Meet the 26 Teams Joining Venture Founder this Spring

Meet our 49th cohort of Venture Founder

With a commitment to empower the next generation of entrepreneurs and their transformative innovations from the University of British Columbia, we’re excited to introduce the newest cohort of startups supported by Innovation UBC. As the embedded venture builder at one of the world’s top 40 research institutions, Innovation UBC supports visionary entrepreneurs whose ideas and scientific breakthroughs are set to transform industries and create lasting global impact.

The Venture Founder program helps founders take their innovation to the next level with an approach that recognizes every venture-building journey is unique based on industry, team expertise, and market opportunity. Separated into two streams, each stream specializes in the impact and pace of commercialization. Stream 1 focuses on ventures disrupting existing industries or systems with innovations like software solutions, IT platforms, or new business models, typically with fewer regulatory hurdles and faster market entry. Stream 2 is designed for ventures translating deep technical innovations into commercial applications, often requiring longer development cycles due to regulatory processes, clinical trials, or complex system changes.

These teams are creating solutions for some of the world's most persistent challenges in areas such as healthcare & cultural innovation, AI, and biotechnologies. Their ventures span various UBC faculties, including Medicine, Arts, Science, Applied Science, Forestry, and the Sauder School of Business.

Stream 1:

2nd Reviewer

• Automating systematic reviews for researchers to accelerate evidence-based discoveries worldwide 
• UBC affiliation: Faculty of Medicine
• Founding Team: Spencer Anderson

Authorship AI

• Empowering professors, institutions, and students to ethically embrace AI innovation.

• UBC affiliation: Sauder School of Business
• Founding Team: Samarth Sharma, Neil Chong-Kit, Melver Lobo

Cents

• Providing free groceries to consumers through ads to revolutionize shopping

• UBC affiliation: Sauder School of Business, Faculty of Science
• Founding Team: Sehan Malhotra, Jaraaj Sarna, Steven Chen, Syed Zain Ali

Chika Protein

• Chika provides conveniently nutritious protein snacks for active lifestyle consumers.
• UBC affiliation: Sauder School of Business, Faculty of Land and Food Systems
• Founding Team: Jose Angel Perez, Tavish Young, Cameron Powell, Benjamin Gerochi, Noah Veltman

eSense

• An interactive, evidence-based tool for women struggling with sexual difficulties.
• UBC affiliation: Faculty of Medicine
• Founding Team: Elayne Wandler, Lori Brotto, Kyle Stephenson

Gameye Technology

• AI-enabled strategy guides for gamers.
• UBC affiliation: Sauder School of Business
• Founding Team: Yilun Yang, Yuhan (Jonathan) Duan, Simon Chau

Green Loop Recycling

• Harnessing Black Soldier Fly composting to upcycle food waste into organic fertilizer and sustainable protein supplements for livestock.
• UBC affiliation: Faculty of Forestry
• Founding Team: Mercy Peter, Deborah Peter, Nehemia Onyena, Mercy Babatunji

Kaducare

• AI-powered transcription service for doctors in Mexico.
• UBC affiliation: Sauder School of Business, Faculty of Science
• Founding Team: Rajan Sapkota, Sebastian Natera, Sidharth Polavarapu

Leap

• Motivating and guiding ambitious individuals to achieve their goals.
• UBC affiliation: Sauder School of Business, Faculty of Science, Faculty of Medicine
• Founding Team: Filip Herle, Stash Currie, Victoria Zhou, Sabrina Ellis-Liu

Miravie

• Delivering AI companionship to seniors to reduce loneliness and isolation.

• UBC affiliation: Faculty of Applied Science
• Founding Team: Albin Soni

Optima

• Delivering hyper-personalized mindset sessions to empower students in any situation.
• UBC affiliation: Sauder School of Business, Faculty of Science
• Founding Team: Nasmaan Ibrahimli, Syed Araf

Opulence

• AI analysis of spending to create budgets and personalized investments in banking apps to simplify financial management.
• UBC affiliation: Faculty of Arts, Sauder School of Business
• Founding Team: Aarnav Sharma, Sarang Sa

Punchtime

• Providing a fun way to wake up and stay active to tech gadget enthusiasts.

• UBC affiliation: Faculty of Applied Science, Faculty of Arts 
• Founding Team: Daniel Hutchings, Eric Chaloner, Alexander Anjuere

Stomp Loyalty

• Retail businesses face churn from customers who don’t interact with their loyalty programs.
• UBC affiliation: Faculty of Medicine
• Founding Team: Sarthak Garg

The Gist

• Using AI to summarize and present news cards and stories for time-strapped users to stay informed.
• UBC affiliation: Sauder School of Business
• Founding Team: Pavleen Singh

Vastis

• Building a service that supports fitness and wellness spaces by integrating healthcare practitioners.
• UBC affiliation: Faculty of Medicine
• Founding Team: Lynda Li

Stream 2:

B2Graphene

• Producing graphene from biomass for battery industry with improved efficiency.

• UBC affiliation: Faculty of Applied Science, Faculty of Forestry
• Founding Team: Pu (Justin) Yang, Weimin Chen, Feng Jiang 

Cement Dioxide

• Decarbonizing concrete by feeding on biomass and Li carbon dioxide (Fly Ash).

• UBC affiliation: Faculty of Applied Science, Okanogan
• Founding Team: Shayan Narani, Pooya Pourreza, Sumi Siddiqua, Mohd Akif Razi, Siddha Shome

CementCyle

• Zero emission cement production using carbon-free feedstocks and renewable electricity instead of hydrocarbons.

• UBC affiliation: Curtis Burlinguette’s Lab
• Founding Team: Sabrina Scott, Monika Stolar, Curtis Burlinguette

FoamNX

• Transforming waste into eco-friendly packaging foam and insulation.

• UBC affiliation: Faculty of Forestry
• Founding Team: Jinsheng Gou, Tao Zou, Qi Hua, Walter Yan, Scott Reneckar

Green Graphene

• Transforming wildfire-charred wood into graphene that is environmentally friendly and cheaper.

• UBC affiliation: Faculty of Applied Science, Faculty of Forestry
• Founding Team: Elena Erfanian, Daniel Barker Rothschild, Orlando Rojas

Muscle Movement

• Gamifying hand rehabilitation for neurodegenerative patients to improve treatment adherence. Sensor glove with software component.

• UBC affiliation: Faculty of Applied Science, Faculty of Science
• Founding Team: Wesley Chan, Kennedy Yung, James Zhong, Ryan Huang

Nanoscopy AI

• Molecular architecture by SuperResNET to support drug discovery and personalized medicine.

• UBC affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Applied Science
• Founding Team: Ben Cardoen, Robert Nabi, Timothy Wong, Ghassan Hamarneh, Lydia Li

PhaseLab

• Providing robust control to spin systems for error reduction for MRI machines and Quantum Computing.

• UBC affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Science
• Founding Team: Christina Graf, Alex Rauscher, Alexander Jaffray

Smart Roller

• Roller with sensors embedded, allowing application of tape being rolled onto surfaces with different surface heights and shapes.

• UBC affiliation: Faculty of Applied Science
• Founding Team: Doug Pimlott, Mia Stankovic, Adrien Noble, Monika Stolar, Curtis Berlinguette

Rock Reactor

• Improving the way heavy industry stores CO2 by using electrochemical mineralization.

• UBC affiliation: Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
• Founding Team: Charlie Picciotto, John Madden, Xiulun Yin, Adam Clare, Anoush Poursartip

Welcome to the new teams! 
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