eChai startup events

The official events calendar of eChai Ventures. Founder meetups, dinners, demo days, and networking events across India, the US, and beyond.

No upcoming eChai meetups in Toronto right now. See every city.

Recent eChai gatherings in Toronto, newest first. Open any to see who came and the recap.

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eChai's Toronto Startup Mixer
Dec 1, 2025 · Toronto
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28
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Toronto Startup Social
<div>​eChai Ventures is hosting the <strong>Toronto Startup Social</strong> — a warm, founder-first meetup to bring together entrepreneurs, operators, and ecosystem enablers from across the city.<br><br></div><div>​It’s a space to share what you’re building, meet fellow founders, and explore real-world collaborations in a relaxed, community-driven setting.<br><br></div><div>​Whether you're new to Toronto or have been building here for years, this is an evening to connect with like-minded people, exchange ideas, and be part of a growing global community of builders.<br><br></div><div>​eChai has hosted 100s of startup meetups across 20+ cities — and now, Toronto joins the map.<br><br></div><div>​Come for the conversations. Stay for the community.<br><br></div><div>​For any queries, you can reach out to Jatin Chaudhary, Co-Founder, eChai Ventures at [email protected].<br><br></div>
Aug 28, 2025 · ESTHETEAK, 411 Richmond St E #203, Toronto, ON M5A 3S5, Canada. · Toronto
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24
jul
Toronto Startup Social
<div>​eChai Ventures is hosting the <strong>Toronto Startup Social</strong> — a warm, founder-first meetup to bring together entrepreneurs, operators, and ecosystem enablers from across the city.<br><br></div><div>​It’s a space to share what you’re building, meet fellow founders, and explore real-world collaborations in a relaxed, community-driven setting.<br><br></div><div>​Whether you're new to Toronto or have been building here for years, this is an evening to connect with like-minded people, exchange ideas, and be part of a growing global community of builders.<br><br></div><div>​eChai has hosted 100s of startup meetups across 20+ cities — and now, Toronto joins the map.<br><br></div><div>​Come for the conversations. Stay for the community.<br><br></div><div>​For any queries, you can reach out to Jatin Chaudhary, Co-Founder, eChai Ventures at [email protected].<br><br></div>
Jul 24, 2025 · ESTHETEAK, 411 Richmond St E #203, Toronto, ON M5A 3S5, Canada. · Toronto
fri
1
mar
New Brunswick Startup Meetup
<div>eChai Ventures Canada will be hosting the small gathering of founders and startups folks on 1st March, Friday from 3 pm to 5 pm AST.<br><br></div><div>eChai's Startup Meetups are volunteer driven small gatherings with founders and startup folks happening all over the world.<br><br></div><div><strong>This meetup is free to attend and will be on 'Pay-For-What-You-Order' basis. You can know more about the venue here.<br></strong><br></div><div>"Typically Founders, Startup Enthusiasts, folks from VC firms and corporate folks interested in exploring startup ecosystem attend these eChai Startup Socials."<br><br></div><div><strong>Venue</strong>: Café Cognito, 581 Main St, Moncton, NB E1C 1C6, Canada.<br><br></div><div><strong>Map link</strong>: https://maps.app.goo.gl/T7EWFGc7orS4DL1GA<br><br></div><div><strong>Date</strong>: 1st March, Friday <strong>Time</strong>: 3 pm to 5 pm AST.<br><br></div>
Mar 1, 2024 · Café Cognito, 581 Main St, Moncton, NB E1C 1C6, Canada. · Toronto
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22
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Toronto Startup Meetup
eChai Ventures Toronto will be hosting the small gathering of founders and startups folks on 22nd June, Thursday from 6.30 pm to 8.30 pm.
Jun 22, 2023 · Chowpatty Culture, 1966 Queen St E, Toronto, ON M4L 1H8, Canada. · Toronto
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People in Toronto

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Founders in Toronto worth knowing. Tap a card for the full profile, bio, what they're hoping for, links to reach out.

Jeanne Lam
Toronto
Jeanne Lam
President, Wattpad
Building

I focus on scaling high-growth consumer and platform businesses. Currently the president of Wattpad, responsible for the P&L of a global technology & media app used by 90M people around the world every month. I love working in industries that are pioneering a radically different business or technology, and growing people and organizations to do what's never been done before.

Official Bio:
Jeanne Lam is all about scaling and accelerating high-growth consumer tech businesses. With more than 17 years experience across different functions, Jeanne leads tech companies through strategic growth and transition.

As president of Wattpad, the world’s largest storytelling platform with 90M+ readers and writers, she is responsible for the global team and strategy that drives user and revenue growth. 

Prior to Wattpad, Jeanne led growth and user acquisition at Shapeways, the world’s largest 3D printing service. She has also worked at Yahoo as Director of Platform Strategy, and mobile payments company, GoPago, as Head of Marketing & Business Intelligence. Before her startup career, she spent three years as a management consultant at Accenture.
 
Jeanne holds an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School and a B.S. in economics from Cornell University. She serves on the boards of Women and Color, Canadian Club Toronto, Cornell Club of Toronto, HBS Club of Toronto and is a founding member of the Coalition of Innovation Leaders Against Racism (CILAR). She is passionate about helping young professionals find fulfillment in their careers.

Rakesh Patel
Toronto
Rakesh Patel
CEO, UpperInc
Building

29+ years of experience and leadership in business strategies, operations, and information technology

I've provided strategic and operations leadership in uniquely challenging situations including marketing and sales, information technology operations.

I've Lead teams to solve vexing business problems and drive overall growth by:
➢ building industry-wide service delivery platforms
➢ leveraging advanced data and technology services, and
➢ driving network expansion through user engagement and partnerships 

I’m also the author of two books “Enterprise Mobility Strategy & Solutions” and "A Guide to Open311."

Key Areas of Expertise:

• Strategy, Vision & Project Planning
• Sales & Marketing Leadership
• Profitability & Cost Analysis
• Programs, Services & Products
• Team Building & Performance Improvement

..

Upper is a complete Delivery Route Optimization software for small to medium-size businesses that require proper routing for their delivery operations.

Upper strives to fix the inefficient last-mile delivery system. We create a simple workflow between the three stakeholders required to create an excellent delivery: business owner, drivers and their customers.

Mignesh Parekh
Toronto
Mignesh Parekh
Founder & CEO, Karmakarah Tech
Building

Mignesh Parekh is a serial entrepreneur having 18 plus years of experience in Academics Promotion, International Trade and Investment Consulting. Having been involved in academic promotion and international marketing, he has travelled to 30 countries on marketing trips and dealt with many international clients of education, government, and private sectors. Mignesh has promoted many Atlantic Canadian universities in India and helped them building strategic partnerships with Indian universities and academic institutions. Mignesh was hired by ACOA to led 2 education missions from Atlantic Canada to India and 2 missions from India to Atlantic Canada between 2014 to 2019. These missions helped some of the Atlantic universities (Cape Breton Univ., Univ. of PEI, Memorial Univ., St. Mary’s Univ.) to increase their Indian student population from few to few hundreds. Mignesh was hired by Govt. of Prince Edward Island, Canada to promote Startup Visa Program in India where 17 startup companies from India were awarded Startup Visa. Mignesh was also hired by Govt of PEI to handle two high profile business delegation to India led by the then Premier of PEI H.E. Mr. Robert Ghiz and H. E. Mr. Wade MacLauchlan. 

Mignesh has worked on economic development and competitiveness projects supported by many world-renowned organizations like World Bank, UNIDO, USAID (USA), DFID (UK), GTZ (Germany), COMSEC etc. He has also worked on projects supported by many Indian government and nongovernment organizations. Mignesh was hired by many Canadian govt. and educational organizations i.e. Consulate General of Canada in India, ACOA (Atlantic Canada Opportunity Agency), Invest PEI, Govt. of PEI, NSBI (Nov Scotia Business Inc.), Memorial University, University of Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton University etc. 

In the year 2015 govt. of India under NITI Aayog formed an organization called “Atal Innovation Mission (AIM)” to inculcate innovation and entrepreneurship in India. Mignesh’s business consulting firm, The KAMMA Inc. was hired to do survey of SME clusters across the country to know the innovation and entrepreneurship scenario in India. Report submitted by The KAMMA Inc. was incorporated in final report submitted to the Prime Minister to design Startup Policy of India which govt. of India had announced in the year 2017. 

Mignesh was also on board of Indo-Canada Business Chamber (ICBC), Gujarat Chapter as honorary secretary and treasurer between 2016 to 2019.

Vijay Thirumalai
Toronto
Vijay Thirumalai
Founder, Diligent Works
Building

Founder, Diligent Works and Angel Investor

..

Building Cardinality, the 1st Industry Cloud for Human Services.

Vijay is currently building 2 Awesome SAAS brands, Cardinality & MyhCue in the Health and Human Services Space. Scaled the company from 3 employees to 100+ employees in 3 years time, with a 100%+ YoY growth, with offices in 5 continents and customers in 30+ countries & Growing. 

Prior to this, Vijay was an Investment Banker and was advising Startups and growth companies in South East Asia on their fundraising and growth strategy focused on M&A and Private Equity. Vijay has advised to successfully raise more than $0.5 Bn of Capital across a variety of instruments. Vijay also advises large corporates on their Digital strategy including investments and acquisitions.

He started his career at ADP one of the largest Payroll processors in the World and worked for them in a Consulting role. 

Vijay is an engineer by background and has also completed an MBA from Strategy & Finance. He is also a certified FRM and CFA Charter holder. 

Overall, he has spent all of his professional experience (16+ years) in the Technology industry in various roles. 

More of Toronto, and the wider network

Questions, answered

What founder events are happening on eChai?

eChai runs founder dinners, workshops, and meetups across 25+ cities. Upcoming gatherings are listed here, and you can RSVP to any of them.

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eChai gathers founders across 25+ cities in India and beyond. Open a city to see what's coming up there.

eChai Partner Brands

eChai Ventures partners with select brands as their growth partner. Together we explore new ideas, open doors, and build momentum across the startup ecosystem.