Student Startups Shine at Algonquin College’s ACTIVATE Pitch Championships
Posted on Saturday, March 22nd, 2025
On June 27, Innovation & Entrepreneurship held the third edition of the ACTIVATE Pitch Championships, where the top teams from the Winter 2025 Entrepreneurship Co-op (eCo-op) cohort pitched their tech and tech-enabled ventures to a panel of judges from both industry and the College community. This term, the presenters set out to tackle problems ranging from student quality of life to property management to telecommunications.
The winning team received a non-dilutive grant startup grant, provided by FedDev Ontario through a partnership between Algonquin College and Invest Ottawa. This funding will help the winner officially launch their business and, hopefully, set them up for lifelong success on their terms.
The winner of ACTIVATE for Summer 2025 was L&lord, an all-in-one platform designed to help small landlords and property managers centralize and automate their business processes. Imarni Odongo, a student in the Bachelor of Technology, Business Systems Development, will have the opportunity to work with Invest Ottawa to bring her venture to market.
“Although we saw students competing today, ACTIVATE is about way more than a pitch competition,” said Stephen Gagné, Entrepreneurship Officer at Algonquin College. “It’s about giving students a chance to build something amazing on their terms. It’s about celebrating the ups and downs of the entrepreneur’s journey. And, more than anything, it’s about giving our Learners a place to test the skills their programs teach them in a real-world context.”
The ACTIVATE Pitch Championships were the culmination of weeks of hard work from AC Learners who not only grew as future professionals in their field but also as entrepreneurs. Ultimately, ACTIVATE serves as living proof of the value of learner-driven experiential learning and the many ways Algonquin College helps set Learners up for lifelong success.
