Simon Morris

President, AstuteAnalysis Inc.

Simon Morris is a serial tech entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience leading 3 venture backed tech start-ups. His teams have developed breakthrough image and computer vision processing technologies primarily for automotive applications which have been put into production by multiple automotive tier-1s and automotive OEMs like VW, Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai Motors and others.

Most recently he was co-founder CEO for IRYStec Software, Jan 2016, and raised both seed and Series-A financing and bringing Mercedes-Benz to production before being acquired in March 2020 by Faurecia.

Simon was also CEO of CogniVue Corporation, launched in 2010, which developed a patented low power computer vision processor core with code development tools and embedded software used in production in automotive driver assistance systems and consumer smart camera products. CogniVue was acquired by Freescale Semiconductor (later NXP) in Sept 2015 delivering one of the highest ROI for CogniVue’s shareholders.

Prior to launching CogniVue, Simon was Director at BDC Venture Capital and was VP Product Development and COO at first start-up, Atsana Semiconductor, which developed the first media processors for Samsung’s first Mpixel camera phone before being acquired in 2005.

He also held senior business and product management positions at Texas Instruments (TI) in Dallas, Texas and Nice, France where he was responsible for building from the ground up TI’s wireless infrastructure DSP chipset business which grew into a $B TI business unit and later also managing the Mobile Broadcast business in Dallas. Currently Simon divides his time providing entrepreneurial coaching, helping founders to better articulate their business, technology and go-to-market strategies, assisting with business development and also working with Connected Vision Advisors, a deep tech investment bank, on M&As and equity raises.

Simon holds a M.Eng and a B.Eng in Electrical Engineering from the Royal Military College of Canada, is a member of the Professional Engineers of Ontario, E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year finalist in 2014 and was awarded Canadian Forces Decoration while serving in the Royal Canadian Navy.