July 5, 2023
Alumni startup Syzl wins PITCH 2023 competition at Collision tech conference
UCalgary presence strong at global tech event in Toronto
The University of Calgary represented its entrepreneurial spirit and robust innovation ecosystem at Collision, North America’s fastest-growing tech conference in Toronto from June 27 to 29.
PITCH at Collision brings together the world’s leading early-stage tech startups to battle it out onstage. The competition saw over 1,700 startups from 76 countries across 30 different industries, with Calgary-based CEO and co-founder of Syzl, Azrah Mani-Savin delivering the winning pitch.
Syzl is the equivalent to Airbnb, but for commercial kitchens and chefs. Their platform connects food makers with underutilized commercial kitchen spaces. The app currently caters to more than 1,000 users and has 70 kitchens in the platform after launching within the last year.
Adrian Savin, MBA’22, co-founder, COO, CTO of Syzl was a founding associate at the UCeed Haskayne Student Fund in 2020 where he gained valuable experience evaluating and investing in early-stage companies.
“This is a tremendous achievement from one of our alumni startups to be recognized on a global stage,” says Dr. James Allan, vice-president (advancement). “Collision is an impressive international event with over 40,000 attendees, and Syzl’s success there illustrates how the various parts of UCalgary’s innovation ecosystem work together to make us Canada’s entrepreneurial university.”
The Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking and Innovate Calgary organized campus partners to be part of UCalgary’s presence at Collision including a live demonstration of one of the Maker Multiplex’s 3D printers. UCalgary was also able to highlight its ability to support tech talent development in Calgary through Quantum City on a Calgary Economic Development panel at the event.
UCalgary is a leading destination for researchers to take action and move ideas toward implementation and community impact. The Innovation@UCalgary ecosystem supports these efforts through a culture of entrepreneurial thinking and determination.
Created with a transformational gift from the Hunter Family Foundation in 2017, the Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking is UCalgary’s community innovation hub that transforms lives and economies through fostering entrepreneurial thinking in students, faculty and the community.
Innovate Calgary is the innovation transfer and business incubator centre for the University of Calgary. As part of the Office of the Vice-President (Research) portfolio, and as a member of the UCalgary innovation ecosystem, we work closely with researchers, faculty, and students to help bridge the gap between discovery and creating economic and societal impact.
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