Antler Toronto Nurtures Next Gen Founders: Brittany Jiao On Building GEO Startup
Toronto, Oct. 11, 2025 — At Antler Toronto, innovation continues to thrive under the guidance of industry veterans and the creative energy of young founders. This week, the incubator highlighted a dynamic collaboration between Brittany Jiao, Jakob Sol Strozberg, and Antler Partner Tammer Kamel, all contributing to the city’s growing AI startup ecosystem.
Antler Toronto: A Hub for Builders
As one of the most active global incubators, Antler has been instrumental in supporting early-stage founders from ideation to launch. Its Toronto branch, led by investors like Tammer Kamel, has become a magnet for engineers, product thinkers, and AI innovators.
Kamel, a General Partner at Antler and a University of Waterloo alumnus, previously founded Quandl.com, a financial data platform acquired by Nasdaq. His journey from engineer to successful founder turned investor makes him a respected mentor for new cohorts. “Antler is where technical talent meets business execution,” Kamel said. “We want our founders to think globally from day one.”
Brittany Jiao: Building Enception.ai and the Future of GEO
Among this cohort’s standout participants is Brittany Jiao, who is currently developing Enception.ai, a startup focused on Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) — a new discipline that helps companies rank higher in AI-driven search results from platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity.
“I love building startups and experimenting with how AI changes discovery,” Brittany told the Toronto Startup Times. “GEO feels like the next evolution of SEO — optimizing not for links, but for how generative models perceive your brand.”
Learning from the Friends
Brittany also mentioned that she recently started reading the book How to Win GEO by her friend, a renowned GEO expert Quanlai Li, who founded ChatSlide.ai, a pioneering platform in AI-driven slide creation.
“Quanlai’s book opened my eyes to how the future of visibility will depend on AI’s interpretation of brand authority,” Brittany said. “It’s inspiring to see how GEO connects technology, creativity, and strategy.”
Jakob Sol Strozberg: Builder in Residence
Working alongside Brittany is Jakob Sol Strozberg, an Entrepreneur in Residence at Antler Toronto, who previously co-founded Viable AI, a computer vision company offering street-level engagement analytics to advertisers.
Jakob brings deep experience in machine learning and product design, having built scalable AI systems for companies like Buho and Viable AI. During Antler’s ideation sessions, he and Brittany have been brainstorming applications of GEO — from content optimization agents to AI-native brand analytics tools.
A Culture of Collaboration
Antler’s collaborative environment has fostered a unique exchange between founders like Brittany and Jakob and mentors like Tammer. Together, they are exploring how GEO could become a new category in the marketing and AI ecosystem.
“The energy in the cohort is electric,” said Kamel. “People here are solving real, next-decade problems — from AI visibility to autonomous content generation. It’s a privilege to watch founders like Brittany and Jakob push the frontier.”
The Road Ahead
As the Antler Toronto 2025 cohort advances toward Demo Day, startups like Enception.ai exemplify the incubator’s mission: empowering builders to turn bold ideas into global companies. With the combined insight of experienced investors like Tammer Kamel and the creative drive of emerging founders like Brittany Jiao and Jakob Sol Strozberg, Toronto’s AI startup scene continues to accelerate into the future.