The next Falcons’ Fortunes event will be held on March 20, 2025.
Stay tuned for details in early 2025.
Congratulations to the winners at Falcons’ Fortunes 2024
Falcons’ Fortunes Pitch Finals – LIVE!
Watch six rising stars pitch their Breakthrough Cancer Innovation
Who will win the $100,000 Ernsting Entrepreneurship Award?
The Falcons’ Fortunes event features six Ontario entrepreneurs vying for the $100,000 award in the province’s only pitch competition specifically promoting cancer breakthroughs. Join us and put on your investor hat to vote for your favourite pitch presentation to win the Audience Choice award.
Now in its 11th year, Falcons’ Fortunes is FACIT’s premier event to celebrate and grow the entrepreneurial spirit within the cancer research community. FACIT is cultivating entrepreneurial scientists who will drive a culture of commercialization where Ontario-based cancer research becomes Ontario-made solutions to benefit patients worldwide.
Falcons’ Fortunes
April 25, 2024
3:00 PM – 7:30 PM (doors open at 2:30pm)
Vantage Venues, 16th floor
150 King Street West, Toronto, Ontario
Agenda
2:30 – 3:00 pm Doors Open
3:00 – 3:30 pm Opening Remarks & Keynote
3:30 – 5:45 pm Pitch Competition
5:45 – 5:55 pm Patient Partner Reflections & Closing Remarks
5:55 – 7:30 pm Networking Reception & Announcement of Winners
Master of Ceremonies
Brian Bloom
Co-founder, Chairman & CEO
Bloom Burton & Co.
Featuring
Keynote speaker & Patient Partner
Rachel Bartholomew
CEO & Founder, Hyivy Health
Rachel is a two-time entrepreneur who is now working on her second company, Hyivy Health, created after her recent fight with cervical cancer. Hyivy Health is creating a pelvic rehabilitation device for the 1 in 3 women worldwide who will experience a pelvic health complication in their lifetime.
Rachel is a graduate of the University of Waterloo and has been working in various roles in the entrepreneurship ecosystem for over 15 years, including the Founder of Femtech Canada and Professor at Toronto Metropolitan University in Biotech Innovation.
Pitch Competition
Entrepreneur Finalists
Judging panel
Maura Campbell
President & CEO, OBIO
FACIT Board Director
Vanessa Grant
Partner
Norton Rose Fulbright Canada
Har Grover
Founder, Nucleus GC
FACIT Board Director
Cynthia Lavoie
President & Chief Investment Officer
CCRM Enterprises Inc.
Format
- Entrepreneurs will have 10-minutes to deliver their pitch presentation, followed by 5 minutes for Q&A by the judging panel.
- To read more details about the pitch competition, please click here.
Prizes
- $100,000 Ernsting Entrepreneurship Award as selected by the judging panel for the best pitch.
- Audience Choice Award as voted by attendees for their favourite pitch presentation.
Who should attend
Entrepreneurs, investors, patient partners, researchers, and anyone in the community interested in cancer innovations.
Sponsor
Thank you to Norton Rose Fulbright Canada for sponsoring the
Audience Choice Award and the networking reception.
Naming of the Ernsting Entrepreneurship Award
In 2016, the Falcons’ Fortunes prize was named the “Ernsting Entrepreneurship Award” in honour of Dr. Mark Ernsting, Senior Biomedical Engineer at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research whose life was tragically cut short in December 2015. Mark exemplified the entrepreneurial spirit that FACIT strives to build and support within Ontario.