success within the Internet of Things (IOT) sector, Vice President of Technical Architecture and Director of Business Technology Solutions for an international business process outsourcing organization and Director of Information Services for one of Canada's top 60 pension and benefits plans. A successful track record of leading large transformative business and technology initiatives, he excels at leading organizations technology transition in delivering services in an evolving global environment.

What started out as a passion for covering conflict zones as a journalist, Matthew transitioned into election technology with a voters assistance application for the 2015 Canadian Federal Election. That experience led to Neuvote which has developed the worlds first hybrid mobile voting system which aims to utilize technology in new ways to solve real social challenges.

Michael has been a founder multiple times and loves seeing startups succeed. He has worked across the spectrum of budgets, from limited to limitless. After realizing the need for an external partner who shared the bottom line goals, he created an agency to do just that. Michael built Acquire with the intention of being a founding partner to all the companies they service, sharing a vested interest in the growth of the business while providing industry-leading data, strategy. and creative.

Previously, Michael co-founded SnapSaves, where he led all marketing initiatives, before the company was acquired by Groupon in 2014. At Groupon, he launched Snap by Groupon where he deployed millions of dollars of ad budget. Michael then went on to lead Groupon’s sales relationships with CPGs, working with Pepsi, P&G, Unilever and Coca-Cola. After leaving Groupon, Michael launched an e-commerce company that generated $500k in revenue by its second month using Facebook video ads.

Roberts Strenga, born in Latvia and moved to Canada for University because he wanted a new challenge and experience a new environment. Roberts has been racing for 9 years and was part of University of Toronto Formula Racing Team. 

Roberts shares how his experience as a racer has helped to guide him on his journey as an entrepreneur.  

Roberts is currently working on platform to help customers source and hire photographers and videographers.

Mithulan is an accounting and finance professional that began his career in public accounting, with a focus on the mining and energy sector as an auditor. He now manages the day-to-day accounting, financial, and administrative functions of private organizations with a view to developing operational efficiencies.  

Currently he works with a number of start-ups guiding management with financial decision making.  

Mithulan is a Chartered Accountant (CA) and a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA). Mithulan earned his Honours Bachelor of Accounting degree from the Goodman School of Business at Brock University.

Ashley Rahul Martis is an avid entrepreneur and networker. He has travelled across North America from Toronto, to New York, Miami, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, Montreal etc. He has met over 35,000 people in the past 8 years. During his travels he has met thousands of entrepreneurs and hundreds of investors. He himself has successfully launched various startups, and participated in the growth and sale of others.

Mr. Martis hosts an internet/YouTube show called StartupFuel interviewing entrepreneurs and their businesses to pitch to Angel and Venture Capital investors around North America.