Entrepreneurship Hatchery / en Eva Lau, co founder of Two Small Fish Ventures, says universities key to Toronto's growth in tech /news/eva-lau-co-founder-two-small-fish-ventures-says-universities-key-toronto-s-growth-tech <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Eva Lau, co founder of Two Small Fish Ventures, says universities key to Toronto's growth in tech</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-06/2023-03-09-True-Blue-Impact-Day_Polina-Teif-16-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=33agJCvR 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2023-06/2023-03-09-True-Blue-Impact-Day_Polina-Teif-16-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=9cN-7DvX 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2023-06/2023-03-09-True-Blue-Impact-Day_Polina-Teif-16-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=lCw9Q3Ef 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-06/2023-03-09-True-Blue-Impact-Day_Polina-Teif-16-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=33agJCvR" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>bresgead</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2023-06-26T16:04:34-04:00" title="Monday, June 26, 2023 - 16:04" class="datetime">Mon, 06/26/2023 - 16:04</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item"><p><em>Eva Lau, pictured here speaking 香港六合彩资料's at True Blue Impact Day, will speak about the importance of diversity in entrepreneurial mentorship at a special session on June 28 (photo by Polina Teif)</em></p> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/adina-bresge" hreflang="en">Adina Bresge</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/alumni" hreflang="en">Alumni</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/creative-destruction-lab" hreflang="en">Creative Destruction Lab</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/diversity" hreflang="en">Diversity</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship-hatchery" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship Hatchery</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-applied-science-engineering" hreflang="en">Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/startups" hreflang="en">Startups</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">香港六合彩资料 alumna is among the members of the 香港六合彩资料 community speaking at this year's Collision conference</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>As one of the entrepreneurs on the front lines of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/21/technology/toronto-tech-boom.html">Toronto鈥檚 rise as a modern tech hub</a>, <strong>Eva Lau</strong> says the 香港六合彩资料 will play a critical role in keeping the city on the cutting edge by fostering the next generation of innovators.</p> <p>鈥淚鈥檝e been in this ecosystem long enough to see how it has matured,鈥 says Lau, managing director and co-founder of <a href="https://twosmallfish.vc/">Two Small Fish Ventures</a>, which invests in early-stage tech companies and has backed successes such as SkipTheDishes, Sheertex and <a href="/news/u-t-drug-discovery-startup-benchsci-changing-tech-world-globe-and-mail">香港六合彩资料 drug discovery startup BenchSci</a>.</p> <p>&nbsp;鈥淎nd I have to give credit to the universities.鈥</p> <p>An alumna of the Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering, Lau is among <a href="https://entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca/u-of-t-at-collision-2023/">the 香港六合彩资料 founders, alumni and faculty expected to speak at the Collision conference from June 26 to 29</a> 鈥 a list that includes <a href="https://www.provost.utoronto.ca/awards-funding/university-professors/">University Professor</a>&nbsp;Emeritus <strong>Geoffrey Hinton</strong>, known as 鈥渢he Godfather of AI,鈥 who has garnered global attention for <a href="/news/godfather-conversation-why-geoffrey-hinton-worried-about-future-ai">sounding the alarm about the existential risks of the technology he helped developed</a>.</p> <p><a href="https://entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca/u-of-t-at-collision-2023/">At a special session on June 28</a>, Lau 鈥 who was formerly the head of community at <a href="/news/content-factory-how-u-t-alumnus-allen-lau-disrupting-way-books-movies-and-tv-shows-are-made">online storytelling platform Wattpad</a> 鈥 will talk about the positive impact that diverse mentors can have on founders as they go through the accelerator and incubator experience.</p> <p>She recently spoke to <em>香港六合彩资料 News</em> about the benefits of diverse mentorship and how 香港六合彩资料鈥檚 emphasis on entrepreneurship has bolstered Toronto鈥檚 startup scene.</p> <hr> <p><strong>How does having diverse mentors help founders and startups grow?</strong></p> <p>Mentorship is something that a lot of founders may take for granted. They鈥檒l say, 鈥淚 need someone who understands this space.鈥 If they鈥檙e building financial products, they鈥檒l look for someone in the financial sector, for example.</p> <p>But if we continue to iterate in a domain, we will always get incremental improvements of existing products. Disruption actually happens when people put their minds together and think outside the box. You need to surround yourself with people who think differently from you, who bring different perspectives.</p> <p>Mentorship is more than getting advice about how to follow other people鈥檚 paths to success. It鈥檚 about building your own DNA, looking at things from a 360-degree perspective and making use of the advice around you so that you can chart your own path to build a product that works for everyone.</p> <p><strong>How did your education at 香港六合彩资料 Engineering help you as an entrepreneur?</strong></p> <p>When I was at 香港六合彩资料, I studied industrial engineering. One of the subjects that intrigued me most was human factors 鈥 the product-human interface, designing products that suit human needs.</p> <p>Addressing human issues is what innovation should be all about. When you design a product, you need to understand how humans will interact with it, because that鈥檚 what鈥檚 going to drive user adoption.</p> <p>That was a real eye-opener for me. It鈥檚 not enough to create something that solves a problem for people. You have to think about how people are going to use your product to solve that problem. I鈥檓 not only the creator; I鈥檓 creating a solution for an actual person.</p> <p><strong>How have you seen Toronto鈥檚 startup scene evolve and where do you see it heading?</strong></p> <p>I鈥檝e been in this ecosystem long enough to see how it has matured. And I have to give credit to the universities. Back when I was at 香港六合彩资料, entrepreneurship was barely mentioned. Nowadays, entrepreneurship is a building block of education.</p> <p>At 香港六合彩资料, there鈥檚 the <a href="https://creativedestructionlab.com/">Creative Destruction Lab</a> at the Rotman School of Management, the <a href="https://hatchery.engineering.utoronto.ca/">Entrepreneurship Hatchery</a> at 香港六合彩资料 Engineering <a href="https://entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca/for-entrepreneurs/accelerators/">and so many other incubators and accelerators</a>.</p> <p>That seed of entrepreneurship gets planted very early on, right after high school. And in the past couple of decades, we鈥檝e seen more and more tech companies founded in Canada 鈥 Shopify, Wattpad, Wealthsimple and many others. That鈥檚 inspiring a lot more young people to follow suit.</p> <p>We鈥檙e also seeing more budding entrepreneurs get first-hand experience working at companies as part of their education. For example, the Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering has the <a href="https://undergrad.engineering.utoronto.ca/academics-registration/work-experience-programs/professional-experience-year-pey/">Professional Experience Year Co-op Program</a>, where students can earn up to 20 months of work experience before they graduate. That鈥檚 a game-changer.</p> <p>That鈥檚 why we鈥檙e seeing the maturity of the startup ecosystem. Our young generation is no longer limited to learning from textbooks, professors and parents. They can get a diversity of mentorship during their formative years.</p> <p><strong>What advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs at 香港六合彩资料, particularly women or people from diverse backgrounds?</strong></p> <p>Absolutely reach out to our amazing alumni network. And don鈥檛 limit yourself to alumni from your faculty. Reach out to alumni from the engineering school, or perhaps in philosophy, or physics, or history or business. Bring in different experiences to create your own recipe for success.</p> <p><strong>What will you be keeping an eye out for at the Collision?</strong></p> <p>I am so keen to listen to Geoffrey Hinton and other 香港六合彩资料 co-founders <a href="https://collisionconf.com/schedule/cc23/timeslot/in-conversation-with-the-godfather-of-ai">talk about trends in artificial intelligence</a>. I鈥檓 absolutely a believer that AI is going to bring so much more productivity improvement 鈥 or even disruption 鈥 to our ecosystem.</p> <p>Certainly, there are concerns around AI. But the history of technology shows that innovation always creates some friction in the beginning, but the long-term gains are beneficial to everyone.</p> <p>I want to hear from the people who are at the forefront of AI, and as importantly, see how their messages are received. How is the crowd reacting to what these influencers are saying? Because that鈥檚 a good temperature check.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Mon, 26 Jun 2023 20:04:34 +0000 bresgead 302080 at 香港六合彩资料 startup Genecis scales up effort to commercialize 鈥榯he holy grail of plastic replacement鈥 /news/u-t-startup-genecis-scales-efforts-commercialize-holy-grail-plastic-replacement <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">香港六合彩资料 startup Genecis scales up effort to commercialize 鈥榯he holy grail of plastic replacement鈥</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/DSC04070-55-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=YI4bU9dL 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/DSC04070-55-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=fIajSCuC 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/DSC04070-55-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=cBeQE1bB 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/DSC04070-55-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=YI4bU9dL" alt="a person pours liquid into an Erlenmeyer flask at Genecis "> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>bresgead</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2023-03-06T11:38:10-05:00" title="Monday, March 6, 2023 - 11:38" class="datetime">Mon, 03/06/2023 - 11:38</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Genecis Bioindustries uses highly engineered bacteria to turn food waste into biodegradable natural polymers that can be used to make a range of environmentally friendly products 鈥 from T-shirts to flip flops (photo by Matt Volpe)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/adina-bresge" hreflang="en">Adina Bresge</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship-week" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship Week</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/hub" hreflang="en">The Hub</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/creative-destruction-lab" hreflang="en">Creative Destruction Lab</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship-hatchery" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship Hatchery</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/startups" hreflang="en">Startups</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/sustainability" hreflang="en">Sustainability</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-scarborough" hreflang="en">香港六合彩资料 Scarborough</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Remember those carrot peels you threw in the compost? If <a href="https://www.genecis.co/">Genecis Bioindustries</a> has its way, you could soon be wearing them.</p> <p>The clean-tech company is using highly engineered bacteria to turn food waste into biodegradable natural polymers called polyhydroxyalkanoates 鈥 or PHAs 鈥 that can be used to make products ranging from soft T-shirt fibres to squishy flip-flop soles.</p> <p>With more than $20 million in funding raised, Genecis plans to become the first company to commercialize the food-waste-to-PHA production process, which it says would allow it to compete with synthetic plastics in both performance and cost 鈥 all without taking a toll on the environment.</p> <p>鈥淲e鈥檙e moving very quickly,鈥 says Director of Fermentation <b>Andrew Chiappetta</b>, one of several 香港六合彩资料 alumni who work at the company.</p> <p>鈥淭he plan is to be at full commercial scale in the next few years.鈥</p> <p>At a research facility in downtown Toronto, fermenters churn a cream-coloured brew where the microbial magic happens. First, the bacteria consume the carbon in organic matter and convert it into building blocks called monomers. This intermediate is then fed to another set of bacteria, which are deprived of specific nutrients to spur the production of PHA, which is stored in the cells as an energy source. Then, the PHA is extracted from the cells, collected, purified and processed into different formulations.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="media_embed" height="422px" width="750px"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="422px" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OrjWy47H2yo" title="YouTube video player" width="750px"></iframe></div> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Genecis got its start in a 香港六合彩资料 Scarborough lab when founder and CEO <b>Luna Yu </b>鈥<b> </b>who earned a bachelor鈥檚 and master鈥檚 degree at 香港六合彩资料 in four years 鈥 and her collaborators demonstrated their nascent technology using rice cookers. The startup went on to receive early support from 香港六合彩资料 Scarborough鈥檚 <a href="https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/research/hub-idea-startup">the Hub</a>, the Rotman School of Management鈥檚 <a href="https://www.rotman.utoronto.ca/FacultyAndResearch/EducationCentres/CreativeDestructionLab">Creative Destruction Lab</a> and <a href="https://hatchery.engineering.utoronto.ca/">the Hatchery</a> at the Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering.</p> <p>香港六合彩资料 also provided Genecis with space for its lab researchers to refine their approach.</p> <p>鈥淭he 香港六合彩资料 has supported Genecis in many different stages of our development,鈥 says Chiappetta, noting the company now has more than 40 employees.</p> <p>鈥淭he education alone at 香港六合彩资料 is great, and students can also take advantage of all the resources and programs that they have available for entrepreneurs.鈥</p> <p><img alt src="/sites/default/files/2018-09-24-genecsis-resized_0.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 500px;"></p> <p><em>Genecis founder and CEO Luna Yu and her team originally demonstrated their technology in a 香港六合彩资料 Scarborough<b>&nbsp;</b>lab<b>&nbsp;</b>(photo by Don Campbell)</em></p> <p>With the support of Silicon Valley startup accelerator Y Combinator, government funds and venture capital financing, Genecis has since expanded its operations to two full research labs, as well as a pilot facility in Scarborough.</p> <p>The company has also partnered with London, Ont.-based <a href="https://www.stormfisher.com/">StormFisher Biogas</a> to demonstrate the potential of its technology at scale.&nbsp;</p> <p>Chiappetta, who graduated from 香港六合彩资料鈥檚 master of biotechnology program, says Genecis can fine-tune its PHAs to take on a wide range of properties 鈥 from soft and flexible, to hard and rigid.</p> <p>He says this versatility could make PHAs 鈥渢he holy grail of plastic replacement鈥 in categories including packaging, medical tools, car parts, textiles and other commercial products.</p> <p>While synthetic plastics can take centuries to degrade and pollute waterways with microplastics, PHA products that wind up in the landfill can safely degrade both on land and in water.</p> <p>And when properly discarded, these bioplastics can be composted and upcycled into something new, Chiappetta says.</p> <p>鈥淭his creates a circular end-of-life,鈥 he says. 鈥淥ur polymers, no matter where they end up, can be composted and fed back into the front-end of the process.鈥</p> <p>Addressing two global challenges 鈥 food waste and plastic pollution 鈥 might seem like a daunting proposition, but Chiappetta urged community members taking part in 香港六合彩资料鈥檚 <a href="https://entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca/events/entrepreneurship-week/">Entrepreneurship Week</a> to aim high and not get discouraged.</p> <p>鈥淭he big thing is to be curious, work hard and if things don鈥檛 work 鈥 keep trying,鈥 he says.</p> <p>鈥淥ftentimes, things don鈥檛 work out the first time, and I think you learn most from the failures as opposed to the successes.鈥</p> <h3><a href="https://entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca/events/entrepreneurship-week/">Learn more about 香港六合彩资料&nbsp;Entrepreneurship Week</a></h3> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Mon, 06 Mar 2023 16:38:10 +0000 bresgead 180477 at 香港六合彩资料 among top five university business incubators in the world: UBI Global /news/u-t-among-top-five-university-business-incubators-world-ubi-global <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">香港六合彩资料 among top five university business incubators in the world: UBI Global</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/UofT90745__FO26724-%281%29-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=iL4PWBYc 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/UofT90745__FO26724-%281%29-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=35aaky88 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/UofT90745__FO26724-%281%29-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=f5QFfPeX 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/UofT90745__FO26724-%281%29-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=iL4PWBYc" alt="exterior of The BRIDGE at UTSC"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2023-02-06T11:20:53-05:00" title="Monday, February 6, 2023 - 11:20" class="datetime">Mon, 02/06/2023 - 11:20</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">The BRIDGE at 香港六合彩资料 Scarborough is one of several entrepreneurship and innovation hubs on 香港六合彩资料's three campuses (photo by Matthew Dochstader)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/tabassum-siddiqui" hreflang="en">Tabassum Siddiqui</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/6891" hreflang="en">UBI Global</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/icube" hreflang="en">ICUBE</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/hub" hreflang="en">The Hub</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/creative-destruction-lab" hreflang="en">Creative Destruction Lab</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship-hatchery" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship Hatchery</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-applied-science-engineering" hreflang="en">Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/global" hreflang="en">Global</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/health-innovation-hub" hreflang="en">Health Innovation Hub</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/innovation" hreflang="en">Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/rankings" hreflang="en">Rankings</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/startups" hreflang="en">Startups</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/utest" hreflang="en">UTEST</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>The 香港六合彩资料 has been recognized as one of the top five university business incubators in the world by UBI Global in its latest <a href="https://www.worldbenchmarkstudy.com/">world benchmark study</a>.</p> <p>In its 2021-2022 study, UBI Global 鈥 a Swedish-based innovation intelligence company with more than 1,000 member organizations 鈥 assessed 1895 organizations from 90 countries.</p> <p>The top organizations were benchmarked across 21 key performance indicators against their global peers based on the value they provide to their innovation ecosystems and client startups.</p> <p>鈥淭he UBI ranking is a reinforcement of all the great work that so many 香港六合彩资料 students, faculty and alumni entrepreneurs have been doing,鈥 says <b>Jon French</b>, <a href="/news/collision-home-u-t-entrepreneurship-s-new-director-jon-french-startups-age-covid-19">director of 香港六合彩资料 Entrepreneurship</a>, the umbrella organization for the incubators, accelerators and entrepreneurship programs across 香港六合彩资料鈥檚 three campuses. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a recognition of how we fare against the best in the world.鈥</p> <p style="margin-bottom:11px">The ranking is particularly notable, French adds, since UBI is one of the only organizations examining both economic and social impact in its global assessment of the post-secondary entrepreneurship space.</p> <p style="margin-bottom:11px">鈥淭he approach that UBI takes is quite holistic 鈥 they measure hard metrics, including funding raised and jobs created, but they also take a look at criteria such as&nbsp;where the mentor network is coming from and how engaged the university鈥檚 alumni are,鈥 French says, noting that 香港六合彩资料 scored high on all such indicators in the UBI report and takes pride in&nbsp;supporting innovators at all stages of their journey 鈥&nbsp;everyone from idea-stage student entrepreneurs to faculty members and PhD researchers seeking to commercialize their work.</p> <p>Over the past decade, 香港六合彩资料 entrepreneurs have created more than 600 venture-backed companies and secured more than $2.5 billion in investment. 香港六合彩资料 Entrepreneurship, for its part, supports current and aspiring entrepreneurs by providing: co-working, meeting and event spaces; mentorship and advisory supports; pitch competitions and prizes; and access to investor networks to secure funding.</p> <p><img alt="map showing locations of all of the incubators on all 3 u of t campuses" src="/sites/default/files/screenshot-entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca-2023.02.03-10_09_29.png" style="width: 750px; height: 422px;"></p> <p><em>香港六合彩资料鈥檚 network of&nbsp;campus acccelerators and incubators in the Greater Toronto Area are currently supporting more than 500 teams working on potential startups.</em></p> <p>鈥淚t is important&nbsp;that our entrepreneurs have a sense of community 鈥 they are surrounded by like-minded people who are excited about innovation and turning ideas and opportunities into companies,鈥 French says. 鈥淎cross the 10-plus <a href="https://entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca/for-entrepreneurs/u-of-t-accelerators/">campus accelerators</a> on our three campuses, we currently have over 500 teams that are working on projects that could become companies.鈥</p> <p style="margin-bottom:16px">UBI鈥檚 world benchmark study is a third-party assessment, based on a comprehensive survey, that analyzes the impact and performance of business incubators and accelerators from four sectors: university, public, private and corporate. Its framework for analysis was developed in collaboration with an advisory board comprising innovation thought leaders and industry experts.</p> <p style="margin-bottom:16px">Other Canadian universities also ranked highly in their categories in the UBI report, including incubators from McGill University, York University, Memorial University and 脡cole de technologie sup茅rieure.</p> <p>Many of the 香港六合彩资料-backed success stories flagged for the UBI survey stemmed from the university鈥檚 strength in leading-edge research fields such as quantum computing, biotech, clean tech, advanced manufacturing and machine learning. In particular, French points to the recent announcement of <a href="/news/quantum-computing-startup-xanadu-receives-40-million-federal-funding-globe-and-mail">$40 million in federal funding for 香港六合彩资料 startup Xanadu Quantum Technologies</a> 鈥 an alumnus of the <a href="https://creativedestructionlab.com/">Creative Destruction Lab</a> (CDL) at the Rotman School of Management that was founded by former 香港六合彩资料 post-doctoral physics researcher <b>Christian Weedbrook</b> 鈥 and the more than 150 ventures supported annually by the <a href="https://h2i.utoronto.ca/">Health Innovation Hub</a>&nbsp;(H2i).</p> <p>French noted that 香港六合彩资料鈥檚 commitment to entrepreneurship is longstanding, with several incubators and accelerators recently celebrating their 10-year anniversaries. They include CDL, <a href="https://hatchery.engineering.utoronto.ca/">The Hatchery</a> at the Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering and the <a href="https://utest.to/">UTEST accelerator</a>.</p> <p>鈥淎nd now when we&nbsp;look at the new <a href="/news/landmark-100-million-gift-university-toronto-gerald-schwartz-and-heather-reisman-will-power">Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus</a>&nbsp;close to opening on the St. George campus, that鈥檚 again an example of 香港六合彩资料 doubling down on how important innovation and entrepreneurship are to the university,鈥 he says.</p> <p>香港六合彩资料鈥檚 world-leading innovation network&nbsp;鈥&nbsp;which includes 香港六合彩资料 Scarborough鈥檚 <a href="https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/thehub/welcome">The Hub</a> and <a href="https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/thebridge/">The BRIDGE</a>, as well as&nbsp;<a href="https://icubeutm.ca/">香港六合彩资料 Mississauga鈥檚 ICUBE</a>&nbsp;鈥&nbsp;will be showcased during <a href="https://entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca/events/entrepreneurship-week/">Entrepreneurship Week</a> from March 6 to 9, featuring more than 15 free in-person, hybrid and virtual public events to teach, inspire and celebrate entrepreneurship on campus.</p> <p>One flagship event&nbsp;returning in-person for the first time in three&nbsp;years is the <a href="https://entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca/event/true-blue-expo-2023/">True Blue Expo</a>&nbsp;on March 9, where more than&nbsp;40 香港六合彩资料 startups, accelerators and community partners will be sharing information on their products and services.</p> <p>鈥淲e鈥檒l be highlighting groundbreaking companies during Entrepreneurship Week, including those led by women founders and startups connected to our <a href="https://entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca/for-entrepreneurs/black-founders-network/">Black Founders Network</a>,鈥 French says. 鈥淎ll three campuses are represented 鈥 it鈥檚 really a snapshot of what makes 香港六合彩资料 entrepreneurship so special.鈥</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Mon, 06 Feb 2023 16:20:53 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 179753 at 香港六合彩资料 drug discovery startup BenchSci 鈥榗hanging the tech world鈥: The Globe and Mail /news/u-t-drug-discovery-startup-benchsci-changing-tech-world-globe-and-mail <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">香港六合彩资料 drug discovery startup BenchSci 鈥榗hanging the tech world鈥: The Globe and Mail</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/benchschi.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=_udPXhUW 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/benchschi.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=a9d9jSVq 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/benchschi.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=OxFHqK2c 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/benchschi.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=_udPXhUW" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>lanthierj</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2022-12-19T13:02:20-05:00" title="Monday, December 19, 2022 - 13:02" class="datetime">Mon, 12/19/2022 - 13:02</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Benchsci's co-founders (left to right), Elvis Wianda, Tom Leung and Liran Belenzon (Amara Studios/BenchSci)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/alumni" hreflang="en">Alumni</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/creative-destruction-lab" hreflang="en">Creative Destruction Lab</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship-hatchery" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship Hatchery</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/health-innovation-hub" hreflang="en">Health Innovation Hub</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/innovation-entrepreneurship" hreflang="en">Innovation &amp; Entrepreneurship</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/rotman-school-management" hreflang="en">Rotman School of Management</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/startup" hreflang="en">Startup</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>BenchSci, a 香港六合彩资料 startup that uses artificial intelligence to accelerate the process of drug development, is 鈥渃hanging the tech world鈥 <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/rob-magazine/article-meet-two-canadian-companies-that-are-changing-the-tech-world/?login=true">according to <i>Report on Business Magazine</i></a>.</p> <p>Founded in 2015 by <b>Liran Belenzon</b>, who studied business at the Rotman School of Management, <b>Thomas Leung</b>, who was working on his PhD at 香港六合彩资料 in epigenetics, and Elvis Wianda, the startup received early support from the Creative Destruction Lab, the Entrepreneurship Hatchery and Health Innovation Hub (H2i). Today, it has raised nearly $100 million from investors and employs 400 people.</p> <p>BenchSci鈥檚 platform can filter through more than 14 million scientific papers and 64 million products, allowing scientists to assembling a 鈥渒nowledge graph of who鈥檚 done what and with what level of success,鈥 the magazine says 鈥 and now helps some 50,000 researchers worldwide.</p> <p>鈥淲hile the pharmaceutical companies pay to use the software,鈥 Belenzon tells the magazine, 鈥渟cientists and students use the platform for free.鈥</p> <h3><a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/rob-magazine/article-meet-two-canadian-companies-that-are-changing-the-tech-world/?login=true"><span style="background:white">Read more about BenchSci in <em>The&nbsp;Globe and Mail's Report on Business Magazine</em></span></a></h3> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Mon, 19 Dec 2022 18:02:20 +0000 lanthierj 178583 at Four startups to watch from 香港六合彩资料 Engineering鈥檚 Hatchery Demo Day 2022 /news/four-startups-watch-u-t-engineering-s-hatchery-demo-day-2022 <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Four startups to watch from 香港六合彩资料 Engineering鈥檚 Hatchery Demo Day 2022</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/Hatchery-Demo-Day-2022-winners-by-Aaron-Demeter-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=yB3Zl8X3 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/Hatchery-Demo-Day-2022-winners-by-Aaron-Demeter-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=moe72HZ1 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/Hatchery-Demo-Day-2022-winners-by-Aaron-Demeter-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=ds9noRsl 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/Hatchery-Demo-Day-2022-winners-by-Aaron-Demeter-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=yB3Zl8X3" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2022-10-05T09:28:34-04:00" title="Wednesday, October 5, 2022 - 09:28" class="datetime">Wed, 10/05/2022 - 09:28</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Members of the four teams selected to move to the "Go-to-Market" stage at Hatchery鈥檚 Demo Day 2022 (photo by Aaron Demeter)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/6738" hreflang="en">Safa Jinje</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/blockchain" hreflang="en">Blockchain</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/temerty-faculty-medicine" hreflang="en">Temerty Faculty of Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/artificial-intelligence" hreflang="en">Artificial Intelligence</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/computer-science" hreflang="en">Computer Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship-hatchery" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship Hatchery</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-applied-science-engineering" hreflang="en">Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/startups" hreflang="en">Startups</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/university-health-network" hreflang="en">University Health Network</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>From brain data software that simplifies neuroscience research to wearable technology that will protect older adults from fall-induced injuries, four student-led startups at the 香港六合彩资料&nbsp;are moving closer to commercial viability.&nbsp;</p> <p>The four teams participated in the <a href="https://hatchery.engineering.utoronto.ca/">Entrepreneurship Hatchery鈥檚</a>&nbsp;recent Demo Day hybrid event 鈥 which was streamed live from the&nbsp;Stewart L. Blusson&nbsp;Visualization Facility&nbsp;in the Myhal Centre for Engineering Innovation &amp; Entrepreneurship&nbsp;鈥 and were selected to move to the accelerator鈥檚 鈥淕o-to-Market鈥 stage.&nbsp;The stage provides startups with a robust advisory board, the opportunity to hire their first employees from the university鈥檚 student-talent pool, access to professional services and legal support, and a path to seed funding and follow-up investment.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>In total, 11 entrepreneurial teams presented their business plans at the event via recorded videos, attracting&nbsp;more than 1,100 visitors from around the world. Marking the culmination of a competitive four-month program that provides opportunities for startups to define their purpose, the event was&nbsp;also used to launch the Hatchery鈥檚 new&nbsp;<a href="https://hatchery.engineering.utoronto.ca/build-a-team/">Build a Team tool</a>,&nbsp;which matches individuals and startups based on skills and interests.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淒uring the past decade we鈥檝e had the chance to create a laboratory to educate entrepreneurs and inspire them to think big,鈥 says <strong>Joseph Orozco</strong>, executive director of&nbsp;the Entrepreneurship Hatchery, which is based at the Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering.&nbsp;鈥淎long with 香港六合彩资料 Engineering, we are committed to providing the resources and support that founders need to build their startups.鈥&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>Here are the four selected teams:&nbsp;</p> <hr> <h3>FallBye 鈥 Wearable technology to prevent falls in the aging community&nbsp;</h3> <p><img alt src="/sites/default/files/FallBye%20startup%20image_Submitted.png" style="width: 750px; height: 473px;"></p> <p><em>FallBye offers undergarments that cluster millimetres-thick foam cells around sensitive areas of the body to lessen impact after detecting a fall (photo courtesy of&nbsp;FallBye)</em></p> <p>Falls are the most common cause of injury among older adults in Canada, threatening not only their health but independence.&nbsp;FallBye aims to mitigate fall-impact injuries through smart clothing that can help protect the dignity of older adults, while promising comfort.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淥ur actions are inspired from personal losses, and we are centred around satisfying this population to the best of our abilities via the technological medium,鈥 says <strong>Amirreza Aazam</strong>, a second-year student in electrical and computer engineering.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淲e are attempting to reduce the rising fall injury rate and the resulting deaths among the elderly population,鈥 adds <strong>Vishweswar Eswaran</strong>, who is also in the second year of the program. 鈥淭o that end, we are offering undergarments that detect the type of fall and cluster millimetres-thick foam cells around sensitive areas of the body vulnerable to impact.鈥&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>Unlike inflatable vests, which are currently available in the market, FallBye offers consumers an alternative that is concealable and offers protection to areas of the body beyond the hips. FallBye plans to test more market hypotheses and set up a closed-loop feedback system that involves end users and customers in their prototyping process.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淲e believe in our impact-centric mission and are ready to tackle upcoming challenges and work towards our vision,鈥 says Aazam.&nbsp;</p> <h3>MoveMatch 鈥 Using advanced motion analysis for at-home physiotherapy</h3> <p><img alt src="/sites/default/files/movematch_patient_exercise.png" style="width: 750px; height: 487px;"></p> <p><em>The MoveMatch platform uses AI-powered advanced motion analysis and comparison to give patients professional level physiotherapy coaching&nbsp;(photo courtesy of&nbsp;MoveMatch)</em></p> <p>MoveMatch gives physiotherapy patients professional-level coaching away from a clinical environment by guiding users through recorded exercises and offering real-time corrective feedback.&nbsp;</p> <p>The platform achieves advanced motion analysis and comparison without the use of bulky and expensive hardware. A single camera and the company鈥檚 proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm automates the manual work of doing motion analysis.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淲e are now transitioning from a small core team of founders to a group with diverse expertise, which brings with it a difficult period in the next couple of months as we settle into a new rhythm and focus more on management instead of development,鈥 says <strong>Aidan Dempster</strong>, a third-year engineering science student. 鈥淲e believe we are up to the challenge and look forward to exceeding the Hatchery鈥檚 expectations.鈥&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淚n the next few months, we plan to build out the prototype so that we can demonstrate the full functionality of our concept,鈥 adds <strong>Mustafa Khan</strong>, who is also in his third year of the program.&nbsp;鈥淲e also plan to take our proprietary algorithm from its rudimentary form to a feature-complete version that will amaze our beta testers.鈥&nbsp;</p> <p>In addition to Dempster and Khan, the MoveMatch team includes Ankit Batra, a third-year mechatronics engineering student at the University of Waterloo.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淭he most memorable part of my Hatchery experience was conversing with our advisory board every week,鈥 says Batra.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淲e are very excited to be paving the steps for the future of at-home therapy and helping people with safe and quick recoveries.鈥&nbsp;</p> <h3>Cove Neurosciences Inc. 鈥&nbsp;Bridging the gap between data engineering and neuroscience&nbsp;</h3> <p><img alt src="/sites/default/files/Brain%20MRI%20scan_%20iStock.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 498px;"></p> <p><em>Cove Neuroscience Inc. offers a software platform that can process and transform brain data to enhance interpretability and useability&nbsp;(photo: temet/iStock)</em></p> <p>Brain data generated from neuroscience research projects is inherently complex. It can be very costly and time-consuming for companies to employ data engineering teams to process and interpret data from MRIs and EEGs at scale.&nbsp;</p> <p>In response to these challenges, Cove Neurosciences Inc. has&nbsp;designed an easy-to-implement software platform that combines advanced neuroscience tools and machine learning technology to process and transform brain data, enhancing its interpretability and useability.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淥ther software companies in the brain-data space are either targeted directly to consumers or patients, or they are focused on applying brain data to optimize neurosurgical pipelines,鈥 says&nbsp;<strong>Nardin Samuel</strong>, a resident physician at University Health Network and alumna of the Temerty Faculty of Medicine.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淥ur company is well-poised to be a premiere leader in the neuroscience software space and we are confident that the Hatchery can provide the support and resources needed to achieve this goal.鈥&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>The company,&nbsp;which includes <strong>Irene Harmsen </strong>of University Health Network,&nbsp;is&nbsp;thrilled to see their platform progress to the Go-To-Market stage where they can grow their team and seek seed funding.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淒emo Day was very memorable 鈥 having the opportunity鈥痶o showcase our company鈥檚 progress to date and sharing it with the Hatchery community was an amazing experience,鈥 Samuel says.&nbsp;</p> <h3>L33T 鈥 Bringing bond issuance into the 21st Century using blockchain technology</h3> <p><img alt src="/sites/default/files/L33T_Screenshot.png" style="width: 750px; height: 422px;"></p> <p><em>L33T鈥檚 platform for bond issuance uses digital bonds executed on the blockchain&nbsp;(photo courtesy of&nbsp;L33T)</em></p> <p>The Canadian corporate bond market is a place where large companies in need of capital borrow money by issuing debt securities that are then sold to investors. But despite the market鈥檚 large size when compared to stock markets, it has not fully embraced the digital revolution and continues to use legacy processes and systems.&nbsp;</p> <p>L33T has created a platform for bond issuance that uses smart bonds, or digital bonds executed on the blockchain using smart contracts.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淢aking it to the Go-to-Market stage certainly has its perks, such as additional funding and professional support, but it also comes with greater expectations,鈥 says the Rotman School of Management鈥檚&nbsp;<strong>Talal Alam-Eddine</strong>, who is&nbsp;L33T鈥檚 founder and CEO.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淲e were also fortunate to have fantastic mentors and advisors throughout our Hatchery experiences 鈥 from Pitch-a-thon to <a href="https://hatchery.engineering.utoronto.ca/nest-info-page/">NEST</a> 鈥 with a truly global coverage from Singapore to Dubai.鈥&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淲e believe that through a combination of our market targeting, strategic partnership and technology decisions, we can be the first mover in our chosen market.鈥&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>While there are a few other players in the asset tokenization space 鈥 where existing assets are transformed into a digital form that resides on the blockchain 鈥 none of them are focused on the Canadian bond market, which is L33T鈥檚 niche.鈥&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淥ur technical architecture is focused on delivering a solution that optimizes our customers鈥 experience,鈥 says <strong>Mishaal Kandapath</strong>, a student in the department of computer science in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science and&nbsp;L33T鈥檚 co-founder. 鈥淥ne of our main priorities is to get a prototype up and running. This is critical for pitches with prospective customers and investors.鈥濃&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Wed, 05 Oct 2022 13:28:34 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 176987 at 香港六合彩资料 Entrepreneurship Week 2022: 10 startups to watch /news/u-t-entrepreneurship-week-2022-10-startups-watch <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">香港六合彩资料 Entrepreneurship Week 2022: 10 startups to watch</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-04/ent-week-2022.jpeg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=OufKygiG 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2023-04/ent-week-2022.jpeg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=r9H_Qs5- 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2023-04/ent-week-2022.jpeg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=L1Q3lpgj 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-04/ent-week-2022.jpeg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=OufKygiG" alt="A composite image of 香港六合彩资料 startup founders."> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>rahul.kalvapalle</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2022-03-07T14:42:37-05:00" title="Monday, March 7, 2022 - 14:42" class="datetime">Mon, 03/07/2022 - 14:42</time> </span> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/mariam-matti" hreflang="en">Mariam Matti</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/rahul-kalvapalle" hreflang="en">Rahul Kalvapalle</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship-week" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship Week</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/alumni" hreflang="en">Alumni</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/artificial-intelligence" hreflang="en">Artificial Intelligence</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/computer-science" hreflang="en">Computer Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/creative-destruction-lab" hreflang="en">Creative Destruction Lab</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/department-computer-science-innovation-lab" hreflang="en">Department of Computer Science Innovation Lab</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneneurship" hreflang="en">Entrepreneneurship</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship-hatchery" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship Hatchery</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-applied-science-engineering" hreflang="en">Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/health-innovation-hub" hreflang="en">Health Innovation Hub</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/hospital-sick-children" hreflang="en">Hospital for Sick Children</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/innovation-entrepreneurship" hreflang="en">Innovation &amp; Entrepreneurship</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/startups" hreflang="en">Startups</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/thisistheplace" hreflang="en">ThisIsThePlace</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/utest" hreflang="en">UTEST</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/utias" hreflang="en">UTIAS</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Clockwise from top left: Carolina Gorodetsky, Olugbenga Olubanjo, Helen Kontozopoulos, Katheron Intson, Liran Belenzon, Mina Mitry, Jeffrey Fasegha, Sarah Watling, Javier Romualdez and Aidan Gomez.</p> <p>The 香港六合彩资料 is hub for startup activity&nbsp;鈥 with&nbsp;more than 10 campus-linked accelerators and a community of entrepreneurs that has spawned over 600 companies and raised in excess of&nbsp;$2 billion over the past decade.</p> <p>From AI-fueled drug discovery to low-cost space exploration and apps that connect Black hairstylists and barbers with clients, 香港六合彩资料 founders are finding solutions to a wide array of challenges while creating jobs and strengthening the economy.</p> <p>While some&nbsp;high-profile 香港六合彩资料 startups are connected to faculty members&nbsp;鈥 examples include&nbsp;<b>Brendan Frey</b>鈥檚&nbsp;Deep Genomics,&nbsp;<a href="/news/u-t-prof-s-ai-startup-deep-genomics-raises-us180-million-globe-and-mail">which uses machine learning to develop treatments for genetic diseases</a>,&nbsp;and Waabi,&nbsp;<a href="/news/road-ahead-raquel-urtasun-s-startup-unleash-full-power-ai-self-driving-cars">a self-driving technology startup</a>&nbsp;founded by machine learning expert&nbsp;<b>Raquel Urtasun&nbsp;</b>鈥&nbsp;many more are&nbsp;launched by students, recent grads and other members of the 香港六合彩资料 Entrepreneurship community.</p> <p>With 香港六合彩资料鈥檚 virtual&nbsp;<a href="https://entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca/events/entrepreneurship-week/">Entrepreneurship Week</a>&nbsp;kicking off today, here are 10 exciting 香港六合彩资料 startups to keep an eye on in 2022:</p> <hr> <p><b>Cohere AI</b></p> <figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media align-left"> <div> <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/2023-04/AG-Headshot-1-crop.jpeg" width="200" height="300" alt="Aidan Gomez"> </div> </div> <figcaption><em>Aidan Gomez</em></figcaption> </figure> <p>With human-machine interactions becoming increasingly common in modern society, Cohere is using AI-powered natural language processing to make it easier for people to talk to machines and vice versa.</p> <p>The company, whose CEO&nbsp;<b>Aidan Gomez</b>&nbsp;is a prot茅g茅 of deep learning pioneer and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.provost.utoronto.ca/awards-funding/university-professors/">University Professor</a>&nbsp;Emeritus&nbsp;<b>Geoffrey Hinton</b>, has created a software platform that helps companies infuse natural language processing capabilities into their business offerings using tools like chatbots.</p> <p>The company&nbsp;<a href="/news/ai-language-processing-startup-cohere-raises-us125-million-globe-and-mail">recently raised US$125-million in funding</a>&nbsp;and is preparing to open an office in Silicon Valley.</p> <p>鈥淔or the first time, we've brought to market an effective NLP solution that is practical, accessible, and safe,鈥 Gomez said in a statement. 鈥淲ith the opening of our new Palo Alto office, we're continuing to scale in all directions, bringing aboard new talent and rapidly increasing our compute capacity to train our next generation large language models (LLMs).鈥</p> <p><b>JALI Research</b></p> <figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media align-left"> <div> <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/2023-04/Sarah-Watling-crop.jpeg" width="200" height="300" alt="Sarah Watling"> </div> </div> <figcaption><em>Sarah Watling</em></figcaption> </figure> <p>JALI Research also operates at the intersection of AI and language, but in a very different space: video games.&nbsp;<a href="/news/u-t-startup-draws-ai-linguistics-power-facial-animation-video-games">The company鈥檚 hyper-realistic facial animation technology</a>&nbsp;is a standout feature of one of the world鈥檚 best-selling video games in recent years: the dystopian action role-playing game&nbsp;<i>Cyberpunk 2077</i>.</p> <p>Growing out of research in the department of computer science in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science and supported by the UTEST accelerator, JALI draws from AI and linguistics to develop tools that accurately map phenomes 鈥 the smallest isolatable elements of sound 鈥 to visemes, the corresponding mouth shapes we see on a person鈥檚 face as they make those sounds. This allows video game characters in&nbsp;<i>Cyberpunk 2077</i>&nbsp;to look and sound hyper-realistic across different languages.</p> <p>What鈥檚 more, JALI Research鈥檚 tools can be scaled up at a relatively low cost, making them financially viable even for smaller gaming studios.</p> <p>CEO Sarah Watling credited 香港六合彩资料鈥檚 UTEST program with helping the company commercialize its research.</p> <p>鈥淭he UTEST program is a great hybrid of courses 鈥 some of them through MaRS and others through partnerships with various mentors who support businesses in the startup life cycle, including IP law firms,鈥&nbsp;<a href="/news/u-t-startup-draws-ai-linguistics-power-facial-animation-video-games">Watling told&nbsp;<i>香港六合彩资料 News</i></a>. 鈥淵ou get to work closely with the leadership of UTEST on various aspects, whether it鈥檚 thinking through your problem space or value proposition, or improving your pitch.鈥</p> <p><b>Varient&nbsp;</b></p> <figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media align-left"> <div> <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/2023-04/Katheron-Intson-crop.jpeg" width="200" height="300" alt="Katheron Intson"> </div> </div> <figcaption><em>Katheron&nbsp;Intson</em></figcaption> </figure> <p>The Varient team has built an online platform that can collect and aggregate de-identified data on treatment for people living with rare genetic diseases.</p> <p>While the app has not yet launched, Varient was one of five winning teams at the 香港六合彩资料 Entrepreneurship Hatchery鈥檚 pitch competition last year.</p> <p>Founder&nbsp;<b>Katheron Intson</b>, who is completing her PhD in pharmacology and toxicology at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine,&nbsp;<a href="/news/five-startups-watch-u-t-engineering-s-2021-virtual-demo-day-event">told&nbsp;<i>香港六合彩资料 News</i></a>&nbsp;that the pitch competition provided a valuable bridge between technology and business.</p> <p>鈥淚鈥檝e been a scientist for my entire professional life, and the rest of my team are software developers,鈥 she says. 鈥淭he business aspect of starting a company was a real blind spot to us. The Hatchery provided us with guidelines that helped us redefine where we focused our energy and effort.鈥</p> <p><b>ParkinSense&nbsp;</b></p> <figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media align-left"> <div> <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/2023-04/Headshot_CG-crop.jpeg" width="200" height="300" alt="Carolina Gorodetsky"> </div> </div> <figcaption><em>Carolina Gorodetsky</em></figcaption> </figure> <p>ParkinSense is another 香港六合彩资料 startup that won in last year鈥檚 Hatchery competition.</p> <p><b>Carolina Gorodetsky</b>, a master鈥檚 student in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and pediatric neurologist and movement disorder specialist at the Hospital for Sick Children, and her team created a medical monitoring system that uses wearables to provide real-time data on the symptoms of Parkinson鈥檚 disease.</p> <p>The goal is to expedite the treatment of Parkinson鈥檚 patients by enabling more effective interactions with physicians.</p> <p>There鈥檚 also an app that can remind patients when it鈥檚 time to take their medication, as well as track the effectiveness of those medications over time.</p> <p>Gorodetsky told&nbsp;<i>香港六合彩资料 News</i>&nbsp;that the seed funding will help with the company鈥檚 protype and volunteer testing plan. Her team includes:&nbsp;<b>Akshata Puranik</b>, a graduate from the 香港六合彩资料 Institute for Aerospace Studies, and&nbsp;<b>Christopher Lucasius</b>, a PhD candidate in electrical and computer engineering.</p> <p><b>Reeddi</b></p> <figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media align-left"> <div> <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/2023-04/UofT83875_0W7A1161-crop.jpeg" width="200" height="300" alt="Olugbenga Olubanjo"> </div> </div> <figcaption><em>Olugbenga Olubanjo</em></figcaption> </figure> <p>When&nbsp;<b>Olugbenga Olubanjo</b>&nbsp;was a graduate student at 香港六合彩资料, he regularly got on the phone to speak with family and friends in his native Nigeria 鈥 only for calls to drop due to frequent power outages back home.</p> <p>So, he decided to do something about it.</p> <p>With the help of the Entrepreneurship Hatchery in the Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering, Olubanjo built up a startup, Reeddi, that鈥檚 dedicated to bringing clean and affordable electricity to energy-starved communities. Reeddi rents out portable and rechargeable batteries, powered by solar charging stations, to people in parts of the world that suffer from unreliable energy infrastructure. The batteries are rented at an affordable price, with customers incentivized to return them on time by earning credits toward future rentals.</p> <p>Reeddi鈥檚 mission has garnered the company attention and numerous awards, ranging from financial support&nbsp;<a href="/news/14-u-t-startups-receive-support-lo-family-social-venture-fund-betakit">from the Lo Family Social Venture fund in 2020</a>&nbsp;to, more recently, being named&nbsp;<a href="https://alumni.utoronto.ca/news-and-stories/news-and-articles/how-does-it-feel-be-earthshot-prize-finalist">one of the 15 finalists of the inaugural Earthshot Prize</a>.</p> <p>However, Olubanjo says his priority isn鈥檛 profit, but genuine social impact. 鈥淎t the end of the day, it鈥檚 not only about making money. Anyone can make money, but it鈥檚 about the happiness that you give people,鈥&nbsp;<a href="/news/u-t-entrepreneur-creates-his-own-job-post-graduation-delivering-clean-affordable-energy-nigeria">he told&nbsp;<i>香港六合彩资料 News</i></a>.</p> <p><b>Fyyne</b></p> <figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media align-left"> <div> <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/2023-04/Jeffrey-Fasegha-crop.jpeg" width="200" height="300" alt="Olugbenga Olubanjo"> </div> </div> <figcaption><em>Olugbenga Olubanjo</em></figcaption> </figure> <p>Fyyne, a startup that helps connect barbers and hairstylists who specialize in Black hair with potential clients, was one of the success stories of the RBC Prize for Innovation and Entrepreneurship pitch competition held during last year鈥檚 Entrepreneurship Week 鈥&nbsp;<a href="/news/culture-discovery-u-t-entrepreneurship-week-spotlights-innovation-and-inclusion">taking home the people鈥檚 choice award</a>&nbsp;in the early-stage startup category.</p> <p>The company has since gone from strength to strength, raising pre-seed funding from Canadian and American investors in October, and launching its platform in both countries in January,&nbsp;<a href="https://betakit.com/fyyne-launches-platform-with-pre-seed-funding-to-address-black-hair-care-accessibility/">as reported by&nbsp;BetaKit</a>.</p> <p>The brainchild of 香港六合彩资料 alumnus and&nbsp;<a href="/news/u-t-grad-current-student-named-rhodes-scholars">former Rhodes Scholar</a>&nbsp;<b>Jeffrey Fasegha</b>, Fyyne streamlines the process of booking hair services through an app that takes care of the entire process from finding hair artists to making reservations and payment.</p> <p>Fasegha, the company鈥檚 CEO, co-founded the company with fellow 香港六合彩资料 classmates<b>&nbsp;</b>Olubanjo&nbsp;鈥 of Reeddi fame (see above) 鈥 and&nbsp;<b>Al-Ameen Ogundiran</b>.</p> <p><b>StarSpec Technologies Inc.</b></p> <figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media align-left"> <div> <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/2023-04/Javier-crop_0.jpeg" width="200" height="300" alt="Javier Romualdez"> </div> </div> <figcaption><em>Javier&nbsp;Romualdez</em></figcaption> </figure> <p><b>Javier Romualdez</b>, StarSpec鈥檚 CEO and a former PhD student at 香港六合彩资料, wants to break down significant barriers to accessing space. That鈥檚 why he launched a satellite and space hardware company that aims to provide researchers and developers with cheap, highly functional gear.</p> <p>鈥淪tarSpec is making space accessible through the availability of standardized sub-orbital technologies 鈥 satellites, hardware and software 鈥 that can allow researchers and technology developers to get access to space or near-space without the risk, cost and long development times associated with a typical space mission,鈥 Romualdez&nbsp;<a href="/news/making-space-commonplace-u-t-startup-works-nasa-low-cost-exoplanet-research">told&nbsp;<i>香港六合彩资料 News</i></a>&nbsp;in June 2021.</p> <p>StarSpec is already contributing to a 2025 NASA project by providing a balloon-based suborbital research vessel that will house and control the mission鈥檚 telescope. They鈥檝e also been contracted to take part in several other NASA missions over the next few years.</p> <p>The company鈥檚 ultimate goal is to create a world where space projects are no longer limited to governments, giant corporations or billionaires.</p> <p><b>BenchSci</b></p> <figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media align-left"> <div> <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/2023-04/benchsci-Liran-crop.jpeg" width="200" height="300" alt="Liran Belenzon"> </div> </div> <figcaption><em>Liran Belenzon</em></figcaption> </figure> <p>BenchSci uses AI and machine learning to help scientists speed up the process of drug development and experimental design.</p> <p>The company鈥檚 initial offering was a platform that helps scientists find and purchase antibodies for their experiments, but a&nbsp;<a href="/news/u-t-drug-discovery-startup-benchsci-raises-63-million-funding-globe-and-mail-betakit">recent injection of $63-million in Series C funding&nbsp;</a>has the company poised to expand its services as it now looks to use AI to help scientists come up with hypotheses and make key experimental decisions. Its platform is already used by tens of thousands of scientists around the world, and clients include big-name pharmaceutical companies such as AstraZeneca, Moderna and Sanofi.</p> <p>Founded in 2015, BenchSci received support from the Creative Destruction Lab at 香港六合彩资料's Rotman School of Management, having previously worked with the Entrepreneurship Hatchery and Health Innovation Hub (H2i).</p> <p><a href="/news/google-s-backing-u-t-startup-benchsci-using-ai-create-super-scientists">In a 2019 interview with&nbsp;<i>香港六合彩资料 News</i></a>, CEO&nbsp;<b>Liran Belenzon</b>&nbsp;credited CDL in particular for giving the startup the tools 鈥渢o connect business and technology and form a company around that.鈥</p> <p><b>ODAIA</b></p> <figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media align-left"> <div> <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/2023-04/Helen-Kontozopoulos-crop.jpeg" width="200" height="300" alt="Helen Kontozopoulos"> </div> </div> <figcaption><em>Helen Kontozopoulos</em></figcaption> </figure> <p>While BenchSci is engaged in using AI to help pharmaceutical companies create life-saving drugs, ODAIA is focused on helping the pharmaceutical sector use AI to boost their customer analytics, enrich commercial insights and drive informed sales prospecting.</p> <p>Founded in 2018, ODAIA was spun out of research at 香港六合彩资料 in collaboration with the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. The company鈥檚 software taps into existing data sources, including lab records, medical data and demographic information, and uses them to provide pharmaceutical firms with actionable insights that help them refine their sales efforts.</p> <p>ODAIA was co-founded by&nbsp;<b>Helen Kontozopoulos</b>, an adjunct professor of computer science and co-founder of 香港六合彩资料鈥檚 DCSIL (Department of Computer Science Innovation Lab), who discussed her company鈥檚 journey at the Scaleup Showcase during the 2021 Entrepreneurship Week. ODAIA also counts several other current and former 香港六合彩资料 researchers among its core team.</p> <p>Earlier this month, the company announced that it raised $17.5-million in Series A funding.</p> <p><b>Kepler Communications</b></p> <figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media align-left"> <div> <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/2023-04/0304_Kepler002-crop.jpeg" width="200" height="300" alt="Mina Mitry"> </div> </div> <figcaption><br> <em>Mina Mitry</em></figcaption> </figure> <p>One of a growing number of space technology companies to emerge from 香港六合彩资料 in recent years, Kepler Communications is on a mission to build a satellite internet network in space.</p> <p>Founded by alumni from 香港六合彩资料鈥檚 Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering, the company has brought in nearly US$100-million in total since its founding in 2015. &nbsp;</p> <p>Kepler has 19 satellites operating in orbit to act as a testbed for its space-focused internet service, with a goal of putting more than 200 satellites into orbit and being fully operational by 2023.</p> <p>CEO&nbsp;<b>Mina Mitry</b>, who has a master鈥檚 degree in aerospace engineering from 香港六合彩资料,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/09/kepler-communications-raises-60-million-expand-network-add-us-office.html">told&nbsp;<i>CNBC</i></a>&nbsp;that the company is 鈥渇ocused on providing communications to space stations, to other satellites, to allow them to bring their information back down to Earth in real time.鈥</p> <p>While the satellites are bult in the company鈥檚 Toronto headquarters, Mitry told&nbsp;<i>CNBC</i>&nbsp;that Kepler is planning to expand internationally, including the addition of a U.S. office.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Mon, 07 Mar 2022 19:42:37 +0000 rahul.kalvapalle 301136 at 香港六合彩资料 drug discovery startup BenchSci raises $63 million in funding: The Globe and Mail, Betakit /news/u-t-drug-discovery-startup-benchsci-raises-63-million-funding-globe-and-mail-betakit <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">香港六合彩资料 drug discovery startup BenchSci raises $63 million in funding: The Globe and Mail, Betakit</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/BenchSci-group-weblead_1.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=qywpQO22 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/BenchSci-group-weblead_1.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=sU03Ue8X 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/BenchSci-group-weblead_1.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=m8rw2ahX 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/BenchSci-group-weblead_1.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=qywpQO22" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>rahul.kalvapalle</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2022-01-24T16:05:23-05:00" title="Monday, January 24, 2022 - 16:05" class="datetime">Mon, 01/24/2022 - 16:05</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Clockwise from top left: BenchSci co-founders and 香港六合彩资料 alumni Liran Belenzon, Elvis Wianda, David Chen and Tom Leung (photo courtesy of BenchSci)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/rahul-kalvapalle" hreflang="en">Rahul Kalvapalle</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/alumni" hreflang="en">Alumni</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/creative-destruction-lab" hreflang="en">Creative Destruction Lab</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship-hatchery" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship Hatchery</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-applied-science-engineering" hreflang="en">Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/health-innovation-hub" hreflang="en">Health Innovation Hub</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-entrepreneurship" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Entrepreneurship</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/startups" hreflang="en">Startups</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>BenchSci, <a href="/news/google-s-backing-u-t-startup-benchsci-using-ai-create-super-scientists">a 香港六合彩资料 startup</a> that uses machine learning to help scientists speed up the process of drug development, has raised $63 million from investors as it looks to expand its platform, <em>The</em><i> Globe and Mail </i>and <i>Betakit </i>reported<i>.</i></p> <p>The latest round of funding was led by Montreal-based Inovia Capital and American private equity firm TCV alongside BenchSci鈥檚 previous investors, which include Google鈥檚 Gradient Ventures.</p> <p>CEO <b>Liran Belenzon</b> <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-toronto-ai-company-benchsci-raises-50-million-in-quest-to-make-science/">told&nbsp;the</a><em><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-toronto-ai-company-benchsci-raises-50-million-in-quest-to-make-science/"> Globe</a> </em>that the company will use the money to double its 200-strong workforce and expand beyond its initial focus 鈥 helping scientists find and purchase antibodies for preclinical biomedical research 鈥 to more broadly 鈥渓everage the history of science to make better decisions.鈥 That includes using AI to help scientists craft hypotheses and experimental designs and make other key decisions in their experiments.</p> <p>BenchSci's platform is used by 4,500 research institutions and 49,000 scientists around the world, <a href="http://betakit.com/ai-drug-discovery-startup-benchsci-scores-63-million-series-c-round-led-by-inovia-tcv/">according to <i>Betakit</i></a>, and its&nbsp;clients include several leading pharmaceutical companies such as AstraZeneca, Moderna and Sanofi.&nbsp;Founded in&nbsp;2015, BenchSci received support from the Creative Destruction Lab at 香港六合彩资料's Rotman School of Management, having previously worked with the Entrepreneurship Hatchery and Health Innovation Hub (H2i).</p> <h3><a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-toronto-ai-company-benchsci-raises-50-million-in-quest-to-make-science/">Read the story in <em>The Globe and Mail</em></a></h3> <h3><a href="https://betakit.com/ai-drug-discovery-startup-benchsci-scores-63-million-series-c-round-led-by-inovia-tcv/">Read the story on&nbsp;<em>Betakit</em></a></h3> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Mon, 24 Jan 2022 21:05:23 +0000 rahul.kalvapalle 172282 at Startup founders share journeys at Indo-Canadian Entrepreneurship Exchange event /news/startup-founders-share-journeys-indo-canadian-entrepreneurship-exchange-event <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Startup founders share journeys at Indo-Canadian Entrepreneurship Exchange event</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/ICEE-composite.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=C3vEW426 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/ICEE-composite.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=CGZWR1eh 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/ICEE-composite.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=fw7TqHpT 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/ICEE-composite.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=C3vEW426" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>rahul.kalvapalle</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2021-10-27T12:02:13-04:00" title="Wednesday, October 27, 2021 - 12:02" class="datetime">Wed, 10/27/2021 - 12:02</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Clockwise from top left: Saket Modi, CEO and co-founder Safe Security, Vishakha Singh, vice-president of WazirX, Manmeet Maggu, co-founder and CEO of Trexo Robotics and Ankit Mehta, CEO of ideaForge.</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/rahul-kalvapalle" hreflang="en">Rahul Kalvapalle</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/global-lens" hreflang="en">Global Lens</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/temerty-faculty-medicine" hreflang="en">Temerty Faculty of Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/alumni" hreflang="en">Alumni</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/creative-destruction-lab" hreflang="en">Creative Destruction Lab</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/dcsil" hreflang="en">DCSIL</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship-hatchery" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship Hatchery</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-applied-science-engineering" hreflang="en">Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/global" hreflang="en">Global</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/health-innovation-hub" hreflang="en">Health Innovation Hub</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/india" hreflang="en">India</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/rotman-school-management" hreflang="en">Rotman School of Management</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/startups" hreflang="en">Startups</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>When&nbsp;<strong>Manmeet Maggu</strong>鈥檚 nephew Praneit was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, the then-engineering student set out to find a wearable robotics product that could help his nephew walk. After failing to find a solution on the market, he decided to build his own 鈥 <a href="/news/uoftgrad17-how-u-t-startup-helping-disabled-children-walk-iron-man">and so Trexo Robotics was born</a>.</p> <p>鈥淲atching Praneit walk is definitely the proudest moment in my life. It allowed us to realize 鈥 for him 鈥 experiences that would not have been possible otherwise,鈥 said Maggu. 鈥淥ur goal with this technology is to give every child who wants to walk the opportunity to walk.鈥</p> <p>Maggu was one of four startup founders who discussed their entrepreneurial journeys at the ICEE Speaker Series last week. The event was organized by the&nbsp;<a href="https://entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca/for-entrepreneurs/indo-canadian-entrepreneurship-exchange/">Indo-Canadian Entrepreneurship Exchange (ICEE)</a>, a new program offered by 香港六合彩资料 in partnership with the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) and IIT Bombay鈥檚 Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE) incubator.</p> <p>Moderated by&nbsp;<strong>Jon French</strong>, director of 香港六合彩资料 Entrepreneurship, the discussion also featured Ankit Mehta, CEO of India-based drone manufacturer ideaForge; Vishakha Singh, vice-president of non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace WazirX; and Saket Modi, co-founder and CEO of Silicon Valley-based cybersecurity and data science startup Safe Security.</p> <p>ICEE will create opportunities for students, entrepreneurs and faculty in Toronto and Mumbai 鈥 and generate high-impact research and innovation to address a range of challenges, French said. He added plans include 鈥渁 two-week innovation bootcamp where entrepreneurs from both Toronto and Mumbai are able to immerse themselves, integrate and be a part of the local ecosystems in each of these two great cities.鈥</p> <p>Participants will be able to connect with 鈥渢he investor community, the non-profit and foundations in each of these two communities 鈥 and also gain exposure to other startups, have working space and be able to experience what it鈥檚 like in the two countries 鈥 and learn from each other as well,鈥 French said.</p> <p>In his remarks, Maggu noted that 香港六合彩资料鈥檚 entrepreneurship ecosystem played a key role in helping Trexo Robotics take its early steps.</p> <p>After building and testing an early prototype of a robotic exoskeleton with Praneit, Maggu and friend&nbsp;<strong>Rahul Udasi</strong>&nbsp;co-founded Trexo Robotics in 2016 while Maggu was doing his MBA at the 香港六合彩资料鈥檚 Rotman School of Management and Udasi was completing his master鈥檚 degree in engineering at the 香港六合彩资料.</p> <p>The company graduated from the Creative Destruction Lab accelerator at Rotman, and also received support from the Entrepreneurship Hatchery at the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, the Health Innovation Hub (H2i) at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, and the Department of Computer Science Innovation Lab (DCSIL). Trexo Robotics then went through the accelerator programs of U.S.-based Techstars and Y Combinator.</p> <p>Today, the company鈥檚 exoskeletons are being used in homes and hospitals around the world.</p> <p><img alt src="/sites/default/files/8.JPG" style="width: 750px; height: 421px;"></p> <p><em>Manmeet Maggu鈥檚 nephew&nbsp;Praneit played a key role in the development of Trexo Robotics by testing early prototypes of the company鈥檚&nbsp;child-sized robotic exoskeletons, which are now being used in homes and hospitals around the world.</em></p> <p>Asked how startup founders should decide which accelerator programs to enrol in, Maggu said it鈥檚 difficult to go wrong with 香港六合彩资料鈥檚 programs.</p> <p>鈥淔or programs that are part of a university 鈥 like CDL, the Hatchery, H2i and DCSIL 鈥 there鈥檚 generally a lot of upside and very little downside to participating in these programs,鈥 Maggu said. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e really opened up to an amazing network of not just other founders, but mentors and advisers, as well as future investors.鈥</p> <p>Among the questions Maggu said he had to confront early in Trexo Robotics鈥檚 journey was how to balance having a social impact with running a scalable, revenue-generating business.</p> <p>鈥淚 like to think of it as: what is the way that maximizes the impact of your idea?鈥 said Maggu. 鈥淐ould we open-source all of our code and designs and put it on the web? Will that maximize impact? We soon realized that鈥檚 just not going to do anything at all.</p> <p>鈥淚f you want to really maximize the reach of your product, you have to build a very successful business. You need to have IP; you need to able to raise capital from the best venture capitalists in the world; you need to scale it up; you need to have really good margins 鈥 so that you can grow the business and expand its reach all over the world.鈥</p> <p>Mehta鈥檚 company ideaForge was incubated in IIT Bombay鈥檚 SINE program. He said his experience spearheading hardware projects on modest budgets while studying engineering set him up for a career in entrepreneurship.</p> <p>鈥淭he first prototype that I built was from 1,500 rupees [around $25 CAD] that I borrowed from a project that my professor was running. From that point to then spending close to $10,000 of my institute鈥檚 money on my ideas 鈥 I felt that I was really privileged,鈥 he said.</p> <p>鈥淚 thought I should build on this privilege even though I knew that doing hardware in India was going to be extremely challenging. I felt that if not us 鈥 then who else?鈥</p> <p>Today, ideaForge is India鈥檚 largest manufacturer of drones for defence, homeland security and industrial applications. It鈥檚 also the first home-grown company to develop Vertical Take-off and Landing (VTOL) drones in India.</p> <p>Modi, whose cybersecurity firm Safe Security was also incubated in SINE, discussed how being backed by a world-renowned, higher education brand like IIT Bombay helped him secure the time and attention of potential clients and investors early in the company鈥檚 development.</p> <p>Today, Safe Security counts the likes of Google, Facebook, British Telecom, Munich Re and KFC among its clients.</p> <p>鈥淭here is a transfer of trust as a new startup because nobody knows about your brand, nobody knows who you are, nobody knows about what you鈥檙e trying to do,鈥 Modi said. 鈥淏ut the moment you say 鈥業鈥檓 incubated at IIT Bombay鈥 鈥 it just means you鈥檒l probably get that first meeting, which a lot of people are trying to get.鈥</p> <p>That鈥檚 an advantage 香港六合彩资料 entrepreneurs can relate to, French noted. 鈥淵ou still need to have the business and be able to walk the talk, but [you can] leverage the brand of our respective institutions.鈥</p> <p>For Singh, who acted in and produced several films in India, the move to entrepreneurship was a journey of self-discovery.</p> <p>鈥淥ver the last few years, I鈥檝e realized that I have a huge appetite for risk,鈥 said the vice-president of WazirX NFT Marketplace, a Bengaluru-based NFT platform&nbsp;for digital artists and creators.</p> <p>Singh said entrepreneurship, much like show business, is about the hard work behind the scenes rather than the glamour on the surface.</p> <p>鈥淏eing an entrepreneur is not about glamour, it鈥檚 not about being 鈥榗ool鈥欌 it鈥檚 a thankless job until you make it. And when you make it, people generally tend to forget about the hard work that you鈥檝e put in.鈥</p> <p>As a young entrepreneur, Singh said she hopes to contribute to the evolution of startup workplace culture. 鈥淓arlier, startup culture was all about working 24-7, success at all costs, becoming a unicorn,鈥 she said. 鈥淭he pandemic has proved that none of it matters if we鈥檙e not healthy, if we鈥檙e not taking care of our mental health and if we鈥檙e not spending time with family.</p> <p>鈥淚 think it鈥檚 time for founders like us to change startup culture and focus on ensuring a healthy work-life balance not just for ourselves, but for our team members as well.鈥</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Wed, 27 Oct 2021 16:02:13 +0000 rahul.kalvapalle 170970 at Five startups to watch from 香港六合彩资料 Engineering鈥檚 2021 virtual Demo Day event /news/five-startups-watch-u-t-engineering-s-2021-virtual-demo-day-event <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Five startups to watch from 香港六合彩资料 Engineering鈥檚 2021 virtual Demo Day event</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/Team%20Nightingale%20Visual.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=eXR5rYVI 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/Team%20Nightingale%20Visual.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=vmrx0PFp 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/Team%20Nightingale%20Visual.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=pNR9Clxo 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/Team%20Nightingale%20Visual.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=eXR5rYVI" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2021-09-28T17:10:06-04:00" title="Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - 17:10" class="datetime">Tue, 09/28/2021 - 17:10</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Nightingale.ai, an AI-enabled platform that enables physiotherapists and their patients to connect remotely, is one of five startups that won prizes at The Entrepreneurship Hatchery's annual Demo Day event (photo courtesy of Nightingale.ai)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/tyler-irving" hreflang="en">Tyler Irving</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/institute-biomedical-engineering" hreflang="en">Institute of Biomedical Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/temerty-faculty-medicine" hreflang="en">Temerty Faculty of Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/alumni" hreflang="en">Alumni</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/artificial-intelligence" hreflang="en">Artificial Intelligence</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/cities" hreflang="en">Cities</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/computer-science" hreflang="en">Computer Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship-hatchery" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship Hatchery</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-applied-science-engineering" hreflang="en">Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/geography-and-planning" hreflang="en">Geography and Planning</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/hospital-sick-children" hreflang="en">Hospital for Sick Children</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/lawrence-s-bloomberg-faculty-nursing" hreflang="en">Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/mathematics" hreflang="en">Mathematics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/rotman-commerce" hreflang="en">Rotman Commerce</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/rotman-school-management" hreflang="en">Rotman School of Management</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/startups" hreflang="en">Startups</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/university-college" hreflang="en">University College</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/university-health-network" hreflang="en">University Health Network</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/urban-studies" hreflang="en">Urban Studies</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/utias" hreflang="en">UTIAS</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>From crowdsourcing new treatments for rare diseases to catalyzing the work of urban planners, five 香港六合彩资料 startups are one step closer to commercial viability after&nbsp;participating in&nbsp;<a href="https://hatchery.engineering.utoronto.ca/">The Entrepreneurship&nbsp;Hatchery</a>鈥檚 virtual Demo Day 2021.</p> <p>A total of 17 teams competed in the Hatchery鈥檚 <a href="https://hatchery.engineering.utoronto.ca/nest-info-page/">NEST process</a>, an experiential learning opportunity that instills and nurtures an entrepreneurial mindset in participating 香港六合彩资料 students and faculty.</p> <p>Over the summer, participants met potential co-founders, developed their business plans and connected with mentors who offered support in various areas, including&nbsp;market research, branding and securing intellectual property. The program culminated on Demo Day, with teams pitching their startup ideas to a panel of judges, including entrepreneurs and investors&nbsp;鈥 some of whom are themselves former Hatchery participants.</p> <p>The five winning teams will share $80,000 in seed funding, which will help take their companies through the next phase of their development.</p> <p>鈥淗atchery Demo Day is my favourite way to kick off a new academic year,鈥 says&nbsp;<strong>Chris Yip</strong>, dean of the Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering, where the Hatchery program is housed. 鈥淚鈥檓 always impressed by the creativity, the professionalism and the energy of these dynamic students, and I look forward to watching them grow in the years to come.</p> <p>鈥淥n behalf of the faculty, congratulations to all the teams that participated this year, as well as to <strong>Joseph Orozco</strong> and his whole team at the Hatchery for making this possible.鈥</p> <p>Here are this year鈥檚 winning teams:</p> <hr> <h3>Civvic 鈥 AI-enabled web platform for developers and urban planners</h3> <p><strong><img alt src="/sites/default/files/civvic_900x457%20copy.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 381px;"></strong></p> <p><em>Civvic has designed a web-based platform to bring together all the diverse information required by urban panners in one place. (Image courtesy of&nbsp;Civvic)</em></p> <p>Planning a new urban development is complex. It requires assembling information about the historical, social and economic attributes of a particular site or neighbourhood&nbsp;鈥 plus liaising with a wide range of stakeholders. Civvic aims to streamline the research process by bringing all of this information together in a single platform.</p> <p>鈥淭he process of getting ready for Demo Day has been one of the most challenging, yet rewarding, activities our team has faced,鈥 says CEO&nbsp;<strong>Lewis Walker</strong>, a former University College student who recently graduated from 香港六合彩资料鈥檚 departments of human geography and planning and urban studies in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science.</p> <p>鈥淲e realized that there鈥檚 often a gap in what we think is going on versus what is actually happening out in the field. Being willing to learn and able to pivot on the go has been critical for our team.鈥</p> <p>Civvic plans to continue development of its online platform through the end of 2021 and is looking to hire new members for its team.</p> <p>In addition to Walker, Civvic includes recent 香港六合彩资料 graduates <strong>Michelle Zhang</strong> (urban studies, peace, conflict and justice, human geography); <strong>David de Paiva </strong>(urban studies, political science); <strong>Khaled Elemam</strong> (bioinformatics and computational biology);&nbsp;<strong>Patrick Thang</strong> (Rotman Commerce, Rotman School of Management); and master鈥檚 student&nbsp;<strong>Ian Hwang</strong> (geography and planning).</p> <h3>Fovea 鈥 Wearable sensors for people living with blindness</h3> <p><strong><img alt src="/sites/default/files/Fovea%20device.png" style="width: 750px; height: 422px;"></strong></p> <p><em>Using an array of 100 coin-sized vibrating motors, Fovea aims to translate visual information into tactile signals for people who are blind&nbsp;(image courtesy by&nbsp;Fovea)</em></p> <p>Fovea aims to help people who are blind by translating visual information into tactile signals relayed via a wearable vest.</p> <p>Embedded within the vest is an array of 100 coin-sized motors&nbsp;鈥 each of which is capable of vibrating based on input from a wearable camera. The system can provide certain basic information upon entering a room, including&nbsp;the number of objects and roughly how far away they are from the user.</p> <p>鈥淲e provide an alternative to photonic-based sight in order to allow blind people to neuro-spatially sense their surroundings, better orient themselves and become more independent,鈥 says <strong>Alaa Shamandy</strong>, a machine learning researcher at University Health Network鈥檚 Peter Munk Cardiac Centre and a member of the Fovea team. 鈥淲ith our non-invasive technology, we are working towards a more accessible world.鈥</p> <p>Shamandy says the team has developed a rudimentary prototype of the device. They will use the funding from The Hatchery to develop a second version and facilitate volunteer testing by individuals with blindness. They also plan to apply for pre-market approval from regulatory agencies such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Health Canada.</p> <p>鈥淭he Hatchery has been extremely helpful throughout our development&nbsp;鈥 from weekly pitching in front of distinguished mentors and investors to helping us perfect our business models and cash flows,&nbsp;and everything in between. We are in a much better place than when we started.鈥</p> <p>In addition to Shamandy, Fovea includes: <strong>Sai</strong>&nbsp;<strong>Spandana Chintapalli</strong>, a PhD candidate in biomedical engineering at University of Pennsylvania; and <strong>Kevin Fan</strong>, an emergency<strong> </strong>resident physician at Aventura Hospital &amp; Medical Center&nbsp;in Miami. The company is also looking at expanding its team in Toronto.</p> <h3>Nightingale AI 鈥 Improving physiotherapy with vision-based AI tools</h3> <p><strong><img alt src="/sites/default/files/NightingaleAI_900x507.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 423px;"></strong></p> <p><em>Nightingale.ai connects physiotherapists and their patients remotely, leveraging vision-based AI to analyze patient progress. The goal is to lower the cost of providing physiotherapy while enhancing outcomes, both in the near and long term. (Photo courtesy of&nbsp;Nightingale.ai)</em></p> <p>Nightingale.ai is an online platform that can be used by physiotherapists and their patients who are rehabilitating following knee or hip replacement surgeries.&nbsp;It uses vision-based artificial intelligence to detect and analyze the same kinds of parameters that physiotherapists look for during in-person visits, including how the surgical incision looks, how the patient is walking and how a&nbsp;new joint is moving.</p> <p>Using this information, the platform can recommend a treatment plan or schedule in-person appointments as needed. By facilitating more frequent interaction and a better exchange between physiotherapists and their patients, Nightingale.ai can improve outcomes while lowering the cost of care. It also provides rich data on recovery outcomes that can be used to further optimize care for future patients.</p> <p>鈥淎s a group of clinicians, engineers and researchers who have worked in the physiotherapy field for many years, we are very familiar with the problems encountered by both patients and providers during the rehabilitation journey,鈥 says <strong>Sameer Chunara</strong>, CEO of Nightingale.ai and an advanced practice physiotherapist and owner of a community clinic in Toronto.</p> <p>鈥淲e have been surrounded by a team of advisers who have helped us focus on what is really important at this stage.鈥</p> <p><a href="https://bloomberg.nursing.utoronto.ca/news/u-of-t-nursing-researcher-wants-to-make-physiotherapy-accessible-for-everyone-with-nightingale-ai-a-winner-of-u-of-ts-hatchery-competition/">Read more about Nightingale.ai at the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing</a></p> <p>The team plans to use the funding they received to augment their core team of engineers and continue developing and testing their platform. They hope to have a beta version in the next six months.</p> <p>In addition to Chunara, Nightingale.ai includes: <strong>Donovan Cooper</strong>, manager of site operations at Altum Health; Assistant Professor <strong>Charlene Chu</strong> (Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing); <strong>Meng-Fen Tsai </strong>(biomedical engineering PhD candidate), and <strong>Chao Bian</strong> (biomedical engineering PhD candidate).</p> <h3>ParkinSense 鈥 Medical monitoring system for people living with Parkinson鈥檚 disease</h3> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/parkinsense-crop.jpg" alt></p> <p><em>ParkinSense is a medical monitoring system that uses wearables to provide detailed, real-time data on the symptoms of Parkinson鈥檚 disease. It can be used to objectively determine the effectiveness of treatment. (Image courtesy of&nbsp;ParkinSense)</em></p> <p>Parkinson鈥檚 disease is a neurological disorder that affects more than 100,000 people in Canada. One common symptom of the condition is a tremor, an involuntary quivering movement or shaking of the hand, leg or foot.</p> <p>ParkinSense is creating a monitoring system that can provide continuous, real-time data about tremors that can expedite the treatment of Parkinson鈥檚 patients by enabling more effective interactions with physicians. It also&nbsp;provides a mobile application that can remind patients when it鈥檚 time to take their medications, as well as to track the effectiveness of those medications over time.</p> <p>鈥淗aving like-minded, passionate people who wanted to see us succeed made the start of our journey very meaningful to us,鈥 says <strong>Carolina Gorodetsky</strong>, a pediatric neurologist and movement disorder specialist at the Hospital for Sick Children. 鈥淭he funding will help out with our prototyping and volunteer testing plans so that we can refine our product and launch it in the near future.鈥</p> <p>In addition to Gorodetsky, ParkinSense also includes <strong>Akshata Puranik</strong> (a master鈥檚 student at the 香港六合彩资料 Institute for Aerospace Studies) and <strong>Christopher Lucasius</strong> (a PhD candidate in electrical and computer engineering).</p> <h3>Varient 鈥 Crowdsourcing treatment efficacy data for rare diseases</h3> <p><strong><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/varient%20page-crop.jpg" alt></strong></p> <p>People suffering from rare diseases may resort to off-label use of existing drugs in a search for an effective treatment. However, this is often done in an undocumented way, meaning resulting data on whether or not the treatment is actually effective gets lost.</p> <p>Varient aims to change this through crowdsourcing. The team has built an online platform that can collect and aggregate de-identified data on treatment effectiveness from groups of people who are all living with the same rare genetic condition or disease. The goal is to take the guesswork out of the process, pointing the way toward drugs that are most likely to be effective.</p> <p>鈥淭ypically, rare-disease patients rely on word-of-mouth avenues to learn about helpful off-label medicines,鈥 says <strong>Katheron Intson</strong>, a PhD candidate in pharmacology and toxicology at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine. 鈥淲e can quantify the success of tried treatments and become a dynamic information provider to these populations.鈥</p> <p>The team plans to use the funding to do comprehensive testing of their alpha product, with a goal of launching in 2022. Intson says the Hatchery provided a valuable bridge between technology and business.</p> <p>鈥淚鈥檝e been a scientist for my entire professional life, and the rest of my team are software developers,鈥 she says. 鈥淭he business aspect of starting a company was a real blind spot to us. The Hatchery provided us with guidelines that helped us redefine where we focused our energy and effort.鈥</p> <p>In addition to Intson, Varient includes: <strong>Chen Zong Lu</strong> (computer science); <strong>Zuoqi Wang </strong>(computer science); <strong>Jingyi Sun</strong> (computer science), <strong>Shukui Chen</strong> (applied mathematics); <strong>Yexiong Xu</strong> (computer science); and <strong>Siyang Liu</strong> (computer science).</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Tue, 28 Sep 2021 21:10:06 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 170550 at Kepler Communications receives $3.8 million to mass-produce nanosatellites /news/kepler-communications-receives-38-million-mass-produce-nanosatellites <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Kepler Communications receives $3.8 million to mass-produce nanosatellites</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/Earth-Background.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=xKRC4snS 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/Earth-Background.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=L88pJSDj 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/Earth-Background.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Ev0ONDyK 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/Earth-Background.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=xKRC4snS" alt="image of a satellite orbiting the Earth"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>rahul.kalvapalle</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2021-04-06T15:36:49-04:00" title="Tuesday, April 6, 2021 - 15:36" class="datetime">Tue, 04/06/2021 - 15:36</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">(Image courtesy of Kepler Communications)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-entrepreneurship" hreflang="en">香港六合彩资料 Entrepreneurship</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/resarch-innovation" hreflang="en">Resarch &amp; Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/alumni" hreflang="en">Alumni</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship-hatchery" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship Hatchery</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-applied-science-engineering" hreflang="en">Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/startups" hreflang="en">Startups</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/utias" hreflang="en">UTIAS</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Kepler Communications, <a href="/news/place-space-u-t-startup-builds-out-global-satellite-network-downtown-toronto">a satellite telecommunications startup that originated at&nbsp;the 香港六合彩资料</a>, has received $3.8 million in interest-free repayable funding from the federal government, <a href="https://www.thestar.com/business/2021/03/31/ottawa-announces-almost-15-million-for-six-toronto-tech-firms.html">according to the <i>Toronto Star</i></a>.</p> <p>The funding from the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario) will enable Kepler to 鈥渟et up an advanced nanosatellite manufacturing facility, making it the first Canadian company to mass-produce nanosatellites,鈥 the <em>Star</em> reported.</p> <p>It鈥檚 part of a total investment of $14.6 million to support the long-term growth of six technology companies based in Toronto and is expected to create 128 skilled jobs, <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/economic-development-southern-ontario/news/2021/03/backgrounder-feddev-ontario-support-for-six-toronto-tech-firms-strengthens-digital-and-regional-economy.html">according to&nbsp;FedDev Ontario</a>.</p> <p>The announcement came days after <a href="https://betakit.com/latest-launch-makes-kepler-communications-largest-satellite-operator-in-canada/">BetaKit reported that Kepler became Canada鈥檚 largest satellite operator</a> following the launch of two new satellites, bringing its total number of satellites in orbit to 15.&nbsp;</p> <p>The company鈥檚 origins can be traced to the 香港六合彩资料 Aerospace Team, a not-for-profit initiative launched by CEO <b>Mina Mitry</b> during his graduate studies in aerospace engineering at 香港六合彩资料. That鈥檚 where Mitry met fellow co-founders <b>Jeffrey Osborne</b>, <b>Mark Michael </b>and <b>Wen Cheng Chong</b>.</p> <p>In a statement, Mitry said the FedDev backing would help the company achieve its aggressive goals.</p> <p>鈥淜epler is creating a new generation of satellites, produced at a scale not previously seen in Canada or elsewhere,鈥 Mitry said.&nbsp;鈥淭o achieve this, we have built out a new facility, developed new production processes, and are creating new high-value jobs in Toronto. The Kepler team doubled in 2020 and will double again in 2021.鈥</p> <h3><a href="https://www.thestar.com/business/2021/03/31/ottawa-announces-almost-15-million-for-six-toronto-tech-firms.html">Read the <em>Toronto Star </em>story</a><i></i></h3> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Tue, 06 Apr 2021 19:36:49 +0000 rahul.kalvapalle 168977 at