What we’re about
About TorontoAI
TorontoAI is a vibrant, inclusive community of engineers, builders, founders, and curious minds passionate about making AI infrastructure more accessible, human-centered, and scalable.
We host bi-weekly in-person socials, tech meetups, and hands-on webinars to connect people across disciplines — from DevOps to Data Science, from students to senior architects. Whether you're deploying LLMs in production or just exploring what Databricks does, you're welcome here.
🤝 We’re Building More Than a Meetup
In a world dominated by virtual everything, we believe in real, human-to-human connection.
TorontoAI is a space to:
- Share ideas over coffee
- Spark collaborations face-to-face
- Meet people who understand your stack and your journey
- Build your network beyond LinkedIn likes
💬 What We Talk About:
- Scalable AI & LLM infrastructure (Kubernetes, GPUs, vLLM, Ollama, LangChain)
- Databricks, Snowflake, Fivetran, dbt — building the modern data stack
- MLOps, LLMOps, DevOps — the operational glue of AI systems
- Real-world engineering stories, founder spotlights, and tool breakdowns
🌈 Who We Welcome:
- DevOps, SREs & Platform Engineers moving into data/AI
- Data Engineers, Analysts & ML practitioners
- Founders, freelancers, and technologists in transition
- Students and early-career professionals seeking real-world exposure
We’re committed to creating a welcoming, diverse, and equity-focused space where all voices matter — no gatekeeping, no rockstars, just good humans building cool stuff.
📍 Based in Toronto, open to the world
📅 Join an event — and be part of something human, helpful, and hands-on.
Upcoming events
3
•OnlineFine-Tune AI Model on H100/A100 with Hugging Face
Online### 🔧 Webinar: Fine-Tuning Google Gemma with QLoRA on H100 GPU (Linux Setup + Hugging Face)
🚀 What You'll Learn:
- How to set up a Linux VM with an NVIDIA H100 GPU (Denvr AI Cloud) for ML workloads
- Installing and configuring NVIDIA drivers and CUDA correctly (no more version mismatch headaches!)
- Fine-tuning Google Gemma using QLoRA and Hugging Face Transformers
- Using real-world Text-to-SQL datasets to train LLMs efficiently
- How to save, merge, and test your fine-tuned models
👨💻 Live Demo Includes:
- End-to-end GPU environment setup
- Installing PyTorch, TRL, PEFT, and related libraries
- Downloading and preparing Hugging Face datasets
- Launching Jupyter Notebook to train and run inference
- Model merging and deployment tips
🎯 Key Takeaways:
- Master CUDA + PyTorch compatibility for training
- Optimize for low memory training with QLoRA
- Easily transition from fine-tuning to inference-ready models
📍 Who Should Attend:
- ML Engineers, Data Scientists, MLOps Practitioners
- Anyone training open LLMs (Gemma, Mistral, LLaMA, etc.)
- Developers struggling with driver/CUDA issues on GPUs
We will be using Denvr AI Compute for this Webinar
181 attendees
AI Pitch Night: From Idea to Seed
ShyftLabs, 100 Yonge St Suite 1501, Toronto, ON M5C 2W1, Toronto, ON, CARSVP Link - https://luma.com/qhj60bys
TorontoAI Pitch Night is an evening dedicated to early-stage founders building AI-driven startups who are looking to validate their ideas, sharpen their pitch, and connect with potential seed investors, angels, and ecosystem partners.
This event creates a safe, founder-first space where builders can present what they’re working on, get candid feedback, and start real conversations around funding, traction, and next steps.
What to Expect
- Founder Pitches
Selected early-stage startups (pre-seed to seed) will pitch their ideas, products, or MVPs to a live audience of investors, operators, and fellow founders. - Live Feedback & Q&A
Each pitch is followed by constructive feedback from experienced investors, operators, and AI practitioners—focused on clarity, market fit, and execution. - Investor & Operator Presence
The audience includes angel investors, VCs, startup advisors, and senior leaders from AI, cloud, data, and product organizations. - Networking with Purpose
Stick around after the pitches to connect with investors, mentors, potential co-founders, and early customers.
Here’s a clear, application-ready section you can add to the event page or directly reuse in the pitch application form. It sets expectations without discouraging early founders.
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## Who Can Pitch at TorontoAI Pitch Night
TorontoAI Pitch Night is focused on early-stage, execution-oriented startups that are actively working toward their first institutional or angel investment.
Eligibility Criteria
To apply for a pitch slot, startups must meet the following requirements:
1. Stage & Funding Goals
- Early-stage startups (Pre-Seed to Seed)
- Actively raising a seed round between $10K – $100K
- Clear plan for how the initial capital will be used (product, GTM, hiring, infrastructure, etc.)
2. Product Readiness
Applicants must have at least one of the following:
- A working MVP
- A live demo
- A functional mockup or prototype (Figma, clickable demo, recorded walkthrough, etc.)
> Idea-only pitches without any form of prototype or demo will not be accepted.
3. Pitch Materials (Required)
Startups must submit:
- Pitch Deck (PDF or link)
Recommended: Problem, Solution, Market, Product, Traction, Business Model, Team, Ask - Product Demo / Mockup Link
(Live URL, video demo, or design prototype) - Brief Startup Summary
What you’re building, who it’s for, and why now
4. Founder Commitment
- At least one founder must be present to pitch in person
- Founders should be prepared for live Q&A and feedback
5. Focus Areas (Preferred, Not Mandatory)
While all strong startups are welcome, preference may be given to teams building in:
- AI /ML GenAI
- Data & Analytics
- Developer Tools
- Cloud & Infrastructure
- Healthcare, FinTech, Enterprise AI, or AI-powered SaaS
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## Pitch Selection Process
- All applications will be reviewed by the TorontoAI organizing team
- Startups will be selected based on:
- Clarity of problem and solution
- Product readiness
- Market opportunity
- Founder insight and execution potential
- Selected teams will be notified prior to the event with pitch format and timing details
2 attendees- Founder Pitches
Past events
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