Matthew Ao

Matthew Ao is a Canadian software entrepreneur and co-founder of Eden, an AI creative workspace, and Kortex, the AI knowledge tool that preceded it.¹ He co-founded Eden in July 2025 alongside Arihant Bapna, and Eden is part of the Canopy Spring 2026 cohort at Founders, Inc.

Early life and education

Ao attended Richmond Hill High School in Ontario, graduating in 2020.¹ He enrolled in Computer Engineering at the University of Toronto in 2020, a program he later paused to focus on his ventures full-time.¹

Kortex

In July 2023, Ao co-founded Kortex, an AI-powered knowledge management tool, serving as Chief Product Officer.¹ Over approximately two years, Kortex accumulated a large user base before Ao and his co-founders pivoted to build Eden.⁶

Eden

Ao co-founded Eden in July 2025.¹ Eden is an AI creative workspace — its tagline is "All Content, Files, & AI In One Place."⁴ The platform provides a canvas for organizing content visually; it captures and transcribes links, videos, and PDFs, and applies semantic search across stored material.⁴ AI agents within Eden support Telegram integration, and the platform connects with Gmail, Notion, and Slack.⁵ Early access launched in November 2025.⁶

Online presence

Ao co-hosts the YouTube channel @matt-ari with Arihant Bapna, where the founders document building Eden.² As of early 2026, the channel had approximately 21,000 subscribers.² He also maintains an Instagram account at @itsmatthewao and an X (formerly Twitter) account at @ItsMatthewAo.³²

References

1. Matthew Ao — LinkedIn(accessed Apr 24, 2026)
2. Matthew Ao (@ItsMatthewAo) — X (Twitter)(accessed Apr 24, 2026)
3. Matthew Ao (@itsmatthewao) — Instagram(accessed Apr 24, 2026)
4. Eden — All Content, Files, & AI In One Place(accessed Apr 24, 2026)
5. Eden Pricing — Eden(accessed Apr 24, 2026)
6. From Kortex to Eden — Kortex Blog(accessed Apr 24, 2026)