Seven start-ups founded by Western Entrepreneurs will take the stage at the 12th edition of Western Angels’ Demo Day, seeking to raise capital from investors and experienced founders from the Western alumni community.
Held in Toronto on June 3, 2026, the seven ventures will present asks ranging from $300,000 to $6 million.
Launched in 2020, Western Angels’ Demo Day is an initiative designed to bring together entrepreneurs and investors from Western to partner and collaborate on creating Canada’s next generation of great companies.
The upcoming event will include a fireside chat with Brent Stead, a life sciences entrepreneur with more than 20 years of academic and industry experience.
As the co-founder and CEO of Specific Biologics, Stead has raised over $11 million and helped to advance its gene editing platform, Dualase, to preclinical proof-of-concept. Stead previously held industry roles at Therapure Biopharma Inc. in biologics drug development and manufacturing and supported a $350 million pharmaceutical acquisition as a strategic advisor. He holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry, where his studies focused on DNA replication and repair, and an MBA from Western University. He is also an inventor on multiple patents in genome editing.
Here's a list of the seven start-ups featured at Western Angels' Demo Day in June:
- Succession AI is an AI-native Mergers & Acquisitions platform for founder-led businesses looking to exit. With over 6 million business owners looking to retire in the next decade in North America, and yet only 9% have a succession plan, Succession AI helps owners understand what their business is worth, prepare for an exit, and connect with the right buyers to transition the business, end-to-end, within one platform. Succession AI is co-founded by Avril Sun.
- FDO Energy is a Canadian cleantech startup that helps communities turn everyday waste into clean energy and sustainable fuels through its modular, proprietary waste conversion systems. The company develops scalable, retrofittable technology designed to convert waste through a controlled incineration process into usable energy and marketable byproducts. FDO Energy is co-founded by Chathura Fernando and Janindu Liyanaarachchi.
- mh2 dental is a tech-enabled, discount retail chain built on streamlined SOPs to ensure a consistent patient experience across every location. By operating 7 days a week, the model provides unmatched accessibility through a single, cohesive brand identity. This highly scalable framework is designed to establish a dominant national dental brand through operational efficiency and modern clinical delivery. mh2 dental is led by Brandon Mark.
- GuideStar has developed a medical device that has the potential to revolutionize the way epidurals are performed. GuideStar’s product, EpiZact, makes placing an epidural needle easy for practitioners and virtually eliminating hundreds of thousands of patient injuries from the procedure each year. Mike Dolphin is the founder of GuideStar Medical Devices.
- ZENERGY is leading a new product category, caffeine gum. The company has raised $1M from strategic investors in the CPG space and is currently profitable with over seven figures in revenue from retail and e-commerce. The company recently launched nationally at 7-Eleven Canada and will be fundraising to secure expansion capital in 2026. ZENERGY was founded by Rohan Kumar.
- PurelyBiome is a precision skincare platform that uses at-home DNA testing and proprietary AI to eliminate skincare guesswork. By sequencing an individual’s facial microbiome and benchmarking it against 40,000+ clinical studies, the platform identifies the biological root of concerns like acne, sensitivity, and ageing and delivers brand-agnostic ingredient and product recommendations while generating high-resolution microbiome intelligence for industry partners. PurelyBiome is led by Tony Xu and Michael Wang.
- ARC Medical is a clinical-stage therapeutics company, committed to improving the quality of life for people who have undergone surgery by developing safer and more effective innovative fluid medical devices that prevent the formation of surgical adhesions. Chris Springate is the CEO of ARC Medical.