This June, we celebrated the 22 venture teams part of our 45th cohort of Venture Founder CORE and Lab2Launch as they completed their final session with Innovation UBC at Cohort Day (aka session 16/16).
Innovation UBC’s Venture Founder supports UBC-affiliated entrepreneurs ready to take their idea or innovation to the next level. Over several months and 16 weekly sessions, these 22 teams worked tirelessly digging into the foundations of building their business, conducting customer discovery and market research, developing their value proposition and financial literacy skills, as well as team building, brand building and storytelling basics. Entrepreneurs are deeply supported by Innovation UBC’s team and pool of mentors who spend countless hours working alongside them throughout their journey.
Cohort 45 has made amazing strides, pivots, turns and triumphs across their 16 sessions in Venture Founder and have demonstrated immense personal and venture growth as part of this process. This was all on full display at Cohort Day as they shared with our audience of mentors, team members, the UBC community and champions, their lessons learned along the way and what they have planned for their future.
Propelling UBC Innovation
The teams part of Cohort 45 hail from across the University of British Columbia, like the Faculty of Arts, Applied Sciences, Sciences, Medicine, Forestry, UBC Sauder and Media Relations and more, representing some of the most cutting-edge research and developments coming out of a top 40 research university. As UBC’s embedded entrepreneurship hub, we work with some of the brightest minds and thinkers who will go on to make major impacts across industries including human health, climate and social impact.
What’s up next? Venture Founder Validation
As these entrepreneurs begin their next steps outside of weekly programming, they will be supported by Venture Founder Validation, the next evolution of the Innovation UBC experience led by Entrepreneur in Residence, Cam Melvin. Validation takes them through venture-led sessions and advisory meetings designed to hold companies accountable to their goals and continue building the community and support experienced in their first few months as part of Venture Founder.
The Venture Founder Legacy
Startups part of Venture Founder have gone on to be recognized across the regional and national landscape for their work and impact. Recent successes include:
- Lab2Launch company AIMA winning the David Lam Social Innovation Award from UBC Sauder,
- CORE founder, Arnav Mishra of DYNE, announced as a top 30-under-30 by BC Business,
- Lab2Launch team UVX winning the National Impact Challenge by AGE-WELL NCE Inc. and SE Health and
- 6 Innovation UBC ventures making it to the third round of the 2023 New Ventures BC Competition: Leafi Home, Orca, Immfinity Biotechnologies, Halitra, Seleste, and Viridis Research.
This is just the tip of the iceberg of what we see, and continue to support, in our work developing early stage founders and companies.
Congratulations!
Venture Founder Lab2Launch team NeuroCog presenting at Cohort Day
Congratulations to the 22 teams for completing your 16 sessions as part of Venture Founder Cohort 45. This is just the beginning of your journey and we are excited to continue supporting you in Validation - and beyond!
AgePage
Venture Founder CORE, Human Health Venture Studio, Social Venture Studio
Connecting older adults to services that enable safe community ageing.
Baerfell
Venture Founder Lab2Launch
At Baerfell, we’re improving the outdoor gear industry by providing bio-based aerogel insulation materials.
Batour Organic Dried Fruits
Venture Founder CORE, Social Venture Studio
Organic dried fruit and saffron products from Afghanistan.
Betafish
Venture Founder Lab2Launch, Climate Venture Studio, Social Venture Studio
Scalable and stackable urban aquaculture facility using modular fish tanks.
Broadsight Media Tracker
Venture Founder CORE
Revolutionizing how media teams track and show the impact of their work.
Cardy-CRAFT
Venture Founder CORE, Climate Venture Studio, Social Venture Studio
At Cardy-CRAFT, we aim to create cardboard modular cat tree solutions to evolve cats’ and their owners’ living spaces at a controllable cost.
CereCura Nanotherapeutics
Venture Founder Lab2Launch, Human Health Venture Studio
CereCura Nanotherapeutics is developing next-generation medicines for patients with brain disorders.
CNANO
Venture Founder Lab2Launch, Human Health Venture Studio
Manufacturing next generation topical nanotherapeutics.
D2Type Health
Venture Founder Lab2Launch, Human Health Venture Studio, Social Venture Studio
Empowering people with prediabetes and diabetes to manage their disease.
EcoMiles
Venture Founder CORE
Eco Miles is rewarding consumers for making eco-conscious decisions to reduce carbon emissions.
NeuroCog
Venture Founder Lab2Launch, Human Health Venture Studio
Tracking mental performance with advanced tests for sharper minds.
Offshore Designs
Venture Founder Lab2Launch
Enabling vessel operators to save money and the environment by operating a clean hull.
Orator
Venture Founder CORE
Orator empowers students with communication competencies that command an audience.
Purple Lotus Mental Health
Venture Founder CORE, Human Health Venture Studio, Social Venture Studio
Empowering youth with personalized online mental wellness coaching and support.
Rallie
Venture Founder CORE
Automating hospitality staff workflows to maximize efficiency & bottomline.
Range of Motion
Venture Founder Lab2Launch
Range of Motion is providing ranges of motion to people with limited mobility.
Rotair
Venture Founder Lab2Launch, Human Health Venture Studio
At Rotair, we’re automating patient rotation to prevent caregiver injury and improve efficiency.
Safiér
Venture Founder CORE, Climate Venture Studio, Social Venture Studio
Safiér offers customers eco-friendly packaged soap using a tablet-to-liquid formula, without plastic or water.
TeaTime
Venture Founder CORE
TeaTime is enabling users to receive clarity and advice on text conversations.
Unicodemy
Venture Founder CORE, Social Venture Studio
Teaching kids how to solve problems with coding using storytelling.
UniQ Biotech Ltd.
Venture Founder Lab2Launch, Human Health Venture Studio
Developing innovative in vitro diagnostics tests to transform healthcare.
VanTech Medical
Venture Founder Lab2Launch, Human Health Venture Studio
Advancing healthcare through innovative and cost-effective medical technologies.
Amazing work to the teams and congratulations on your successes!
