Hey Founder Fam,

Happy March: Canada’s got a new Prime Minister. PepsiCo scooped up Poppi for $2 billion. Vibe coding is all the hype. Selena and Hailey Bieber are in a tiff. Musk and Trump did an accidental Tesla commercial at the Whitehouse. Deloitte acquired Pocketed. The gov launched a 300M AI fund. Anddddd you still haven’t sauced us a like or comment on our last IG post announcing our beautiful new cohort of Lab 14 Founders.

So help a sister out and go do that now. Cmon fam.

Also, for those that asked, we have a sushi lunch in the works with Ryan for next month so will update you with photos after the meetup 🍣 

Okay okay, enough chitter chatter,

Let’s get at ‘er!

🏁 Top Founder Flags

• 💸 LOI Alumni Serina and Ella, founder of Trusti, just received a $100,000 investment from LOI Venture; with a pilot starting in Ontario next month.

• 🎉 Xatoms won a South by Southwest (SXSW) pitch competition in Austin, Texas.

• 🏆 Rochelle just got named Young Professional of the Year yesterday in the Ontario region!

• 🫶 Kyle Moore and Rob Ironside were both promoted on our League of Innovators team, so send them a virtual (or real) high five when you see ‘em next

• 👏 A few of our LOI fam made it into the BC 30 Under 30 Winners list this year (more here!)

• ☕️ And if you haven’t already been warned, our Boost 2025 founder cohort (the level after labs) is officially open to apply to. Just tap that big ol’ button below.

Now some more good news of the month before we get to more events and admin stuff.

And boy oh boy do we have some dopamine-inducing wins from the last couple weeks

🏆 Founder Wins of The Month

• Jess and Chloe from Apricotton were flown to Vancouver to meet Brian Scudamore their CBC Dragon’s Den investor and have been getting shouted out by Arlene on her Linkedin

• Vivian, founder of Making Auto Easy, made it into Techstars SF to scale her startup beyond the walls of Canada

• The BC Founders met up for coffee the other day and got into making deals on napkins thanks to Adam from Arnii

• Taylor Del Giudice, alumni from last year, raised $500,000 for his cold calling software startup and got covered by Betakit here

• Ryan Holmes spoke to the Labs 14 Founders about “finding big waves” and the reminder that “getting the reps in will lead you to your next big win”. Fun fact, it took Ryan 10 startups before he began Hootsuite.

• Janet Banister, from Staircase Ventures, spoke to our Boost 2024 founders about the keys to pitching VCs in today’s market

• Aaron Spivak from Hush Blankets (sold for $50m) talked about “doing the work” and not delegating tasks before you’re absolutely maxed out (quick highlight clip here)

• LOI Alumni, Lauren, recently launched a new brand called “Sleep Or Die” that’s been attracting a sh*t ton of eyeballs lately. Check her IG page out here if you’ve been living under a rock

• Kyle Moore spoke on the foundations of mental health for being a healthy founder

• Applications for the G20 Young Entrepreneurs’ Alliance (G20 YEA) Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa are open! LOI alumni, Clinton Large, was a delegate last year and had a greatttt time. He can be reached on slack if anyone wants to ask questions. 

• Trying to secure a WebSummit ticket for May 2025? Lucky for you, we can help. Fill out this form and we’ll message you with what we can offer.

• LOI Founders looking for legal help: Wanna save $500? Join Erin from LOI for exclusive group office hours with our national legal partner, Osler. Spots are limited to 20 founders per call, and only 5 sessions remain — RSVP now

• Cansbridge Event: Cansbridge x V2 Storytelling Night on March 27th. RSVP here

• Looking for cheap tickets to Unitin

  g the Prairies 2025? Email Rob (rob@theleagueofinnovators.com) to get 75% off your Tech Founder ticket.

Swipes of the Week

Reply and let us know which one was your fav.

If you gotta swipe from the week that caught your eye, send it over.

Keep crushing it, amigo.

💙 The LOI Fam

P.S. drop us a note on IG or message us if we can help you or your venture with anything. Day or night, we’re here for you.