María Paz Navarro Peña, Paz to all of us, is the last founder we are featuring for our 10th anniversary. She represents a new generation of women founders in Toronto who are building their companies right now.
However, she is far from the last example we have. I chose to close the series with her because her story is still in motion. Also, many founders in our community will recognize what she is working through.
Paz is a Chilean founder based in Toronto. In 2022 she started AtacamaScope, a company built around the sky over the Antofagasta Region in northern Chile. Through AtacamaScope, people in any country can use remote robotic telescopes in the Atacama Desert. They can also see real-time astrophotography from there.
Her newest product is Kuyen: A Stellar Journey, a 3D educational video game for Earth and Space Science. In the game, students explore Mars, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn, complete missions and solve problems. Meanwhile, a Teacher Dashboard helps educators follow progress and see where students need more support.
Paz knows this field from the ground. She has worked in astronomy tourism in San Pedro de Atacama since 2015. For more than a decade, she has helped visitors from around the world understand what they see when they look up.
Entrepreneurship is hard for everyone. Still, it is hard in its own way for newcomers, and in its own way for women. Depending on your circumstances, you have your own demons to fight.
For Paz, one of them was the stage. When she started, she did not think she could present properly in English. Every founder needs to pitch. In a second language, though, each pitch carries extra weight: finding the words, trusting your accent and answering questions you did not prepare for.
She did not wait for that doubt to go away. Instead, she practiced. In 2022 she won first place in the pitch competition at the Latam Startups Conference in Toronto. Then, in January 2026, she completed our Investor Readiness Bootcamp.
Pitching is still a challenge for her, as it is for many women founders in Toronto and elsewhere. She has what it takes to run a business. Her confidence in front of a room is still catching up with her ability. That gap closes with repetition, and I have seen it close a little more each time she presents.
As a result of that work, AtacamaScope has been invited into programs and recognized in several places. In 2023, the STEM Camp Foundation featured the company among 30 Ontario success stories in “The Ultimate Entrepreneur’s Handbook.” Two years later, AtacamaScope was shortlisted for the QS Reimagine Education Awards.
This year, StartUPC selected AtacamaScope for +EDU, its international EdTech acceleration program. Also in 2026, the company joined the Mentes Luminosas summer STEM camp with Tecnológico de Monterrey students. There, children from five schools in Ciudad Juárez used its telescopes and played Kuyen.
In addition, her team has started presenting Kuyen to educational organizations in Canada, one conversation at a time.
As Global Startups turns 10, we have shared the stories of founders who arrived at different times and under different conditions. Paz closes the series as one of many women founders in Toronto who are still in the middle of their story.
Like her, they are out in the market preparing one more pitch, taking one more meeting and fighting for the growth of their companies. So while this is the last blog in our anniversary series, it is not the last example this community has to offer.
Thank you, Paz, for every time you stood up and presented anyway.
Global Startups closes its 10th anniversary year with the End of the Year Gala on December 17, 2026, from 5:30 PM to 8:00 PM in downtown Toronto. The evening includes the Visionary Award, Startup of the Year and Mentor of the Year, a startup sales pitch competition and cocktail networking. Register at lu.ma/globalstartups.
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