New partnership to support women entrepreneurs in tech and innovation

Hamilton, ON – Business accelerators, Innovation Factory, Haltech, and Movement51 are thrilled to announce their strategic partnership, underscoring their commitment to supporting women founders and investors in the technology and innovation space.

Women-led businesses face unique challenges that can make it more difficult for them to access capital, build networks, overcome gender bias, and balance responsibilities. This partnership will leverage the strengths of each organization and bring together their expertise, resources, and shared mission to help women entrepreneurs scale successful ventures.

Through a memorandum of understanding, each partner builds upon their distinct initiatives centered on the intersectionality and inclusivity of women in technology. For instance, Haltech’s Beyond Boundaries program aims to level the playing field for women founders with access to workshops, mentoring, coaching, and networking opportunities. Innovation Factory’s Femtech Canada network enables and encourages entrepreneurs to drive innovation in women’s health. Additionally, Movement51’s programming focuses on entrepreneurship and early-stage investing through a feminist lens, M51 is powering the full economic participation of women and gender-diverse people in Canada.

This collaboration enhances their commitment to providing women entrepreneurs with the resources, education, strategic connections, mentorship, events, and networking opportunities necessary to accelerate the growth and scalability of their businesses. Furthermore, the partners will work to expand their respective and collaborative areas of service through testing programs and education in new geographies.

“The collaboration with Innovation Factory and Haltech felt like a natural fit,” said Danielle Gifford, Executive Director of Movement51. “Through this collaboration, we are excited to amplify our impact and empower more women and gender-diverse entrepreneurs to succeed. By collectively leveraging our expertise, resources, and networks we are able to provide strong and more comprehensive support to women across Canada.”

Karen Linseman, Director of Operations of Innovation Factory, is excited about the partnership and what it can accomplish. “By collectively leveraging our programming and resources, we can help more women entrepreneurs to grow their businesses and equip investors to invest in a diverse range of businesses – ultimately benefiting our economy and society as a whole. Our partnership with Haltech and Movement51 is an important step in driving change for women and gender-diverse individuals, and we’re excited about the path we are on and the impact we can have.”

Shann McGrail, CEO of Haltech, adds “Haltech continues our journey to level the playing field for women and women-identifying entrepreneurs in the technology and innovation space. Partnerships with like-minded organizations who share similar objectives are critical to doing more at an accelerated pace. We are excited to work with Innovation Factory and Movement51 for change, exchange of ideas, and creation of opportunities that will benefit the community we seek to serve.”

For more information about this partnership and upcoming events, please visit the websites of Innovation Factory, Haltech, and Movement51.

About Innovation Factory
Innovation Factory is a non-profit business accelerator, serving as the catalyst for tech innovation in the greater Hamilton area since 2011. Innovation Factory provides business services, training, and mentorship to help entrepreneurs with advanced manufacturing, clean tech, information tech, life science, and social innovations to bring their ideas to market, increase revenues, attract investment and create jobs.
www.innovationfactory.ca

About Haltech
Haltech is a not-for-profit Regional Innovation Centre (RIC) that has worked with more than 800 innovation companies since its inception. Expertise includes education, mentorship and advisory services, and strategic connections with a wider ecosystem of professionals and partners to support technology and innovation companies. Haltech also specializes in programming and support for Women entrepreneurs.
www.haltech.ca

About Movement51
M51, the sister company to The51, is a non-profit educational platform created to eliminate gender disparity in financial knowledge. M51 addresses financial inequalities through innovative educational programs like the Financial Feminism Investing Lab, accessible community events, strategic partnerships with academic institutions like the University of Calgary, and like-minded non-profits, like the Canadian Women’s Foundation. With programming that focuses on entrepreneurship and early-stage investing through a feminist lens, M51 is powering the full economic participation of women and gender-diverse people in Canada.
www.m51.com

Media Contact:
Annie Horton
Marketing Lead
Innovation Factory
[email protected]