TechWomen Canada Sends B.C. Startups to Silicon Valley

San Francisco | BCBusiness
The entrepreneurs behind seven B.C. startups are in San Francisco as part of TechWomen Canada

The female entrepreneurs behind seven B.C. technology companies head to San Francisco to connect with their Silicon Valley peers 

Run by the Canadian consulate in San Francisco, TechWomen Canada invites a cohort of female entrepreneurs and leaders in the Canadian technology sector to the Bay Area for four days of professional development and networking with their Silicon Valley peers.

The program gives 21 Canadian companies and their female founders the opportunity to meet with venture capital firms, corporate partners and a selection of mentors that will work with them from May 13-16. The mentors include senior executives from Facebook, Google and Apple.

TechWomen Canada is an invaluable opportunity for female entrepreneurs to broaden their networks, according to Christine Sommers, a participant and founder of ePACT Network, a startup that manages emergency contact information for families and organizations.

“It’s great to be able to talk to women who have done it before and get their perspective because you kind of want to think of yourself as an entrepreneur first, and then think gender. But it really does help to be able to have the perspective from, for lack of a better term, a minority,” she says.

Women compose 47 per cent of Canada’s workforce but only account for 17 per cent of core technology sector roles, according to the Canadian Advanced Technology Association.

ePACT Network is among the seven female-led B.C. technology and digital media companies participating in the program. The others include:

• Reframe Marketing: A full-service integrated marketing and design consultant agency.
• ethicalDeal: A Groupon-like service that connects shoppers with deals on sustainable and health-conscious products and services.
• BeanEvo: A user-friendly accounts payable SaaS that aims to cut the time and costs of invoicing.
• myBestHelper: A social network that matches families with caregivers.
• Mathtoons: A Kelowna company that builds online, educational games.
• Semadic: Develops online and mobile social commerce applications.