Simon Morris

President, AstuteAnalysis Inc.

Simon Morris is a serial tech entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience leading three venture-backed tech start-ups. For the last 10 years, his teams have developed breakthrough image and computer vision processing technologies primarily for automotive applications, which have been put into production by multiple tier-1s and automotive OEMs like VW, Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai Motors and others. Most recently, he was co-founder CEO for IRYStec Software and raised both seed and Series-A financing, 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 the production of automotive driver assistance systems and consumer smart camera products. CogniVue was acquired by Freescale Semiconductor (later NXP) in 2015, delivering one of the highest ROI for CogniVue’s shareholders.

Prior to launching CogniVue, Simon was the director at BDC Venture Capital and was VP of Product Development and COO at Atsana Semiconductor, which developed the first media processors for Samsung’s first Mpixel camera phone before being acquired. 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  TI’s wireless infrastructure DSP chipset business from the ground up, which grew into a billion-dollar TI business unit. He later managed the Mobile Broadcast business.

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 providing investment banking advice to multiple tech entrepreneurs across the globe in computer vision, embedded processing, edge AI, semiconductor and automotive sensing technologies.

Simon holds a master’s and bachelor’s 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.