$100k Student Entrepreneur Investment Prize

$100k Student Entrepreneur Investment Prize is back for its third year! This year Front Row Ventures (FRV) is teaming up with LOI Venture to double the investment prize from $50K to $100K! 
 
Front Row Ventures is Canada’s leading university-focused and student-operated VC firm with a presence on 20+ university campuses across Canada. They are early-stage and industry-agnostic investors backing high-impact student entrepreneurs with diverse backgrounds and ambitious technology-enabled ideas. Over the past 7 years, FRV has invested in more than 60 companies including Puzzle Medical Devices, Nomic Bio and Valence Discovery. Combined, these companies have gone on to raise over $250 million in follow-on funding with top tier investors. With a $5.5M pan-Canadian fund closed in 2023, FRV is deploying the largest pool of capital in Canada exclusively dedicated to investing in student-led startups.
 

LOI Venture is a $20M pre-seed and seed fund co-founded by Ryan Holmes (Hootsuite) and Manny Padda (Angel Investor). LOI Venture backs early stage founders — primarily from the League of Innovators accelerator — building bold tech startups. With over 40 portfolio companies and growing, we’re Canada’s launchpad for next-gen entrepreneurs.

 

Eligibility Criteria

This prize is open to attendees of Startupfest working on a startup with at least one co-founder currently enrolled at a Canadian university or who has graduated no longer than 6 months ago. The company must also be incorporated in Canada.
 

The Process

Pre-registration is mandatory to pitch, but a few wild card spots will be available on site and expected to fill out a form upon arrival.
 
On July 9 and 10, join the FRV team in The Startupfest Village to make your pitch. The pitches happening on the these dates are preliminary rounds, 5 companies will be shortlisted for a final on July 11th.
 
When to pitch:
Details to come
 

Prize Details

This prize is a $100,000 investment under FRV's standard SAFE note, (subject to standard legal due diligence).
 
The prize will be disbursed as two seperate $50K SAFE agreements both under the same terms; one from Front Row Ventures and one from LOI Venture. 
 
Startupfest does not guarantee that an investment prize will be awarded. All investment decisions and agreements are made solely at the discretion of the participating investors and the selected startup.That said, we’re proud to share that over 95% of the approximately 30 Startupfest investment prizes awarded over the past 15 years have successfully closed.
 

2025 Judges - Will be announced shortly

See the FRV SAFE Overview