"Diversity & Deep Tech Start-ups" By Eleonora Vella, Program Director & Principal Scientist at TandemLaunch Inc.

1. DIVERSITY & DEEP TECH STARTUPS

2. › My journey
› TandemLaunch
› 4 lessons I learnt on diversity in organizations
SUMMARY

3. MY JOURNEY

4. FROM ITALY….
› PhD Physics (Condensed Matter)
› Visible and VUV Time Resolved Spectroscopy Group

5. ….TO UDEM….
› Post-doctoral fellow
› Carlos Silva’s Ultrafast Spectroscopy Group

6. ….TO TANDEMLAUNCH

7. TANDEMLAUNCH

8. Since 2010, it has created over 20 ventures
who have collectively raised over $100M in capital
and are valued at over $300M.
TandemLaunch has pro-rata investment rights in these ventures
valued at over $30M.
TandemLaunch Ventures III will create over 15 new companies and
invest in growing existing ventures.
TandemLaunch is a unique start-up foundry in Montreal.

9. HOW DO WE BUILD START-UPS?
Industry
Problems
Scouting
Academia
Solutions
Incubation
Start-Up
Ventures
Investment
› TandemLaunch takes a unique
approach to building start-ups
› We do more than just invest
› We bring together industry, inventors,
founders and investors

10. › We work with 25+ industry partners
› Our partners engage in ongoing interactions and visits
› To discuss emerging needs
› To identify promising commercial applications
› To meet teams and explore their technologies
WE START BY IDENTIFYING INDUSTRY PROBLEMS…

11. › Our technology scouts review 4,000+ deep technologies each year
› We work with 600+ universities world-wide
…THEN SCOUT TECHNOLOGIES TO SOLVE THEM
42+ Technology transfer
agreements

12. › Technology and business leaders come
together to commercialize the
technology
› More than 200 aspiring founders have
joined our Entrepreneur-in-Residence
Program with a select 40+ becoming
founding executives in our portfolio
(samples right)
WE THEN ASSEMBLE A TEAM…
65%
founders with
technical PhD
39
countries of origin Ashok Masilamani, PhD
CTO, Stratuscent
Tara Akhavan, PhD
CTO, Irystec
Bahar Partov, PhD
CTO, Wavelite
Vikrant Tomar, PhD
CTO, Fluent
Gina Zhou, PhD
Founder, Suometry
Ari Pinkas
Biz Dev, Ora
Jonathan Saari, PhD
CTO, Airy3D
Dave Grant
CEO, Aerial
Dan Button, PhD
CEO, Airy3D
Pascal Pilon
CEO, LandR Audio
Soodeh Farokhi, PhD
CTO, C2RO
Simon Morris
CEO, Irystec

13. › TandemLaunch invests up to $600k per start-up
› Teams receive daily management support and coaching
› Our network provides mentoring on technology and entrepreneurship
› TandemLaunch provides day-to-day operational support
… AND BUILD A COMPANY TOGETHER
Founders focus on building their business

14. › The team raises external financing to continue commercialization
› They spin-out into a stand-alone company
› TandemLaunch receives common shares for incubation investment and new
share class for follow-on component (both carry pro-rate rights)
THEN COMES GRADUATION
50+ external
investors $2.5M average raised
at graduation

15. We work in the fields of
computer-vision, human-computer interaction,
machine learning, advanced sensors,
wireless systems, video processing, displays,
cameras, and audio technology
OUR EXPERTISE IS IN DEEP TECH
FOCUSED ON CONSUMER APPLICATIONS.

16. TANDEMLAUNCH COMPANIES ARE LEADERS
IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN CANADA.
17
AI ventures
created

17. A DIVERSE COMMUNITY –
28% FEMALE FOUNDERS
35% FEMALE CTO

18. Edouard Desjardins
Technology Scout
Jonathan Mo
Venture Associate
Omar Zahr, PhD
Technology Director
TANDEMLAUNCH VENTURES TEAM
Emilie Boutros, CPA, CA
Partner & CFO
Strategic leader & venture capitalist
Helge Seetzen, PhD
GP & CEO
Deep technologist & serial entrepreneur
Stefan Orzechowski, CPA
Corporate Controller
Eleonora Vella, PhD
Program Director
Kajari Goshdastidar, PhD
Engineering Director
Dubravko Culibrk, PhD
Senior Scientist
Viththiya Mahendrarajah
Staff Accountant
Priscilla Ventura
Office Admin Clerk
Peter IP
Marketing & Branding
Samantha D’Urbano
HR Specialist
Patricia Charron
Director of Operations
Yousef Kamhiyah
Staff Accountant
Tony Nguyen
IT Support

19. 4 LESSONS I LEARNT BUILDING DEEP TECH TEAMS

20. LESSON #1
Building a diverse organization requires
intentionality

21. LESSON #2
The push to grow and nurture gender diverse
teams needs to come from the top

22. LESSON #3
You need role models at every step of the
organization ladder

23. LESSON #4
In a diverse organization different viewpoints
need to be able to coexist

24. T H A N K Y O U !