22 ventures, representing the faculties of Forestry & Environmental Stewardship, Applied Science, Medicine, Science, Business, and Arts, plus two teams from UBC Okanagan, presented their discoveries, key learnings, and next steps at Cohort Day — the final session and graduation of the ventures in Innovation UBC's Venture Founder program.
One of these recently graduated UBC spin-offs is Canopy Bioproducts, whose mission is to transform overlooked forestry byproducts — like tree bark — into high-value, high-performance skincare and sun care ingredients. In this Q&A, read about Canopy Bioproducts co-founder Ariane’s experience in the Venture Founder program, the exciting breakthroughs Canopy Bioproducts is making in the field of sustainable skincare, and her advice to aspiring entrepreneurs.
Ariane Fernandes | Co-founder, Canopy Bioproducts
Tell us about yourself. Your background, your UBC connection, and what drew you to entrepreneurship.
I'm a PhD candidate in the Department of Wood Science at UBC, with a background in Pharmaceutical Sciences and a master's focused on cosmetic formulation and product development. My research focuses on developing sustainable biobased materials for personal care, and entrepreneurship became a natural next step when I realized that research only creates real impact if it reaches the market.
What is your venture, and why does it matter?
I'm the co-founder of Canopy Bioproducts. We're developing a new generation of sustainable cosmetic ingredients by repurposing forestry waste into high-performance functional materials for the cosmetics industry. By doing so, we help cosmetic manufacturers reduce their reliance on microplastics and harsh synthetic chemicals while simplifying formulation development with multifunctional, more sustainable alternatives.
How has Venture Founder supported your journey?
The Venture Founder program has been an incredibly valuable experience for me, especially coming from a scientific background with very little exposure to business and entrepreneurship.
I would recommend this program not only to people who want to build a startup, but to anyone interested in understanding how innovation moves beyond the lab. Learning how to validate ideas, communicate with customers, and think about commercialization completely changed the way I see research and its potential impact. Even if your goal isn't to start a company, these are valuable skills for anyone who wants to translate their work into something that creates real-world value.
Since entering Venture Founder, what has been your biggest pivot or challenge in building your venture? How did you get through it?
Our biggest shift was learning to think like founders instead of researchers. Customer discovery taught us to stop assuming we knew what the market wanted and start letting customer feedback shape both our technology and our value proposition.
What's next for your venture? What are you working toward in the next 12 months?
Over the next 12 months, we'll be protecting our intellectual property, validating our technology with industry partners, and continuing product development. We're also pursuing grants and other funding opportunities to support one of our co-founders working full-time on Canopy in 2027.
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