QEC ALUMNI

Become inspired by the incredible community that the QEC has brought together & the stories behind our startup founders, ambitious entrepreneurs and successful companies.

Where are past QEC winners now?

BUFFERBOX

• Winners of the Velocity Fund Finals
• Accepted into Y Combinator
• Acquired by Google for $17 M

VOLTERA

• QEC 2014, 2nd place
• Raised $500,000+ on Kickstarter
• Winners of the International James Dyson
Award, TechCrunch Hardware Battlefield, and
Popular Science Invention of the Year

QUORUM

• QEC 2015, 1st place
• Media coverage in The Washington Post, The
New York Times, Bloomberg Politics, TIME,
and CBS This Morning
• Winners of the Model of Excellence award at
the Business Information & Media Summit

HIRIDE

• QEC 2019, Top 15 Finalist
• Received $25K from Jim Treliving, the Chairman
of Boston Pizza, on CBC’s Dragon’s Den
• Acquired by Facedrive, on the condition that
shareholders receive $1M in common shares and
conditional payments of $2.5M over two years

SPARKGIG

• QEC 2015, 3rd place
• Pitched on Dragon’s Den, receiving an offer
at $2M valuation
• Raised $200,000 from private angel investors

SWINETECH

• QEC 2016, 2nd place
• Secured $5M in “A” round financing
• Appeared in Forbes 30 under 30 and was chosen for the THRIVE – Forbes Innovation Icon
award

Testimonials

“We’re electrical engineers building tools for other electrical engineers, but QEC made us realize that anyone could not only understand our product, but also understand the potential it has for changing the technologies we all use everyday.”
– Alroy Almeida, Co-founder of Voltera (2nd Place, 2014)

“A big part of the success that followed for TDot Performance was a result of competing in the QEC. The feedback we got helped us hone our business strategy, and the exposure to business leaders opened new doors for us.”
– Charith Perera, Co-Founder of TDot Performance (3rd Place, 2013)

“At the QEC in Toronto, there are so many people you could meet as potential mentors. We really got to know the judges and then work with them after the competition.”
– Derek Jouppi, Co-Founder of Suncayr (1st Place, 2016)