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Toronto, Ontario, November 13, 2025: ventureLAB, Canada’s leading innovation hub for hardware and semiconductor founders, is turning up the volume with The Raise Party, a night dedicated to the founders, investors, and partners who are building Canada’s future, one raise at a time.
This year’s Raise Party brought together the ventureLAB community, from the investors, to our early alumni and our newest portfolio companies, to celebrate the collective success of founders who have raised capital, and the partners and ecosystem who have helped them scale along the way. It’s more than a networking event; it’s a reunion of bold ideas, shared ambition, and collaborative spirit.
ventureLAB extends its sincere appreciation to BDC, Paula Cruickshank and Joshua Smith for graciously hosting this year’s celebration in their vibrant downtown Toronto space, offering an inspiring backdrop overlooking the city.
We also recognize the unwavering commitment of our investors and the HardTech Investor Network. Their belief in our founders and their visions continues to strengthen Canada’s hardtech ecosystem. A special acknowledgement goes to Raymond Chik, Advisory Board Chair of the HardTech Investor Network, for his exceptional leadership and dedication.
As ventureLAB heads into its fifteenth year of operations in 2026, The Raise Party marked the first in a year-long celebration highlighting the many ways innovation takes shape through people, partnerships, and perseverance.
“Every raise tells a story of courage, conviction, and community,” said Hugh Chow, CEO of ventureLAB. “The Raise Party is about celebrating those stories and the people who make them possible. It’s our way of saying thank you to the founders, investors, and partners who continue to push boundaries and shape what’s next for Canada’s innovation economy.”
At its core, The Raise Party is a celebration of momentum, of the milestones achieved by hardtech and deeptech founders who have grown within ventureLAB’s ecosystem. Over the past fifteen years, these innovators have supported 4,300+ tech ventures, created 7,400+ jobs, generated $450M+ in total revenue, and achieved $480M+ in capital raised, all while developing groundbreaking technologies in semiconductors, AI, MedTech, and advanced manufacturing.
This year’s Raise Party also celebrates the growth and impact of the HardTech Investor Network (HIN), ventureLAB’s national community of investors championing early-stage hardtech and deeptech innovation. Since its inception, the HardTech Investor Network has grown to include over 85 members dedicated to improving capital access for early-stage companies across Canada. The network fosters collaboration among investors and partners to strengthen the innovation ecosystem and accelerate the development of next-generation technologies.
The event recognizes the essential role of collaboration in startup success, from the investors who fuel growth to the partners who open doors. It also honors the community that surrounds and sustains Canadian innovation, from policymakers to corporate leaders.
The Raise Party kicks off ventureLAB’s fifteenth anniversary year, which will feature a series of events, campaigns, and storytelling that celebrate the journey of founders at every stage, from first prototype to global scale. Throughout 2026, ventureLAB will spotlight the many paths to startup success and the people behind them, highlighting what it truly takes to raise, not just capital, but a thriving innovation community.
“The Raise Party is just the beginning,” said Chow. “As we head into our fifteenth year, we’re shining a light on every part of the ecosystem, the founders who dream big, the investors who believe, and the partners who make it possible.”
Since its founding, ventureLAB has supported Canada’s next generation of global tech leaders through flagship programs like the Hardware Catalyst Initiative (HCI), now celebrating its fifth year. ventureLAB has become the heart of Canada’s hardtech ecosystem, accelerating breakthroughs in AI, MedTech, and semiconductor innovation. With a global network spanning 22+ countries and partners including TSMC, AMD, and Intel, ventureLAB continues to scale Canada’s innovation story on the world stage.
About ventureLAB
ventureLAB is a leading global founder community for hardware technology and enterprise software companies in Canada. Located at the heart of Ontario’s innovation corridor in York Region, ventureLAB is part of one of the biggest and most diverse tech communities in Canada. Our initiatives focus on raising capital, talent retention, commercializing technology and IP, and customer acquisition. ventureLAB is powering hardtech founders to build and scale globally competitive ventures that advance Canada’s knowledge-based economy.
