Radio-Canada’s Season 14 of "Dans l'œil du dragon" concluded with enthusiasm and emotion as Amazon Web Services (AWS) awarded a $100,000 prize to La 2e Classe, a startup that democratizes home education by offering virtual courses to students pursuing alternative learning journeys.
Earlier this spring, AWS Canada Country Manager, Réjean Bourgault, returned to the show to announce that AWS would be offering a prize worth $100,000 for a second consecutive year.
"We’ve always believed that startups are the next enterprises,” said Bourgault, noting the growth the Season 13 winner AquaVerti Farms is already experiencing with AWS. “Once again, we were looking for entrepreneurs who value technology as part of their business strategy and have plans to leverage emerging technology, like artificial intelligence and generative AI, to scale to new heights.”
La 2e Classe takes first place
Founded in 2020 by two sisters-in-law—IT professional Christine-Amélie Roberge and elementary teacher Marilou Gravel—La 2e Classe aims to offer an alternative to traditional schooling by providing online group classes for homeschooled students seeking comprehensive support, from 1st grade through 11th grade. The platform caters to students whose learning paths are off the beaten track, including aspiring athletes and students for whom the traditional teaching model doesn't suit their way of learning.
“With La 2e Classe, students can learn from anywhere, at their own pace, in a structured and interactive environment,” said Bourgault. “Their model caught our attention because it demonstrates how technology can create more value for society at scale,” he continued, explaining the company already relies on a robust technological infrastructure to offer accessible, quality online education. “We want to help them take the next step to enhance the educational experience for their students and staff,” said Bourgault.
“This grant will help us accelerate our development, strengthen our platform's security, and offer even more targeted support to each student,” explained Marilou Gravel. “We couldn’t be happier!”
For Christine-Amélie Roberge, there is great potential in leveraging AI to help personalize learning paths: “I’m dreaming of the day when AI will help us prevent students from failing a class, by identifying at-risk situations so we can proactively implement tools to better support them toward their success.”
Two additional grants for Brava Endurance and Petit Cactus
Bourgault also announced two additional prizes, worth $20,000 each, during the season finale. Brava Endurance, Les Etchemins clothing brand for women practicing endurance sports, and Petit Cactus, a digital health company from Kingsey Falls, specializing in diabetes management. Both companies impressed AWS, and will receive technology credits and technical support to help them build and grow.
“In addition to technology tools, they’ll have access to our global ecosystem of former founders, venture capitalists, angel investors and mentors who can help them navigate challenges and opportunities to reach their next milestone,” explained Bourgault.
Brava Endurance designs durable, high-performance technical clothing adapted to the needs of women who practice endurance sports such as triathlon, running, or cycling. Its owners are laser-focused on sustainability in the apparel industry and plan to use technology to optimize collection planning and automate internal processes, as well as leverage generative AI to create innovative designs.
"Our goal is to avoid overproduction by relying on data,” said Vincent Chabot, Chief Operations Officer at Brava Endurance. “AI will help us predict what our customers really want, adapt our offerings in real time, and stay at the forefront a changing industry," he explained, highlighting plans for Brava’s sustainable expansion to the rest of the Canadian market.
For Petit Cactus, this prize will help them further their intuitive and innovative mobile and web application, designed to make it easy for patients, and their healthcare professionals, to manage Type 1 and 2 diabetes. The application currently uses image recognition to automatically calculate the required insulin dose. With AWS support, the company aims to perfect its blood glucose prediction algorithms, help analyze patients' lifestyle habits, and further automate personalized interventions.
"We’re grateful for the AWS grant, which gives us the resources to help further develop our product and structure our startup,” said Alexandre Landry, Petit Cactus co-founder. “We want to continue making a difference in the lives of people living with diabetes, starting in Quebec, and we’re looking to Europe next.”
“Providing access to technology has always been central to our mission, and we’ve been enabling Canadian companies of all sizes to innovate and grow by powering technology infrastructure in Quebec since 2016,” said Bourgault. “We’re proud to be helping local businesses adopt emerging technologies, drive local innovation, improve productivity, and create more value across the country," he added.
Learn more about how AWS is supporting startups, and how the company is investing $24 billion in Canada by 2037.
Watch the show on-demand on ICI TOU.TV.
