Brdg is an AI-powered platform transforming how real estate projects are financed, managed and delivered. Developers often wait weeks to access the funds they need to keep projects moving. Brdg changes that. By automating paperwork, streamlining approvals, and centralizing project data, Brdg helps developers unlock capital faster and operate more efficiently. Founded by Ness Cabessa, Samuel Brand and Daniel Bensoussan, who’ve lived the inefficiencies firsthand, Brdg combines real-world experience with cutting-edge automation to fix a system that hasn’t evolved in decades. With hundreds of millions in active construction already managed on the platform, Brdg is building the operating system that will power the future of real estate development.
Zeid Barakat is an experienced consultant and entrepreneur with 25+ years in and Biopharma sector. Zeid serves as CEO of Deck Therapeutics- an AI-native preclinical biopharma company spun out of Columbia University to address major global health challenges like strokes, traumatic brain injury, and HIE (birth asphyxia)- the 2nd leading cause of neonatal deaths globally.As a consultant, Zeid helped build Scimitar Inc. as a Managing Partner, where he has led dozens of successful, mission-critical initiatives across the value chain, including major R&D transformations, digital/ AI initiatives, large-scale partnerships, post-merger integrations, new product launches, and operational turnarounds. These have often led to 30-50% shorter times for treatments to reach patients, 50%+ COGS reductions, and solutions to drive productivity gains.
Zeid has worked with cutting-edge clients like Moderna, Sarepta, Amgen, J&J, Genentech and Takeda. He also serves as an adjunct faculty member with the Tufts CSDD, an Alliance Partner with the DVLP Medicines AI Platform, and as a Board Member with Innotech Precision Medicines. Zeid previously served as co-founder and COO of Flyberry Capital, an AI-ML-driven hedge fund (acquired in 2014), and was an early contributor/ co-founder to Aura Biosciences (2021 IPO).Zeid earned his MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, a Masters in in Biotechnology from Harvard, and a BA in Biochemistry from Bowdoin College. He enjoys playing tennis, chess and painting.
Alexa Stroll:Alexa Stroll is a Master’s student in Biomedical Engineering at McGill University with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Biology. She has experience in software engineering, life sciences, and medical technology, and is passionate about creating practical monitoring systems that improve healthcare. Her work centers on combining modern sensing technologies with data analysis to support earlier detection, more personalized care, and a proactive approach to health.
Carly Stroll:Carly Stroll is an undergraduate student in the Science and Business program at the University of Waterloo, with a minor in Chemistry. She is passionate about translating scientific knowledge into impactful innovations beyond the lab. Aspiring to pursue a career in medicine, Carly is particularly interested in the intersection of clinical insight, research, and entrepreneurship, with the goal of building scalable solutions that improve healthcare delivery and patient outcomes.
Richard Gotlieb started his career in his hometown of Montreal where he founded his first venture, FundStream. His work eventually brought him to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he spent twelve years as an executive helping to grow Blackhawk Network. During his time there, he played a role in the company's growth leading up to its five billion dollar exit, gaining a deep understanding of how global financial systems operate.Later, as the COO of a global Bitcoin ATM network, Richard continued to work at the intersection of new technology and financial security.
While his professional background was built on scaling large platforms, a personal event eventually changed his focus entirely.The mission behind OnGuardAI began when Richard’s father was targeted by a sophisticated phone scam. Seeing the impact this had on his family was a turning point. Richard realized that even with his extensive background in fintech, the tools available to protect individuals from these evolving threats were simply not enough.To better understand the problem, Richard sat down with over one hundred seniors who had lost money to social engineering. These conversations provided a deep look into the psychological tactics and pressure points that scammers use to exploit trust.During these interviews, Richard learned about the intense emotional state victims experience, often described as being under a "scammer’s spell." Psychologists call this an Amygdala Hijacking. It happens when a scammer triggers an immediate fear response that shuts down the logical part of the brain, making it nearly impossible for the person to think clearly in the moment.Richard realized that once a person is in this state, they cannot be expected to protect themselves. This insight gave birth to the Trusted Contact feature, which is now one of the most important parts of OnGuardAI.
By instantly alerting a family member or friend when a scam is detected, the app provides a logical "second set of ears" to break the spell before any damage is done.These interviews and his own family’s experience led Richard to co-found OnGuardAI. He wanted to move beyond simple blacklists and blocking. Instead, he used his experience to build a system that stays in the background to analyze the conversation for signs of danger.
Today, Richard is focused on providing families with the peace of mind he wished he had for his own father. OnGuardAI is built to be a quiet protector, ensuring that seniors can answer their phones with confidence and that they and their loved ones are notified if something ever feels wrong.
After graduating from Laval University with a Bachelor's in Physics, Nicolas completed both his Master’s andPhD degrees in Materials Science at the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, where he worked onfunctional oxide thin films exhibiting insulator-to-metal transition for passive thermal control applications.He then spent three years as a postdoctoral fellow at the Laboratory for Electrochemical Interfaces,Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where his research was directed towards the development ofhardware structures with both processing and storage capabilities for deep neural network applications.Before co-founding Parasol Innovations in 2024, where he serves as CEO and CTO, he founded a coolingtechnology company where he leveraged his proven expertise in scaling materials technologies and deepR&D-to-product experience to bring a laboratory innovation to commercialization.
Coby is the founder and CEO of Venturevest, the investment platform democratizing access to alternative investments for all Canadians. An entrepreneur at heart, his background spans private investments, product design, and strategy consulting. While at Palomino Capital, he analyzed PE, private credit, and real estate deals, which sparked his mission to bridge the access gap for retail investors. Since launching Venturevest, they have secured partnerships with legacy fund managers holding an aggregate $10B in assets and navigated the complexities of Canadian securities compliance to offer everyday Canadians the simplest access to private markets.