Winnipeg, Manitoba – April 18, 2024 | Today, Startup Canada announced the winner of the Winnipeg “Pop-up Pitch” Competition, the regional qualifier for the 2024 Startup Global Pitch Competition Grand Finale. Pitching in front of the in-person audience of Startup Canada Tour’s most recent stop in Winnipeg, startup Kevin Danner of Carbon Lock Tech was named the first-place winner – taking home $3,000 cash and a guaranteed slot in the October 30th Grand Finale. Diogo Tsutomu Iwasaki Ori.Gatou Creative Solutions Inc. won the People’s Choice Award and took home a $1,000 cash prize.

Carbon Lock Tech is an innovative clean-tech company reimagining how we respond to rapid climate change. Carbon Lock Tech’s mission is to develop and deploy carbon removal and sequestration solutions that are clean, sustainable and scalable.

“I had this idea about how we can pull carbon out of the atmosphere,” said Danner. “Carbon Lock Tech is born out of frustration in some ways – we need to reduce the emissions that we put out, but if we can’t do it fast enough, we are going to have to get really good about pulling carbon out of the atmosphere. And this is the type of technology we are building.”

Ori.Gatou Creative Solutions Inc. is a marketing tech startup focused on helping CGP companies and grocery stores become smart stores, creating a new kind of marketing campaign. The company is co-founded by mother and son duo Rosana Iwsaki and Diogo Iwsaki.“Startup Canada Tour was an incredibly fun event,” shared Diogo Iwsaki. “I liked how the day was split up, so we were able to pitch and then got to network in between sessions and talk to other people about our business.”

On October 30th, in Kitchener-Waterloo, Danner will compete live against nine other finalists from across Canada for a $70,000 cash prize pool. The Grand Finale of the 2024 Startup Global Pitch Competition will be available to watch live virtually and in-person through Startup Canada Tour registration.

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