Impact

  • Discover Impactfest 2026!

    Written by

    CIVIC

    in

    Dear CIVIC community,

    The time has come to unveil the 2026 program for our flagship event, ImpactFest: When Impact Outperforms, co-chaired this year by Trish Nixon (Amplify Capital) and Sam Hasty (Active Impact Investment). The event will take place on July 9 at the Sky Stage at the Grand Quai in Montréal’s Port, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., for this must-attend gathering of the impact investing community, now in its third year. 

    This year, ImpactFest brings together investors, founders, and ecosystem leaders for a series of bold conversations on the future of impact investing, financing growth, and the transformations needed to move our ecosystem forward. 

    Amanda Hall, Founder and CEO of Summit Lithium Technologies, will offer an essential perspective on rethinking how we scale beyond borders and how capital can better serve impact.

    From navigating the capital stack to the realities of the entrepreneurial journey, from pre-seed to Series A, this year’s program highlights practical, ambitious, and experience-driven perspectives, featuring speakers such as Kelly Gauthier (Rally Assets), Carter Li (SWTCH), and Erica Barbosa (Eclipx Family Office). 

    We’ll also hear directly from founders at different stages of growth, a chain-reaction panel with Jennifer McDonald (Cycle Momentum), Marc-André Roberge (Nectar), and Peter Kotzeff (Quilt).

    A morning designed to spark honest conversations, inspire action, and imagine what comes next, together. Finance Montréal’s presence as ImpactFest’s partner underscores the importance of building bridges between finance, innovation, and impact to advance the ecosystem in Québec and across Canada: capital guided by impact doesn’t simply compete, it redefines performance.

    CIVIC co-founders Sylvain Carle and Lyne Landry will also join us on stage to celebrate the strength, momentum, and future of the impact investing community.

    “ImpactFest is building the connective tissue necessary for Canada to become the global leader in impact innovation. We’re thrilled to be part of this edition and excited to work alongside mission aligned partners to highlight the leadership position Canada is taking and discuss ways to continue to improve as an impact ecosystem.”  Sam Hasty

    Get you tickets for Startupest to access to ImpactFest with a 15% discount

    Thanks to our Impactfest partners this year

  • Call for Applications Impact Investment Prize

    Written by

    CIVIC

    in

    Founders: are you building for impact? This $100K prize is for you.

    CIVIC is thrilled to launch the 2026 Impact Investment Prize – $100,000 in impact investment for one exceptional Canadian startup, along with a $25,000 Startup in residence grant powered by Desjardins.

    The prize will be awarded on July 10 during Startupfest 2026, alongside our partners Spring and Anges Québec.

    🎯 We’re looking for Canadian pre-seed or seed-stage startups that check all three boxes:

    ✅ Measurable social and/or environmental impact

    ✅ Concrete monetization strategy with early market validation (initial customers)

    ✅ Strong, complementary founding team

    Applications take only a few minutes to complete.

    📣 Help us find Canada’s most promising impact startups –> Please share this opportunity with your network.

    🔗 Apply here before June 2nd

  • Impact for Breakfast Montréal – June 2, 2026

    Written by

    CIVIC

    in

    ,
    ,

    CIVIC is pleased to invite you to the next Montreal edition of Impact for Breakfast, taking place on June 2, 2026, in partnership with Finance Montréal and as an official side event of the 2026 Sustainable Finance Summit.

    ☕ Impact for Breakfast – Montreal Edition

    Where Impact Gets Real: AI, Risk & Systems Change
    📅 June 2, 2026
    🕣 8:30 AM – 11:30 AM
    🎤 Panel: 9:00 AM – 10:15 AM
    📍Location:  Finance Montréal, 4 Place Ville-Marie, 1er étage

    Register / S’inscrire

    Speakers:

    Through an open and practice-oriented discussion among impact investors, we will explore how these issues are redefining investment decisions and the role of capital as a driver of societal change.

    This special edition will revisit key insights from CIVIC’s 2025–2026 Impact Investment Circles through three themes currently reshaping the practice of impact investing:

    • AI and responsible governance
    • Impact risk assessment
    • Systemic investing and systems change

    Objectives:

    • Foster dialogue on key challenges in impact investing
    • Strengthen the capabilities of investment professionals
    • Advance the practice of impact investing — for greater impact

    We hope you will join us for this engaging conversation bringing together investors, entrepreneurs, and ecosystem leaders.

    We look forward to seeing you and exchanging ideas!

    The CIVIC team 💚

    CIVIC brings together those who want to place impact at the heart of investment decisions, maximizing returns and benefits for both people and the planet.

    We are listening and here to serve you! 

    Send us a note at info@impact-coalition.ca or follow us on LinkedIn.

    Thanks to our partners for this edition of Impact for Breakfast:

  • ChangeNOW Paris 2026: A tipping point for impact investing and an opportunity for Montreal

    Written by

    CIVIC

    in

    At the heart of the Grand Palais, ChangeNOW 2026 was anything but a typical conference. It sent a clear signal: impact investing has entered a new phase, more mature, more structured, and firmly focused on execution.

    Attending as a delegate for Québec, our co-director Naouel Hanani took the pulse of a global ecosystem in transformation. Through strategic meetings, in-depth discussions, and subtle signals, one thing became clear: the sector’s center of gravity has shifted.

    The conversation is no longer about innovation. The solutions already exist. The challenge now is to direct capital toward them, structure effective financing mechanisms, and scale what works.

    Across discussions with actors such as Impact Europe, MedWaves, Impact Hub, and Building Bridges, a clear pattern emerged. The sector is becoming more disciplined and competitive, increasingly aligned with the practices of venture capital and private equity, and driven by stronger expectations for measurable results.

    At the same time, value is shifting. It lies less in individual projects and more in the ability to connect investors, entrepreneurs, and institutions, and to build alliances across ecosystems.

    For Montreal, this shift creates a real opportunity. With its strong innovation base and engaged community, the city has the potential to play a convening role on the international stage, provided it can organize and scale its efforts collectively.

    In this context, CIVIC plays a key role by connecting investors, bridging ecosystems between Québec and abroad, and helping accelerate the deployment of impact capital.

    ChangeNOW 2026 makes one thing clear. The future of impact will be shaped by those who can connect, finance, and scale solutions. Montreal has an opportunity to step into that role.

  • Impact for Breakfast: When impact meets financial returns

    Written by

    CIVIC

    in

    You are invited to our next Impact Breakfast in Montreal, part of the Impact for Breakfast series.

    Impact fundraising: When impact meets financial returns
     🎤 Moderated by Sylvain Carle (CIVIC)

    When: March 23, 8:30–10:30 AM
    Where: Fondaction, 2175 Boul. de Maisonneuve East, Suite 103, Montreal

    Register here

    Our panelists

    Fauve Doucet, Co-founder and CEO, Partage Club

    Fauve Doucet is a civic tech entrepreneur and former media creative. After a decade in leading creative agencies — earning more than 20 awards and being named one of Marketing Magazine’s 30 Under 30 — she shifted her career toward social innovation and technology for the public good. She is the founder and CEO of Partage Club, a company building digital infrastructure to help cities mutualize services, rethink urban mobility, and strengthen resilient communities. Named Startup of the Year in 2024, she now leads the company’s international expansion. She also serves on the board of Masse Critique, a Canadian nonprofit working to reduce the socio-environmental footprint of the communications industry.

    Sarah Bezeau Gervais, Managing Director, Startup en Résidence, Desjardins

    Sarah is the Managing Director of Startup en Résidence, an accelerator-investor powered by Desjardins. She has worked in both large corporations and startups, and has been active on the investor side of the startup ecosystem since 2018. She specializes in early-stage support and financing.

    Karine Bah Tahe, CEO and Co-founder, Oasis Learning AI

    Karine Bah Tahe is the co-founder and CEO of Oasis Learning AI, an AI-native SaaS platform that detects changes in products, policies, and systems and automatically updates training and knowledge content in real time, ensuring employees always have accurate and up-to-date information. She launched Oasis in 2024 after repeatedly observing the same learning and development challenges: slow processes, outdated content, and high update costs.

    Before Oasis, Karine founded Blue Level Training, a service company she scaled to CAD $1.8M in annual revenue, working with clients such as Apple, Colgate, and Netflix. She also worked as an international business journalist across Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

    Severine Labelle

    Sévrine Labelle, Managing Director, Lab Excelles and Fonds Excelles Repreneuriat, BDC Capital

    Sévrine Labelle brings 18 years of executive leadership experience and is deeply committed to building a strong, inclusive, sustainable, and innovative economy. At BDC Capital, she leads the $100M Lab Excelles initiative, which includes two flagship $50M funds: Lab Excelles and the Fonds Excelles Repreneuriat (ETA).

    Together with her team, she supports ambitious women pursuing entrepreneurship through business creation or acquisition, providing equity capital, strategic guidance, and a strong support ecosystem.

    Previously, she served as CEO of Evol, where she led a major transformation and oversaw a portfolio of more than 350 companies.

    Sylvain Carle
    Sylvain Carle, co-fondateur et co-directeur executif de CIVIC

    Sylvain Carle, Moderator

    For over 30 years, Sylvain Carle has been dedicated to emerging technologies, combining curiosity, passion, intuition, and ambition. He has developed deep expertise at the intersection of technology, innovation, investment, and human systems.

    A strong advocate for collaboration in service of the common good, he has contributed to numerous organizations across both the private and community sectors. A pragmatic optimist, he believes in the potential of technology as a progressive force.

    As an investor in innovative initiatives transforming industries, sectors, and regions, he aspires to a future where technology is sustainable, equitable, and human-centered, contributing positively to society and the environment.

  • EN: An experienced leader joins CIVIC!

    Written by

    Jer Clarke

    in

    ✨ We are thrilled to welcome Naouel Hanani as Co-Executive Director, alongside Sylvain Carle. With 20 years of experience in startups and SMEs across Canada and internationally, she has grown entrepreneurial ecosystems, built strategic partnerships, and supported companies in scaling. Her expertise and strategic vision will be a major asset to take CIVIC to the next level.

    Naouel will count on the executive committee (Lyne Landry, Delphine Descamps, Sylvain Carle), the team (Catherine Letendre, Pascale Oligny, Yannick B. Gélinas) and our volunteers to move this mission forward with energy. Welcome, Naouel! 💥

    No alternative text description for this image

    Activate to view larger image,

  • EN: Impact for Breakfast with Karel Mayrand

    Written by

    Jer Clarke

    in

    , ,
    , ,

    Did you miss the most recent Montréal Impact Breakfast / Impact For Breakfast Montreal with Karel Mayrand? We thought of you!

    🎥 Here is the full video of the conversation led by Sylvain Carle from CIVIC with Karel Mayrand, exploring philanthropic capital as a catalyst for innovation and collaboration.

    CIVIC initiated this gathering because we firmly believe that philanthropy and private investment each carry complementary missions to create positive social and environmental impact.

    CIVIC brings together those who put impact at the heart of investment decisions, maximizing returns and benefits for both people and the planet. We equip and connect the impact investing ecosystem to transform capital into lasting change.

    🌱 Watch the full conversation from the Montréal Impact Breakfast held on October 23 at Maison Notman.