Ryerson University's Digital Media Zone is proud to congratulate resident entrepreneurs Justin Hein and Monica Mei for their recent recognition from the Globe and Mail's Report on Small Business. The founders of budget-tracking application Spenz and WhatImWear.in, described as the "visual Twitter for fashion," Justin and Monica (respectively), were named two of Toronto's hottest young entrepreneurs.
The criteria were simple: young, talented and entrepreneurial-and the list was short. All ten finalists were under 30 and six of the nine profiled businesses were digitally based. Both Justin and Monica are Ryerson alumni, Justin from Management/Entrepreneurship at Ted Rogers School of Management and Monica from the School of Fashion's Fashion Communication program.
DMZ entrepreneurs are on a winning streak, having been honoured consistently since at least March of this year. That month, DMZ companies SoapBox (an online platform for community-based change) and TeamSave (a group buying site) were named by the city of Toronto as two of the City's emerging companies to watch. In April DMZ company Shape Collage (and founder Vincent Cheung) was named Best Startup at the 15th annual Chinese Canadian Entrepreneur Awards. Spenz was in the spotlight again in May, selected from 1000 international applicants to pitch at the renowned TechCrunch Disrupt competition in New York City, and again in June when the company, plus WhatImWear.in and DMZ grad social video startup LeanIn were all three among only 20 companies to be invited to C100's 48hrs in the Valley conference.
Opened in April 2026, Ryerson University's Digital Media Zone is a multidisciplinary workspace for young entrepreneurs infused with the energy and resources of downtown Toronto. Set atop Yonge-Dundas Square, this hub of digital media innovation, collaboration and commercialization is home to both entrepreneurial startups and industry solution-providers. With access to overhead and business services, students and alumni can fast-track their product launches, stimulating Canada's emerging digital economy through spending and job creation. In its first year of operations, the DMZ helped more than 125 innovators to incubate and accelerate 27 startups and to launch 55 projects.
