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A technical pitch competition for Canadian startups.
The build your team is most proud of, pitched behind closed doors to a panel from AWS Startups Canada and Elevata. The winner goes to re:Invent 2026.
Applications close October 31, 2026
The competition
Behind every growth-stage startup is an engineering team that solved something hard to get the product where it is. The scaling problem, the cost problem, the integration that should not have worked. Customers see the result. Investors see the numbers. The engineering team rarely gets the room. Built in Canada is a technical pitch competition for that team: fifteen minutes, closed door, with a panel from AWS Startups Canada and Elevata, judged on the technical challenge, the engineering depth and the results. Not the deck. You decide how deep to go. The winner goes to re:Invent 2026 with the next build funded.
Prizes
A trip to AWS re:Invent in Las Vegas
Flight, hotel and full conference pass for one engineer on your team, plus AWS Startups activities during the week.
Up to
$75K
USD in engineering services on your next build
Up to
$20K
USD in AWS credits
AWS executive meeting
A roadmap session with the head of AWS Startups Canada.
| 2nd place | 3rd place | |
|---|---|---|
| Engineering services on your next build | Up to$50K | Up to$30K |
| AWS credits | Up to$10K | Up to$5K |
All amounts are maximums, in USD. What are the engineering services?
Requirements
Built for growth stage startups: a live product, paying customers, and a build already running in production. Meet all four requirements to apply.
Any province, any city.
With a live product and paying customers. Bootstrapped is welcome.
On any cloud. Yes, we mean any. Being on AWS is not a requirement to pitch.
This is a technical pitch, so the person presenting should be able to answer the engineering questions.
The pitch
Bring the build your team is most proud of.
The problem you had to solve and what made it hard.
How you solved it. The architecture, the decisions, the creative calls. In production today, any cloud.
What changed because it exists. Numbers where you have them.
Where you’re taking it and how AWS and Elevata can help accelerate it.
Timeline
Applications open
Applications close
Shortlist invited to pitch
Pitch sessions
Winners announced
AWS re:Invent, Las Vegas
Our panel
They will have read your application before you walk in, and their questions will go where the engineering gets hard.
Country Leader
AWS Startups Canada
Head of Solutions Architecture
AWS Startups Canada
Senior Solutions Architect
AWS Startups Canada
CEO
Elevata
CAIO
Elevata
The destination
Las Vegas, November 30 to December 4
Every year in late November, startups, experts and builders from across the world gather in Las Vegas for AWS re:Invent. Through keynotes, workshops, demos and hallway conversations, the cloud and AI community works through what’s next, together.
New services launch. Architectures shift. The decisions you make next matter. Over 2,200 sessions, 70 percent of them hands-on, with the people who built the services and the engineers who run them at scale.
Whatever is stalling your next move, an architecture decision, a migration tradeoff, token spend, a security risk, this is where you work through it alongside experts and peers from around the globe. The Built in Canada winner goes with a full pass, flight and hotel covered, and the AWS Startups Canada team walking them in.
Applications close October 31
Six short questions. About fifteen minutes.
Frequently asked questions
Canadian-based startups at seed stage or later with a live product, paying customers, and a build in production they are proud of. The pitch is technical, so it is designed for the CTO, VP Engineering, Head of AI or technical founder who built it.
No.
Three things: the challenge (how hard the problem was), the build (depth and creativity of the engineering), and the results (what it delivered in production).
No. Builds on any cloud are welcome.
No. Simplified diagrams, anonymized examples, and relative metrics are enough. You decide the depth.
Yes, if the founder leads the technical build. The person presenting should be the person who can answer the engineering questions.
Yes. Seed stage means a live product and paying customers, not a funding round.
Your application answers. Nothing else.
One team member chosen by the winning company. Flight, hotel and a full conference pass are covered, plus AWS Startups activities during the week.
Applications are read by the AWS Startups Canada and Elevata panel and used to shortlist and prepare for sessions. Nothing from your application or your session is shared publicly. Winners will have their name shared in the final announcement, but no content regarding what was presented.
Engineering services delivered by Elevata, an AWS Advanced Tier Services Partner, to accelerate your solution on AWS. This is not a cash prize or AWS credits. Funding comes in the form of AWS Partner funding, allocated toward technical resources, architecture support, and solution development services delivered by Elevata in collaboration with AWS, subject to program eligibility and scope. The work is delivered on AWS only; it cannot be applied to builds on other clouds. Scope is agreed with the winning team after the announcement.
No. Only the panel sees your session. Nothing is recorded, no slides are collected, and nothing from your pitch is published. You decide how deep to go, and you can decline any question. A mutual NDA is available on request before your session.
Every team that pitches hears back from us. If AWS or Elevata see something they can help with, they will say so afterward, separately. The session itself is a review, not a sales call.
The panel reads every application and shortlists the strongest builds. Shortlisted startups are invited to pitch on November 2 and choose a slot between November 9 and 13.
Either. Product or internal, AI or not. It has to be in production and in real use today.
One presenter, and it should be the technical leader who built it. A second technical team member may join the call for the questions.
One technical team member chosen by the winning company. Flight from Canada, hotel and the full conference pass are covered. The credits and engineering services go to the company.
Agreeing to be named publicly as the winner, with a one-line description you approve, and working with Elevata and AWS to scope the engineering services on AWS. Nothing else.