Ismail leads the Plug and Play Toronto office. He is currently focused on building Plug and Play in Toronto with an emphasis on establishing its first Fintech location in Canada. Prior to his role in Toronto, Ismail helped launch Plug and Play in Alberta as one of the early founding employees.
Ismail’s diverse background encompasses extensive experience across all stages of the startup lifecycle, from early-stage ventures to soon-to-be unicorns. Ismail has also contributed to late-stage venture capital funds. Recently, he served as a VC fellow at Blitzscaling Ventures, a prestigious late-stage VC fund in Palo Alto led by Jeff Abbott, Chris Yeh, and Scott Johnson, advised by Reid Hoffman, the Co-Founder of LinkedIn.
Ismail's entrepreneurial spirit thrives on the challenge of going from 0 to 1. As a serial entrepreneur, he has had numerous successes, including a retail tech venture built in France in 2016, and in 2018 he pioneered Canada's first food delivery startup tailored to college students called StudentsEAT. The startup went on to partner with Aramark and launch across Canadian institutions. In 2021, whilst collaborating with his brother, he also launched ReadyCAR, a health tech startup revolutionizing pharmacy workflow and reducing patient interaction times at retail pharmacies across the country.
Active and deeply embedded in the tech ecosystem, Ismail's network spans outside of Canada — across North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and APAC, particularly within the innovation and tech sector.
In addition to leading Plug and Play's Toronto launch, Ismail is passionately involved in supporting establish Plug and Play in Pakistan, a cause close to his heart, deeply rooted in his origins as a first generation Pakistani-Canadian.