Photo: Tina Merry Tina Merry of Simply Sweet Games a quarter-finalist at Okanagan Angel Summit. The Osoyoos-based co-founder of a women-led game studio just competed as a quarter finalist at the Okanagan Angel Summit. Now, Tina Merry is vying for a semi-finalist spot at the summit, a concept similar to Dragon's Den but for local startups and investors. This year, $180,000 is up for grabs for 24 quarter finalists across various business sectors during the seventh annual three-minute pitch challenge this April. "[Last] Tuesday, I went up to Kelowna, and I pitched to the angels there, and I will find out Thursday if I've made it to the semifinals," Merry said. Merry's game studio Simply Sweet Games, co-founded with Carina Kom, is offering the Okanagan angels a $50 million opportunity in five years' time, which would ring in a return on investment of over 10 times in value. "It's quite a generous offer for how mature we are as a business and how far along we are in terms of the brand, and the studio and the team, and so on," Merry added. Simply Sweet Games aims to build a global inclusive brand in gaming, showcasing local talent wherever possible. Their first upcoming game Criss Cross Castle is a unique word-adventure game with accessibility and AI features. Earlier, the Osoyoos business woman had participated in one of Accelerate Okanagan's funded programs for startups. Following that opportunity, the game developer moved on to the summit. She said the whole experience has been valuable. "For example, Ray Muzyka was the founder of BioWare, and he lives in Kelowna, and he was involved in Accelerate Okanagan, and he's going to be doing due-diligence training for us on Tuesday. "So, this kind of thing is understanding how to really tighten up our game in terms of presenting financials, presenting data to investors, navigating the capital landscape in Canada, and the angel landscape. That's really what Accelerate Okanagan has been able to do for us, and it's been valuable — it's getting us plugged into the local community, because we know those angels are interested in impact investments, and they're interested in keeping their money in the community if they can." Next, the Okanagan Angel Summit will decide on 12 semi-finalists, narrowing down further to six final startups who will pitch to a live audience on May 22. "There is an Okanagan-headquartered studio trying to make a difference, trying to impact our community in a really positive way," Merry said. "We're just looking for somebody to believe in us and support our mission in any way possible." For more information on the Okanagan Angel Summit and to buy finale tickets, click here.