TiEQuest Summit 2026: Building in Canada for the World

TiEQuest Summit 2026 brings together founders, operators, investors, and builders for a lively morning of big ideas, honest conversations, and fresh momentum around building in Canada for the world. Set at the U of T Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus, the summit will spotlight the challenges and opportunities of scaling ambitious companies from Toronto and beyond, with a focus on what it really takes to turn local talent and bold thinking into global impact. Expect an energizing mix of sharp talks, practical insights, and plenty of room to connect with people who are actively shaping the future of tech and entrepreneurship in Canada. Whether you are launching your first company, growing something meaningful, or looking for your next spark, this is a great chance to learn, meet interesting people, and leave feeling fired up for what comes next. Speakers Willson Cross is the Co-Founder and CEO of Borderless AI, a Toronto-based AI-powered platform for global payroll, compliance, and Employer of Record services. He launched Borderless AI in 2023 with $27M in backing from Susquehanna and Bernard Arnault's family office Aglaé Ventures, and has since landed customers like Kraken, The Ritz-Carlton, and Telus, with partnerships across ADP, Workday, Cohere, and Paychex. Before Borderless, he founded GoFetch, raised $3.5M, expanded to 10+ cities, and sold it in 2018. A NYU economics dropout who left after his third year to build startups, Cross has been chasing hard problems ever since. Janet Bannister is the founder and Managing Partner of Staircase Ventures, a Toronto-based early-stage VC firm with C$84M under management backing Canada's highest-potential B2B software companies. She launched Kijiji.ca in 2004 and grew it into one of Canada's most-visited websites, then spent four years at eBay in Silicon Valley helping grow the business 4x, before pivoting into venture. Before Staircase, she was Managing Partner at Real Ventures, where she led investments in BenchSci, Clutch, and League. A Kauffman Fellow, Ivey gold medalist, CVCA VC Woman of Achievement Award winner, and former national triathlon champion, she closed an oversubscribed C$50M Fund II earlier this year. Mike McCauley is Co-founder and General Partner at Garage Capital, a Waterloo-based early-stage fund that has backed 200+ companies now valued collectively at over $30B. Before Garage, he co-founded BufferBox,  a network of automated package delivery lockers that went through Y Combinator and was acquired by Google, where he went on to work on Google Fi and early moonshot projects at GoogleX. A University of Waterloo Mechatronics grad who has been on both sides of the cap table, he now backs the next generation of Canadian founders with the kind of advice that only comes from having built something yourself. Nipun Sharma is the co-founder and CEO of Appetronix, a Canadian food robotics company building fully autonomous restaurant systems. A McGill grad who started his career on Wall Street in investment banking and private equity, he spent 20+ years running over ten restaurant brands across quick-service and fine dining before founding Appetronix in 2020. The company has raised $12M+ in seed funding from AlleyCorp, the Grote family (founders of Donatos Pizza), chef Tom Colicchio, and N49P Ventures, with a live autonomous pizza kitchen already operating at John Glenn Columbus International Airport. His latest move: acquiring Vancouver's Cibotica to expand Appetronix beyond pizza into multi-cuisine automation at scale. Kirk Simpson was the co-founder and CEO of Wave which exited in 2019 for $537 million after reaching over $100m in revenue under his leadership.  In 2022 Kirk co-founded Courtyard with Peter Carrescia. Courtyard now focuses on helping small businesses reach new customers in a world where search is moving to AI.  Kirk is also an investor in and supporter of many different VC funds and startups in the Canadian tech ecosystem. More to be announced... TechTO is Canada’s largest community of tech builders - connecting 60,000+ founders, operators, and investors through year-round meetups, curated dinners, peer tables, and media storytelling. Interested in learning more? techto.org. For sponsorship inquiries, reach out to partnerships@techto.org. Toronto Tech Week is a citywide celebration of the people building what’s next. From May 25–29, 2026, founders, investors, and builders come together for hundreds of community-led events across Toronto, connecting tens of thousands of people around Canadian tech. Torontotechweek.com All tickets are final sale and may not be transferred or refunded. By attending the event, you consent to being photographed and recorded on video, and to receiving communications from us, including our newsletter.