Founder / COO @PORCH – helping 1M immigrant entrepreneurs succeed in Canada

I’m driven by entrepreneurship and a deep belief that access to the right people and resources can change lives.

I founded PORCH to make the journey easier for immigrant entrepreneurs. Not just the business side, but the personal side too. From navigating a new country to finances, relationships, and belonging. I believe community, when done right, is one of the most powerful forces there is. Canada’s diversity is incredible, and the opportunity here is endless when people are supported properly.

I didn’t have a single “aha” moment that made me want to be an entrepreneur. It’s something that’s been part of me for as long as I can remember. Watching Dragon’s Den with my dad. Spending long car rides to hockey games coming up with business ideas. Building things always felt natural to me.

That curiosity turned into action through entrepreneurship classes in high school, youth business competitions, and starting small ventures of my own. By my final year at the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University, I knew it was time to stop preparing and start building something real.

Along the way, I worked with companies like Intuitive AI, Look Media, and Knoow, and even launched a custom charcuterie board business during the pandemic. Those experiences taught me how demanding and humbling it is to build and run a company.

In October 2022, I founded PORCH. It’s a curated community of international entrepreneurs who have been there, done that, and are still doing it. They come together to support each other, share knowledge, and grow both personally and professionally.

It feels full circle from those nights watching Dragon’s Den. I now get to pursue this journey alongside my co founder, my friend, and my dad. I don’t take that lightly.

We need more community like this. Let’s build a better way forward.

Countries I’ve visited:
Canada, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Monaco, Mexico, Jamaica, Haiti, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Morocco, Austria, Hungary, Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Australia, Dominican Republic, United States, Vatican City

Hunter Weitzman

Immitracker

Immitracker is an immigration application tracker and service marketplace for immigrants relocating to leading countries (starting with Canada and Australia). As the Co-Founder and CEO, I support the day-to-day operations, product strategy, and scaling efforts of the company.

Co-Founder & CEO

Legal Innovation Zone

Member Company of LIZ Incubator

World Education Services

Technical Project Manager and operations expert working with the WES Digital Operations & Security team.

Technical Project Manager

LOI Accelerator

LOI Boost 2023 Founder

Communitech

Proud member of the Communitech Fierce Founders network. Went through the Bootcamp program in 2021 and Uplift in 2023.

Fierce Founders Uplift

VisaWire

Founder at VisaWire - building a service marketplace for skilled immigrants relocating to Canada. VisaWire's goal is to make the immigration process easier and more actionable for professionals to take advantage of life-changing opportunities.

As an immigrant from Georgia, I understood the importance of connecting people with the relevant services and opportunities to take the next step in their immigration journey. VisaWire is supported by Communitech, York Entrepreneurship Development Institute, and the League of Innovators.

Founder

Toptal

Freelance Agile Project Manager at Toptal. 
Working in startup operations, software project management, process design, and scrum master roles.

Agile Project Manager & Operations Lead

York Entrepreneurship Development Institute (YEDI)

Participant in the York Entrepreneurship Development Institute (YEDI) Incubator program - Spring 2022 cohort.

Incubator Program Spring 2022

LOI - League of Innovators

Founder of VisaWire in the League of Innovations Labs national virtual accelerator program. 

League of Innovators (LOI) is a national Canadian charity with a goal of building entrepreneurial acumen for youth, at scale. League of Innovators is a suite of accessible programs and tools to provide youth educational experiences that shorten their path to success, empower their ability to be their own boss, and amplify their impact as future innovators and entrepreneurs.

Labs Batch 8 Founder

Productera Solutions LTD

Software Project Manager, Scrum Master, and Product Owner at Productera

Software Project Manager

Hello 👋 

My name is Nino and I'm a Georgian immigrant 🇬🇪 and entrepreneur based in Toronto, Canada. In my past lives I studied and worked in the US, Western Canada, and Colombia prior to making my way here. I'm passionate about helping immigrants succeed in the countries of their dreams - starting with Canada 🇨🇦

Co-Founder & CEO at Immitracker 🕒: the Waze of immigration. We're building an immigration application tracker and service marketplace for immigrants relocating to leading countries. Interested in moving to Canada or Australia? Check us out! 

Follow me for new episodes of the My Immigrant Story podcast: I share the stories, guidance, and advice of skilled professional Canadian immigrants! 

Professionally, I'm a Freelance Project Manager, Operations Lead, and Product Owner. I have 7+ years of experience in the tech industry with a particular focus on building and maintaining client relationships, Agile / Scrum, and helping startups build and scale their products and operations. I excel at working on high-growth tech projects with cross-functional, multi-cultural teams.

Nino Melikidze

We're finally back for the first time this year with the Immitracker Q3 2025 Canadian Immigration Processing Times Analysis report covering the months of July, August, & September 🇨🇦

The backstory to this report is that we've been publishing it consistently since 2023. Every month or quarter, we compare the processing timelines posted by the government / IRCC 🏛️ with the findings based on the data contributed by our amazing user base and community. 

Summarized below are some of the interesting insights that came up during Q3 2025 💡 

1. Citizenship processing times back then were around 6 months - significantly quicker than what the IRCC website was estimating and what it looks like applicants are experiencing in 2026 (based on our community feedback) 

2. Inland spousal sponsorship remains very consistent at 400+ days with almost no variation in timelines from case-to-case. It is also quite slower than the Outland Spousal Sponsorship with over a 200 day extra wait time

3. Processing timeline length and variability from case-to-case has increased for FSW and PNPs. CEC applications are on average processed at least a couple of months faster 

For more detailed insights into our processing time trend observations and findings, check out our latest report: https://lnkd.in/gVyHh9ri

Always open to hearing feedback and thoughts regarding what we should include or could do differently in the comments! 

cc Blayne Kumar

#canada #immigration #canadaimmigration

Co-Founder at Immitracker 🕒 Disrupting the 🇨🇦 immigration space

Open article: CANADA: Immitracker vs. IRCC, Immigration Insights Q3 (July – September) — Immitracker by immitracker.app

CANADA: Immitracker vs. IRCC, Immigration Insights Q3 (July – September) — Immitracker

taplio

The Battle

Hunter Weitzman

Nino Melikidze

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreNino Melikidze's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Hunter Weitzman

Nino Melikidze

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Nino Melikidze's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreNino Melikidze's LinkedIn Performance