BC Business
The contenders are making strides in categories from mental health to interior design.
This year’s New Ventures BC Competition will be online, unlike previous versions
Crown agency Innovate BC has announced the 10 finalists for its 20th annual New Ventures BC Competition, which will award $250,000 to some of the most innovative startups in the province.
Let’s meet the candidates.
The Vancouver outfit’s technology makes all blood universal (Type O), so any blood can be used for any patient, regardless of their respective blood types. The four-person founding team are all respected veterans of the biotechnology industry.
Nanaimo software-as-a-service firm aDolus delivers a solution for safeguarding against counterfeit or malicious software and firmware in Internet of Things devices. The company’s platform, called FACT, offers an easy way to ensure that files are legitimate, vulnerability-free, current and safe to install.
Serial entrepreneur and UVic electrical engineering grad Iman Moazzen founded Castofly last year to disrupt the education technology industry. The Vancouver company’s platform (now in beta) allows educators to seamlessly create, share and collaborate on video content.
UBC-headquarted Daanaa delivers more power from solar panels directly to devices at home. The startup’s chip-based solar power transfer system brings energetic freedom and safety to communities, without wires. Former New Ventures second-place finisher Udi Daon (he previously founded Navigate Surgical Technologies) is co-founder and CEO of Daanaa.
“Now that things have gone completely virtual, they’re seeing major growth,” League of Innovators executive director Joanna Buczkowska-McCumber told BCBusiness about DivDot, one of the incubator’s former mentees, in April.
The Victoria-based payment software firm enables businesses to send and receive no-limit payments for a flat fee and makes it as easy as an e-transfer. Using DivDot’s platform, companies can pay suppliers, collect payment from customers and transfer money between banks, all in one dashboard.
Those familiar with the Vancouver culinary scene will recognize the name as one of the city’s top restaurants. Although this is a different Fable, it’s still tangentially related to the world of food.
Founder Joe Parenteau’s latest venture (he previously served as operations manager for Bench Accounting and played a pivotal role in proptech company AvenueHQ) is a Vancouver-based direct-to-consumer home accessories lifestyle brand. The company “creates artisanal pieces at an accessible price,” according to Innovate BC.
This startup bills itself as”Canada’s first drone reforestation company.” In a move that ostensibly will cost some tree planters cash, the Vancouver-based business is developing a product that aims to plant at 10 times the normal rate and at 20 percent of the cost of traditional tree planting techniques.
Five years from now, Flash Forest aims to be planting tens of millions of trees annually on six continents.
Founded by 2020 30 Under 30 winner Ania Wysocka, Rootd is a Victoria-based anxiety and panic attack relief app. Its freemium model offers core app services for free as well as monthly, annual and group subscriptions. As of late May, Rootd had almost 305,000 downloads from 153 countries and ranked No. 1 for “anxiety and panic attack relief” on the App Store and Google Play.
The Vancouver platform allows brands to trade their products or services for social reviews and content from influencers to access new audiences, and incentivizes purchases. Its growing community of 50,000 micro-influencers are constantly in collaboration with new and established brands.
This Fish aims to improve the social, environmental and financial sustainability of the seafood industry with its Tally software, which automates and digitizes the collection of production, quality control and traceability data in seafood processing plants. Though based in Vancouver, the company has a heavy international presence, with 90 percent of its revenue coming from outside Canada. This Fish has teams in Lima, Bangkok and Manila.
So who do you think will take home the big prize? Innovate BC will announce the winners virtually on October 1.