Innovation UBC is proud to champion the next wave of entrepreneurs shaping our future. This fall, we’re welcoming 30 new ventures into our newest cohort of Venture Founder from across the University of British Columbia. From AI and biotechnology to healthcare, cultural innovation, and advanced engineering, these ventures represent the breadth of UBC’s entrepreneurial and researcher ecosystem across the Faculties of Applied Science, Medicine, Science, the Sauder School of Business and more.
This new cohort represents our 50th cohort of Venture Founder, marking over 10 years of program evolution and development supporting UBC founders from infancy to growth stage.
About Venture Founder
Venture Founder is one of Innovation UBC’s flagship programs, supporting early-stage ventures through experiential workshops, mentorship, and foundational training. Across 16 weeks, the teams dive into venture validation, business model development, and leadership capacity-building to establish a viable startup company and build their management and business skills.
This program offers close mentorship by experienced entrepreneurs, industry experts, and UBC alumni who provide personalized guidance throughout the journey, helping teams navigate challenges, refine their strategies, and accelerate growth. This mentor network is a cornerstone of Venture Founder, offering insights and support that extend well beyond the cohort.
By the end of the program, each team emerges with a validated opportunity, a stronger foundation for growth, and the skills to navigate the challenges of entrepreneurship with clarity and resilience.
Meet the teams:
Aisdom
Revolutionizing scientific discovery with a low-cost reliable cloud platform to reduce queue times for academics.
- UBC affiliation: Faculty of Applied Science
- Founding team: Varun Seshadri, Kerry Wang, Kelvin Wong, Houlin He, Zeyuan Wang, Tom Shu
BidConnex
Unleashing skilled trades to transform maintenance quality and economic inclusion.
- UBC affiliation: Faculty of Applied Science
- Founding team: Mohammed Abdelaziz
BCJ Heavy Industries
Stabilizing industrial robots allowing manufacturers to increase quality and reduce costs.
- UBC affiliation: Faculty of Applied Science
- Founding team: Xiaoliang Jin, Nick Barclay, Adam Clare
Campus 2 Corporate
Innovating recruitment by bridging students and employers with tailored support.
- UBC affiliation: Sauder School of Business, Faculty of Science, Faculty of Arts
- Founding team: Olivia Beauchamp, Shania Muthu, Zaid Al Attar
CCTECH
Converting agricultural residue into carbon aerogels to capture atmospheric CO₂.
- UBC affiliation: Faculty of Applied Science, Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Founding team: Shayan Narani, Maryam Firouzi, Amin Firouzi, Sumi Siddiqua
CheckMark
Deploying trained photographers in pharmacies and other areas to help diagnose skin cancer more early.
- UBC affiliation: Faculty of Medicine
- Founding team: Sabrina Nurmohamed, Vanessa McLaughlin, Tom McLaughlin
Core Motion
Providing center of mass feedback to athletes seeking performance gains.
- UBC affiliation: Faculty of Applied Science
- Founding team: Pawel Kudzia, Diego Grossling
Default AI
Intelligentizing data acquisition for asset managers to reduce inspection costs.
- UBC affiliation: Faculty of Applied Science, Mechanical Engineering
- Founding team: Sara Hatami, Mark Krabben, Matthew Tucsok
Detektra
Automating end to end testing for software developers to enhance development productivity.
- UBC affiliation: Faculty of Applied Science, Engineering
- Founding team: Ali Mesbah, Parsa Alian
Echobot
Transforming communication in long-term care homes to improve resident care.
- UBC affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Science
- Founding team: Rosemary Vayalikunnel, Rusteen Tabaei, Arshia Daeizadeh, Shania Lopez
Eona Health
Providing non-invasive early diagnostics to women to detect gynecologic conditions.
- UBC affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Science
- Founding team: Arabella Helgason, Karolin Heinze, Dolina Dodani, Aline Talhouk, Michael Anglesio
Flexmatrix Biosciences
Delivering physiologically relevant cell culture platforms to researchers to accelerate drug discovery.
- UBC affiliation: Faculty of Applied Science
- Founding team: Glen Tibbits, Mu Chiao, Shayan Jannati, Yasaman Maaref
Greypoint Industries
Empowering Canadian infantry with Canadian-engineered man-deployable autonomous solutions.
- UBC affiliation: Faculty of Applied Science
- Founding team: Eric Buys, Jordan Khoo, Nicholas Chu, Steven Xu
Haibu Health
Unlocking the power of data for people with diabetes to improve population health and drive healthcare costs down.
- UBC affiliation: Faculty of Medicine
- Founding team: Simona McKee, Shazhan Amed
InfrastructHER
Community-led infrastructure design led by BIPOC women on building public space.
- UBC affiliation: Faculty of Science
- Founding team: Rifat Ara Islam, Maisha Morshed, Jose M. Torres, Akifuzzaman Labib
Medilink
Delivering a data-driven clinical companion to optimize emergency department resources.
- UBC affiliation: Sauder School of Business
- Founding team: Louise Domenach, Darren Li, Yining Song
NeuroNexus
Providing a better solution for stroke patients to regain movement.
- UBC affiliation: Sauder School of Business
- Founding team: Kokulan Pushparajah
OncoNext
Life-long ovarian cancer treatment that combines chemo and immunotherapy using a new delivery system that optimizes the chemotherapy compounds.
- UBC affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, BC Cancer
- Founding team: Cara Gaffney, Nasim Sarrami, Maryam Sharifiaghdam
Orbit
Building a platform to help people with ADHD to self-actualize via a personal, adaptive roadmap.
- UBC affiliation: Sauder School of Business
- Founding team: Anna Polyvyana, Mo Kazemian
Result
Platform to provide access to complex scientific articles rewritten in lay language for general audiences written by humans.
- UBC affiliation: Faculty Medicine, Faculty of Science
- Founding team: Marissa Lithopoulos, Andrew Johnston
SEAL
Providing cementing solutions to stakeholders, lowering GHGs and increasing productivity.
- UBC affiliation: Faculty of Applied Science
- Founding team: Soheil Akbari, Ian Frigaard, Mariana Carrasco-Teja, Mahdi Izadi
SkyDrone AI
Building autonomous drones for the far north to do search and rescue.
- UBC affiliation: Faculty of Applied Science, Engineering and Commerce
- Founding team: Will Grellier, Joshan Gill, Antonio Davila
Sonibel Instruments
Real-time quality control for welders to recover 30% project costs.
- UBC affiliation: Faculty of Applied Science
- Founding team: George Hollo, Hooman Pirouz, Sophia Millar
Stepwise AI
Guiding non-tech users through web tasks to increase completion success.
- UBC affiliation: Faculty of Applied Science
- Founding team: Joy Liu, Xuan Wu
Structaris
Faster, better design and construction of marine vessels.
- UBC affiliation: Faculty of Applied Science, Mechanical and Civil Engineering
- Founding team: Baehar Jelovica, Jasmin Jelovica
TeleSonics
Providing remote healthcare access to everyone to improve health equity.
- UBC affiliation: Faculty of Applied Science, Faculty of Medicine, Sauder School of Business
- Founding team: Tim Salcudean, David Black, Valentina Toro Chinchilla, Qi Zeng
Terratechniques
Providing a continuous, fully-electric, explosive-free, safe and economically-viable rock excavation and pulverization solution.
- UBC affiliation: Faculty of Applied Science
- Founding team: Ali Madiseh, Parham Samea
Ultrasenics
Providing low-cost wireless vascular monitoring to patients for early intervention. A portable ultrasound device and associated viewing software providing real-time clot detection.
- UBC affiliation: Faculty of Applied Science
- Founding team: Xuzhe Xia, Ruiqi Zang, Michael Tan
Wisdom Catch
Our vision is to make real, experience-based advice as accessible and valued as entertainment.
- UBC affiliation: Sauder School of Business
- Founding team: Katherine Cheung, Marcus Vu
Zerone Analytiqs
Connecting businesses to Africa through market & consumer analytics to inform growth.
- UBC affiliation: Sauder School of Business
- Founding team: Abby Aidoo, Kofi Oppong Asuman, Deborah Oppong Asumang, Eric Mwaura
Learn more about the teams by following our socials and subscribing to our newsletter!
Are you interested in joining Venture Founder? Applications for our Spring 2026 cohort is open now! Learn more here.
