MAIN and Techaide: A Partnership to Turn Innovation into Solidarity

Entrepreneurship is an act of courage, a bold risk-taking endeavor to turn ideas into reality and, more than that, to build bridges toward a prosperous collective future.

With this in mind, MAIN is partnering with Techaide, a group within Montreal’s tech ecosystem dedicated to mutual support and reducing social inequalities.

MAIN will handle the financial management of Techaide’s activities and provide administrative support to the ambassadors who organize them. In addition, Techaide will be able to leverage MAIN’s extensive network in Quebec and its communication channels to expand its community and increase its impact.

Techaide is a vibrant community that brings together members of the tech ecosystem around a common goal: to raise funds, mobilize resources, and encourage innovative initiatives to eradicate social inequalities in Montreal. Techaide supports Centraide of Greater Montreal for eight years and has donated more than $5 million to Centraide, raised by the tech community since 2016.

Its initiatives are driven by a team of dedicated volunteers who organize a variety of events, including the AI Conference, Product4Good, GGaide, and many other social activities such as the popular soccer and volleyball tournaments.

“Techaide got off to a modest start with a pilot project at Maison Notman in 2016. We leveraged the power of networking to connect the startup ecosystem with Centraide’s network of inclusive and community-based agencies, which serve the needs of Greater Montreal. “Our vision is to ensure that ‘giving back’ becomes a pervasive and fundamental part of the Montreal startup community’s value system. Our partnership with MAIN will allow us to accelerate this vision,” says Alan MacIntosh, founding partner of AgeTech Capital.

Since its founding in 2016, the Techaide community has embodied a vision deeply aligned with that of MAIN: to bring together people from diverse backgrounds, encourage innovative approaches, and transform entrepreneurial energy into a powerful driver of sustainable social impact. Through this partnership, we aim to go even further in empowering entrepreneurs to engage with their communities just as deeply as they do with their businesses.

“Committing to support Techaide means supporting the efforts of thousands of people in the tech ecosystem to enrich the social and human fabric that underpins its success. Techaide’s activities foster connections among community members. It acts as a catalyst for relationships that are, first and foremost, human—and therefore fruitful,” says Louis-Félix Binette, Executive Director of MAIN.

This partnership is based on a shared belief: opportunities to come together outside the scope of day-to-day business and corporate operations foster human relationships, and it is these relationships that lie at the heart of innovation. These bonds, which arise from group activities, serve as catalysts for connections—both personal and professional.

For MAIN, this is also an opportunity to better build a social infrastructure that does more than just accelerate entrepreneurial projects. We also want to support entrepreneurs in their role as community builders, where their actions go beyond business to transform society.

As we embark on this new chapter with Techaide, we invite the entire tech and entrepreneurial ecosystem in Quebec to join us. Techaide has been working with ambassadors from the Montreal tech community for several years, and we would like to see greater representation throughout Quebec.

Together, we can turn innovation into a driving force for lasting solidarity. These are difficult times, especially for people who need our help.