Innovate BC announced today that Janet Bannister, the newly appointed Managing Partner of Real Ventures, is the first keynote speaker for the 2020 #BCTECHSummit.
Bannister is one of the most high-profile and successful venture capitalists in Canada. A leading thinker on innovation, Bannister has seen and managed stunning shifts in business and tech. She was previously a founder of Kijiji.ca, an early director at eBay, and made an impact early in her career at international giants Procter & Gamble and McKinsey & Co.
“Janet Bannister has worked with some of the biggest companies in the world and is playing a pivotal role in helping the next wave of Canadian startups scale up for global growth. The #BCTECHSummit will be a great opportunity for B.C.’s top tech companies to learn from one of our country’s most successful entrepreneurs and gain valuable insights on how to grow their businesses,” shared Innovate BC’s Raghwa Gopal.
At the #BCTECHSummit, Bannister will share rare insights into what companies must do to scale-up into global, industry-defining businesses and how organizations in every industry can thrive in the innovation economy.
With a theme of Scaling Up for Global Growth, the #BCTECHSummit, powered by Innovate BC and presented by Rogers, will bring together local and international business leaders to share tactical expertise with B.C.’s most promising technology companies, entrepreneurs and innovators.
In addition to Bannister, the first round of speakers also includes Markus Frind (Founder of Plenty of Fish), Mike Silagadze (Founder of Top Hat), and Henrique Dubagras (Co-founder of Brex).
Frind sold Plenty of Fish in 2015 for $575 million and is now growing grapes with his Frind Estate winery in the Okanagan. Silagadze recently raised a $72 million Series D round for his edtech startup which aims to disrupt textbooks next. 24-year old Dubagras is the co-founder of fintech unicorn Brex, headquartered in San Francisco but hiring in Vancouver.
Super Early Bird tickets to the 2020 #BCTECHSummit are currently available for $449, so be sure to register now.