The 2017 Montreal Fundica Roadshow at Sid Lee on June 2 resulted in the greatest turnout of the year. The competition was tough with a total of 15 startups all pitching for the $1,000,000 Investment Award, but one winner took home the trophy for Montreal.

The startups were judged by a panel of 15 individuals composed of angels, VCs, banks and government organizations from First Stone Ventures Partners, Rho Canada Ventures, Tandem Launch, Espresso Capital, Anges Québec, Ferst Capital Partners, Brightspark, 500 startups Canada, BDC, PME MTL, Futurpreneur, Mitacs, Fondation Montréal Inc and others.

In addition to an opportunity to receive the $1,000,000 FSVP Investment Award, each Fundica Roadshow city stop winner receives 3 months of free office space at WeWork, a cloud hosting package from CANARIE and free accounting services from Intuit QuickBooks.

The pitching startups were graded based on market potential, solution, team, pitch and readiness for the $1,000,000 FSVP Investment Award.

Amir Tajkarimi, Co-founder of Lexop, took home the trophy after their compelling pitch to over 300 attendees. Lexop’s purpose is to send, prove and manage the delivery of important electronic documents through real-time tracking.

Perseverance is essential when pitching. It is unlikely that you will win after your first pitch, but you should always take it as a learning experience to refine your strategy. This was not the first time that Tajkarimi and his team pitched in the Fundica Roadshow, “We had tried last year but we had lost,” he said, “This time around, with more experience, a more mature company, and a better pitch, we got the prize.”

Now that the second Montreal stop marked the end of the 2017 Roadshow, the ten startup finalists from all across Canada are preparing for a pitch that may drastically change the outcome of their business. The winners will congregate on June 23 at (drumroll, please, for the first public announcement of the Finale’s surprise destination!) Huff Estates Winery in Prince Edward County, Ontario. The lofty venue overlooks the Estate’s vineyard, making it a scenic retreat for the highly-charged pitch competition.

Witness Canada’s best startups pitch for $1,000,000 at the exclusive 2017 Fundica Roadshow Finale! You don’t want to miss out as only 100 tickets are up for grabs! Register here: bit.ly/FRSFinale