The event, organized by the Black Entrepreneurship Alliance (BEA<\/a>) in partnership with YSpace<\/a> at York University, won\u2019t be your run-of-the-mill mixer. Before the doors even open, the event\u2019s organizers will have already mapped the room.<\/p>\n \u201cStrong founders are building in isolation without proximity to technical co-founders, early adopters, or capital networks that actually help ideas move. For Black and racialized founders, that gap is deeper.\u201d<\/p>\n Nunu Francisco, According to Nunu Francisco, Startup and Technology Industry Program Officer at BEA, the event\u2019s organizers are rethinking how co-founder relationships form.<\/p>\n \u201cStrong founders are building in isolation without proximity to technical co-founders, early adopters, or capital networks that actually help ideas move,\u201d Francisco said. \u201cFor Black and racialized founders, that gap is deeper.\u201d<\/p>\n According to data<\/a> from BKR Capital, venture funding to Black-led startups contracted sharply in 2025, falling to just 0.15 percent of all Canadian VC funding. That\u2019s despite the pipeline of Black-led startups in Canada growing that year. The numbers point to continued structural barriers in how racialized founders access opportunities.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve seen founders stall not because the idea isn\u2019t strong, but because they don\u2019t have the right people around them to pressure-test ideas, build with, and open doors,\u201d Francisco said.<\/p>\n Co-Founder Connect is designed to help founders buck that trend. Attendees can pre-register for specific tracks based on whether they are a founder, operator, technical builder, or early-career professional. They can also share what they\u2019re looking for out of the event, what they bring to the table, and what they\u2019re building.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can see who aligns, who\u2019s building in similar spaces, and who actually complements each other,\u201d Francisco explained. \u201cThat shows up in how we run the night.\u201d<\/p>\n The evening will include 60-second founder pitches, a speed matching zone, interactive areas, and a fireside panel on finding the perfect co-founder. BEA also wants attendees to continue their conversations after the event on LiinkUP<\/a>, a professional matching app created by Toronto-based networking software startup and BEA Investment Bootcamp alumnus Nodalli<\/a>.<\/p>\n On LiinkUP, users can browse upcoming events, upload their resum\u00e9s to get connected with founders and teams, and use the swipe-based matching feature and ranked feeds to connect with like-minded professionals. Jason B. Ramsay, Founder of Nodalli, said LiinkUP is the app he wished he had when he first started building his company.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew I needed a partner whose technical skills could complement my business acumen, but I didn\u2019t know where to find that person, and I had no framework for evaluating fit once I did,\u201d Ramsay said.<\/p>\n LiinkUP, which went live this month, draws on Ramsay\u2019s prior experience in co-founder matchmaking programs, as well as the \u201cmillions\u201d of data points from Nodalli\u2019s networking platform that reveal what makes or breaks professional connections. The platform screens for those variables, such as skill sets, work styles, life stage, personal financial runway, and startup goals.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce you\u2019ve screened for them, you\u2019ve removed most of the friction before the first conversation even happens,\u201d Ramsay said.<\/p>\n Building the platform forced Nodalli\u2019s team to reflect on what makes teams work together, and what is at risk if they don\u2019t. \u201cOnce we internalized that, we realized what we\u2019re building isn\u2019t just a matching tool. It\u2019s infrastructure that meaningfully de-risks startups from one of the biggest threats they\u2019ll face,\u201d Ramsay added.<\/p>\n BEA is hoping to integrate LiinkUP at more of its events beyond Toronto Tech Week. Through partnerships with YSpace, Futurpreneur, George Brown Polytechnic, and IDEA Mississauga, BEA is also giving attendees the chance to connect with programs like YSpace\u2019s, BEA\u2019s Venture Catalyst program, and BEA\u2019s Investment Bootcamp, which provide mentorship, infrastructure, and ongoing support.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t leave it at introductions,\u201d Francisco said. \u201cFounders have space to test alignment, build real relationships, and access the support they need to move forward. That\u2019s how you start to shift outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n PRESENTED BY<\/p>\n Find your co-founder at Co-Founder Connect on May 28 during Toronto Tech Week. Register now<\/a>, and sign up for LiinkUP<\/a> to keep the momentum going.<\/p>\n Feature image courtesy Black Entrepreneurship Alliance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Co-Founder Connect lands in Toronto on May 28 to help engineer the perfect founder pairings.
On May…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55418,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[24497,24496,414,7378,24499,94,15129,48,11780,13429,24498],"class_list":["post-55417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-black-entrepreneurship-alliance","tag-co-founder-connect","tag-events","tag-impact","tag-nunu-francisco","tag-ontario","tag-sponsored","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-tech-week","tag-york-university","tag-yspace"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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