TORONTO SHOWED UP AGAIN
CodeLaunch Canada returned to El Mocambo on September 16, and once again, Toronto’s startup community came ready for more than a traditional pitch competition.
Founders, investors, developers, partners, and startup supporters packed into the iconic venue for a night built around live competition, audience participation, and real product acceleration.
Before the first pitch even hit the stage, the room was already moving.
Six finalist startups arrived after working alongside Improving Professional Coder League teams, bringing weeks of collaboration, development, and product refinement into one live Championship night.
And this year, the audience had even more skin in the game.
Using Launch Kings, CodeLaunch’s in-house voting experience powered by Improving, every ticket holder received LaunchBucks to invest throughout the competition and help decide which startups advanced.
Then the lights came up.
And the competition started.
THE SIX FINALISTS COMPETING AT CODELAUNCH CANADA 2026
This year’s Canada cohort brought together six founders building across different industries, markets, and problem spaces.
Each startup entered CodeLaunch with its own vision, but they all went through the same acceleration process: working directly alongside experienced technologists from Improving’s Professional Coder League to push their products further before Championship Night.
GoAway
Founder: Ariel Vazquez
GoAway Travels transforms social media travel inspiration into bookable trips through its AI travel assistant, Koji. The platform also connects bookings back to the creators who inspired them, helping travel brands better understand the return generated by creator-driven content.
MENCHI
Founder: Alejandro Zuluaga Villegas
Menchi helps premium clinics answer incoming calls, book consultations, and keep customer data in Canada.
ImpulsTrip
Founder: Guraasees Sethi
ImpulsTrip is building a platform focused on spontaneous, real-world connection within local communities.
Moovmynt
Founder: Sunny Sund
Moovmynt is building governed housing intelligence for the presale and new-construction market.
Treegress
Founder: Anna Karnaukh
Treegress is developing software-testing infrastructure designed to help releases test and verify themselves before reaching users.
Aêtava
Founder: Ali Goodarzi
Aêtava is building an AI-native platform that connects the furniture-buying journey, from inventory and customer visualization to product selection and delivery.
By the time the founders arrived at El Mocambo, the work had already been done.
Now they had to sell the room.
LET THE COMPETITION BEGIN
The CodeLaunch Canada bracket put the six finalists head-to-head in front of a live audience.
Founders had just minutes to explain the problem they were solving, demonstrate the progress they had made, and convince the room that their startup deserved to keep moving.
The crowd wasn’t sitting quietly.
Audience members used Launch Kings throughout the night, deploying their LaunchBucks behind the companies they believed should advance.
AN ALUM STEPS BACK INTO THE SPOTLIGHT
CodeLaunch Canada 2026 was originally set to feature Simba Wakatama as both a co-host and member of the judging panel.
Unfortunately, illness kept Simba from making it to El Mocambo — despite doing everything he could to be there.
That meant the judging panel had to adjust on short notice.
Emily Fleck of Sterling Brokers remained at the judges table, bringing her perspective to each founder pitch and helping evaluate the startups throughout the competition.
And when CodeLaunch needed someone to step into Simba’s judging seat, a familiar face answered the call.
Raj Manocha of Materia Bioworks, the 2024 CodeLaunch Canada Champion, stepped in as the second judge for the night.
Two years after competing on the CodeLaunch Canada stage himself, Raj returned to El Mocambo on the other side of the competition — this time sitting alongside Emily and helping evaluate the next class of Canadian startups.
Together, Emily and Raj guided the judging side of the competition, bringing two different perspectives to the founders taking the stage.
For Raj, it was a full-circle CodeLaunch moment: from Champion to judge.
And for Emily, it was another way Sterling Brokers continued its involvement in CodeLaunch Canada, both through the judging panel and its support of the event.
We missed having Simba with us and appreciate how hard he worked to try to make the night happen. We’re wishing him a quick recovery.
THE LIGHTNING ROUND
After the opening rounds, three startups remained:
GoAway
MENCHI
ImpulsTrip
These three advanced to The Lightning Round, the final stage of the CodeLaunch Canada competition.
At that point, the pressure changed.
The pitches got tighter as these founders had a final 30 seconds to convince everyone why they should be crowned the CodeLaunch Canada 2026 Champion.
AND THE CODELAUNCH CANADA 2026 CHAMPIONSHIP GOES TO... MENCHI
🏆 Menchi
Founder: Alejandro Zuluaga Villegas
Menchi entered The Lightning Round alongside GoAway and ImpulsTrip.
It walked out as the CodeLaunch Canada 2026 Champion.
After advancing through the live competition, Menchi captured the Championship and earned an automatic spot at the CodeLaunch World Championship.
For founder Alejandro Zuluaga Villegas, the victory means Menchi will now represent Canada on CodeLaunch’s global stage alongside champions emerging from the U.S. and LATAM competitions.
But Menchi wasn’t finished.
MENCHI SWEEPS THE NIGHT
The audience wasn’t the only group impressed by Menchi.
The CodeLaunch Canada judging panel also selected Menchi as the Judges Champion, giving Alejandro Zuluaga Villegas and his startup a clean sweep of the night’s founder awards.
Winning both the live Championship and the Judges Championship meant Menchi earned recognition from two very different sides of the room: the audience experiencing the competition and the judges evaluating the startups from an investment and business perspective.
One startup.
Two championships.
One very good night at El Mocambo.
BEHIND THE FOUNDERS: THE PCL HACKATHON CHAMPIONSHIP
The founders may own the stage, but CodeLaunch starts long before the lights come on.
Behind every finalist is an Improving Professional Coder League team working directly with the startup to help build, refine, and strengthen its product.
This year’s PCL Hackathon Championship went to:
💻 OttOpsAI
OttOpsAI is an Improving Professional Coder League team made up of:
- Brian Burke
- Nurlan Mammaldi
- Kiefer Baird-Perry
OttOpsAI earned the Hackathon Championship for its technical execution and development work throughout the CodeLaunch Canada build.
The award recognizes what happens behind the scenes at CodeLaunch: experienced Improving technologists working under pressure alongside founders to solve real problems and move real products forward.
By Championship Night, those builds are no longer prototypes sitting inside a development sprint.
They’re part of the founder’s pitch.
And this year, OttOpsAI’s work stood out.
MORE THAN A PITCH COMPETITION
That’s always been the difference with CodeLaunch.
Founders don’t just arrive, pitch, and leave.
They build.
They collaborate.
They get direct access to experienced technologists.
They meet investors, partners, and startup ecosystem leaders.
And they do it without giving up equity.
CodeLaunch Canada 2026 brought all of that together in one night at El Mocambo — combining product acceleration and live startup competition with the entertainment that makes CodeLaunch feel different. RajNATION brought the hip-hop concert energy to the room, while CodeLaunch President and Founder Jason W. Taylor debuted the CodeLaunch theme song, “We Code, You Launch.”
Add in an audience that could directly influence the competition through Launch Kings, and it became more than a pitch event.
It became a show.
That’s Venturetainment.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
For Menchi, the next stop is the CodeLaunch World Championship.
As the Canada 2026 Champion, Menchi now advances automatically to compete against the champions from CodeLaunch U.S. 2026 and CodeLaunch LATAM 2026.
The stakes only get bigger from here.
For the rest of the Canada cohort, the Championship may be over, but the acceleration continues.
Each finalist leaves CodeLaunch with product development, new connections, increased exposure, and a stronger foundation than they had coming in.
And for OttOpsAI, the PCL Hackathon Championship adds another reminder that some of the most important wins at CodeLaunch happen before a founder ever picks up a microphone.
A SPECIAL OFFER FOR CODELAUNCH CANADA ATTENDEES
Thanks to ProMed AI, one of this year’s prize sponsors through Sterling Brokers, CodeLaunch Canada attendees can receive $50 off ProMed AI’s Foundation + Membership package.
ProMed AI serves as a personal health platform designed to bring your health information into one place, including medical records, bloodwork covering 30+ biomarkers across areas such as heart health, metabolism, hormones, and inflammation, along with genetics and wearable data.
The Foundation + Membership package is regularly $350, and CodeLaunch Canada attendees can receive $50 off using promo code:
ST50
Redeem the offer through ProMed AI’s Foundation page:
https://www.promedai.ca/foundation
Huge thanks to ProMed AI and Sterling Brokers for supporting CodeLaunch Canada 2026 and extending this offer to our community.
THANK YOU, TORONTO
Another CodeLaunch Canada is in the books.
Huge thanks to the founders, Improving Professional Coder League teams, judges, partners, sponsors, investors, and everyone who showed up at El Mocambo and helped make the night what it was.
Toronto continues to show up for founders.
And CodeLaunch will keep giving them something worth showing up for.