MONTREAL, Nov. 18, 2020 /CNW/ - In collaboration with Disruption Ventures, The Scotiabank Women Initiative™ today announced its premiere RAISE & RISE event – a virtual pitch competition and conference that offers women entrepreneurs the chance to win a cash investment of $25,000 and more.

RAISE & RISE Pitch Competition

Until December 2^nd, eligible entrepreneurs can submit their applications to the pitch competition online via the following link: https://bit.ly/3lnIdRV. 

A panel of judges will evaluate the applications and select the six strongest to move forward for the final round. The top six finalists will be announced on Tuesday, December 8^th at 11:59 p.m. ET.

RAISE & RISE Conference

The conference portion of RAISE & RISE will be led by top industry leaders and offer meaningful discussion to women entrepreneurs about how to "raise" capital and "rise" as successful entrepreneurs.

"We are dedicated to empowering women entrepreneurs and closing the gender gap in Venture Capital," says Maria Mangiocavallo, Vice President of Commercial Banking, Scotiabank, and Advisory Board Member of The Scotiabank Women Initiative. "By providing access to Capital, Mentorship and Education, we are committed to giving women entrepreneurs the knowledge and confidence they need to break down barriers and access the funding they need to achieve the goals they set out for their businesses."

The virtual conference takes place on December 15^th from 9 a.m. to Noon ET and is free for anyone to attend. For more information and to register, please visit: https://bit.ly/2UkZL5j

The pitch finale will be hosted virtually, by invitation-only on December 16^th. Six finalists will compete for the Grand Prize in front of the panel of expert judges, which include successful entrepreneurs and business executives, as well as Gillian Riley, President & CEO Tangerine Bank and executive sponsor of The Scotiabank Women Initiative.

The winner of the Grand Prize will be announced December 17^th on the RAISE & RISE webpage.

The Grand Prize Winner will receive:

• A cash investment from Disruption Ventures for a minimum of $25,000 (CAD) subject to standard terms and conditions
• Six months of free working space at 1Chabanel courtesy of JANT Ventures and Hive MTL
• Featured article on Scotiabank's Perspectives, and one-year of mentorship from Scotiabank and Roynat Capital executives
• Three-hour workshop with members of MNP's Assurance and Advisory team
• Eligibility for Fasken's fee deferral program

All six finalists will be awarded a Finalist Prize Package consisting of:

• A series of three workshops (75 minutes) facilitated by The Scotiabank Women Initiative in partnership with Scotiabank and Roynat Capital
• Free entry into Fasken's Startup program
• A series of three workshops (90 minutes) from MNP on topics of interest to startups, such as SR&ED, tax matters and corporate finance.

"Access to capital is the number one challenge for women entrepreneurs," says Elaine Kunda, founder and managing partner of Disruption Ventures. "With RAISE & RISE we hope to provide women founders in Quebec, with a platform to access credible investors and meaningful feedback to help them prosper."

For more information including submission eligibility and criteria and how to enter, please visit the RAISE & RISE webpage. Submissions can be done directly following this link:

English: https://forms.gle/yYSYz9Ky7k9DLe9F6

French: https://forms.gle/vRoDUdNkhntmyCb9A

About The Scotiabank Women Initiative The Scotiabank Women Initiative is a comprehensive program to help advance women-owned and women-led businesses across Canada through three key pillars: Access to Capital, Mentorship and Education. Since launching in December 2018, The Scotiabank Women Initiative has achieved several notable milestones. In September 2019, the Bank committed to deploy three billion dollars in capital to women-led businesses in its first three years. The program has engaged more than 1,900 women through our Boot Camps and group mentorship sessions across Canada. We formed The Scotiabank Women Initiative Advisory Board of Scotiabank executives, who provide expertise to help women grow their businesses through facilitated small group mentorship sessions and we developed an online Knowledge Centre for self-directed learning. For more information on The Scotiabank Women Initiative, visit scotiabankwomeninitiative.com.

About Disruption Ventures Disruption Ventures is the first private Canadian female-founded venture capital fund that invests in businesses founded or managed by women. Recognizing that women-led companies are underfunded, despite their ability to perform and grow successful businesses, Disruption Ventures is committed to being the starting point for the very best female founders when early stage capital is required.  For more information, please visit www.disruption-ventures.com and connect with us on Twitter @Elaine_Kunda and @DisruptionVC.

About Scotiabank Scotiabank is a leading bank in the Americas. Guided by our purpose: "for every future", we help our customers, their families and their communities achieve success through a broad range of advice, products and services, including personal and commercial banking, wealth management and private banking, corporate and investment banking, and capital markets. With a team of over 90,000 employees and assets of approximately $1.2 trillion (as at July 31, 2020), Scotiabank trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: BNS) and New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BNS). For more information, please visit our website and follow us on Twitter @ScotiabankViews.

SOURCE Scotiabank