Events
Join us for pitch nights, networking, and community building. See what's coming up and explore highlights from past events.
Create & Connect: Bio and HealthTech Industry Night
Wednesday, August 26, 2026 · 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM
Heliopolis YYC, 817 1 St SW, Calgary, AB
Also Coming Up in 2026
Create & Connect: Arts Industry Night
Six Creative Arts and Film founders pitch live to a panel of experienced judges for a $500 microgrant. Meet founders launching new ventures, operators, investors, and professionals across Calgary's Creative Arts ecosystem.
Create & Connect: Cybersecurity Industry Night
Six Cybersecurity founders pitch live to a panel of experienced judges for a $500 microgrant. Meet founders, operators, investors, and professionals across Calgary's Cybersecurity ecosystem.
Create & Connect: Bio and HealthTech Industry Night
Six Bio and HealthTech founders pitch live to a panel of experienced judges for a $500 microgrant. Meet founders, operators, investors, and professionals across Calgary's Bio and HealthTech ecosystem.
Create & Connect: AgTech Industry Night
Six AgTech, Agri-Food, and sustainability founders pitched live to a panel of experienced judges for a $1,000 non-dilutive microgrant. Jenna Letain and the team at BeeSafe Biotech Inc. took home the win with rapid, field-deployable diagnostics that let beekeepers detect honey bee diseases in just 15 minutes — helping protect pollinators, strengthen food security, and support sustainable agriculture.
Fuel the Future: Entrepreneurs Night — Aurrin Ventures x YPE Calgary
A partnership with Young Professionals in Energy Calgary (YPE Calgary) connecting energy leaders, founders, and entrepreneurs for mentorship, structured networking, and the opportunity to win a microgrant. Five experienced mentors and speakers generously shared their time, experiences, and lessons learned — reminding attendees that success is rarely a straight line. Attendees were entered into a microgrant draw, with additional entries earned through the Bingo Challenge.
Pitch Night: Artificial Intelligence
Around 50 founders, operators, investors, and builders came together to see what's being built across Calgary's growing AI ecosystem. Six founders pitched across investor relations intelligence, AI-native staffing, agentic operating systems, tech ecosystem discovery, vehicle diagnostics, and predictive infrastructure intelligence. Nick Kuzyk of Answir took home the $500 microgrant.
Create & Connect: Energy Industry Night
Aurrin Ventures' first industry-themed pitch night, focused on energy startups. Four founders from oil & gas inspection tech, clean fuel logistics, wireline abandonment tools, and portable power pitched to a panel of energy industry leaders. Serenity Power took home the $500 microgrant.
Aurrin Ventures x NextGen Founders Lab Pitch Event (University/Highschool Edition!)
Youth focused startup pitch competition for high school and university founders in Calgary. Six founders pitched live with three minutes each plus one question from judges and one from the audience. $350 in non-dilutive microgrants awarded to the top three teams; all pitchers received support.
Pitch Night - February 2026
February 2026 Pitch Night featured founders across vehicle security, mental health, agtech, UAVs, scheduling, and inspection tech. Agrivanna took home the microgrant.
Pitch Night - January 2026
Join us for our January 2026 Pitch Night where early-stage founders present their ideas to a panel of experienced judges. Get feedback, make connections, and take the next step in your entrepreneurial journey.
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Pitch Night - November 2025
November 2025 Pitch Night brought together founders and judges for an evening of pitches, feedback, and community building.
Pitch Night - October 2025
October 2025 Pitch Night featured founders presenting innovative solutions across health, education, and consumer products.
Pitch Night - September 2025
September 2025 Pitch Night kicked off the fall season with founders presenting across health, safety, real estate, and consumer tech.
What to Expect
Every Create & Connect event follows the same structure — a fast-paced pitch competition followed by community networking.
3-Minute Pitches
Six founders each get three minutes to present their idea live, followed by one question from the judges and one from the audience.
$500 Microgrant
Judges award $500 in non-dilutive funding to the top team. No equity, no strings — just capital to move the project forward.
Crowdfunding Platform
Every pitching founder can launch a campaign on our platform so the community can continue backing them after the event.
Community Networking
Meet founders, operators, investors, and students from across Calgary's startup ecosystem in one room.
Ready to share your idea?
Apply to pitch or join as a judge and help founders grow.
Industry Leaders & Experts
Our judges bring diverse expertise from across the startup ecosystem to provide valuable feedback to founders.
Martin Ciuk
Associate Director, Science & Engineering Technology Transfer, Innovate Calgary
Michael McGee
Director of Innovation, Bioenterprise Canada
Anthony Bellot
Director, Agribusiness & Agri-Food, ATB Financial
Will Zhang
Founder, OpenHouse.ai
Keith Daser
Founder, Deliver Digital Inc.
Christopher Ballem
Senior Manager, EY
Shubham Garg
CEO, Prospera Energy
Siva Sam
USXI Group
Jana McDonald
DCM Group
Mohammad Keyhani
Associate Professor in Entrepreneurship, Haskayne School of Business; Deal Partner, Boardy.ai; Co-Founder, Honeybee Logic
Barry Vopnu
Founder & CEO, Circleup Tech Inc.
Sanjeevani Uppal
Venture Program Specialist, Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking, University of Calgary
Norman Poon
Co-Founder, BitWide
Kartavi Shah
Founder & Managing Director, NextGen Founders Lab
Musap Abdelhag
Founder & CEO, SIYS | Struggle Is Your Success
Shiva Souri
Founder, Learnovate Solution
Avnish Mehta
Founder, Stand and Command
Akshay Gulati
Founder, Tech Connect Alberta
Reem Hamdon
Venture Manager, Creative Destruction Lab
Stan Peake
Entrepreneurship Lead, Bow Valley College
Dennis Agbegha
Director of Banking Prairies, RBCx
Debbie Butt
Founder, IN THE KNOW YYC
Deryck Greer
Chief Information Officer, Sovaicor
Sam Duperré
Founder, VespaYEG
Interested in judging at a future event?
Apply to Judge