Meet the 4 Ventures Joining HATCH
This July, we are thrilled to be welcoming four new teams into HATCH!
HATCH is an initiative with the Institute for Computing, Information and Cognitive Systems (ICICS) and entrepreneurship@UBC, and focuses intensely on helping ventures prepare to scale and achieve commercial success. HATCH provides teams with space, resources, and expertise needed to accelerate venture growth to the next level whether that’s securing their first major customers, investors, or building their team and culture.
ICICS provides an environment where ventures can technically de-risk their innovation in the world class HATCH Makerspace, as well as build their first teams with collaborative office spaces. Additional ICICs resources include tech interns and contributions to the Concept Fund. entrepreneurship@UBC supports entrepreneurs through dedicated programming and industry expertise - Entrepreneurs and Executives in Residence (EiRs), to help guide them in the next step of their venture building journey so that they may create impact across the economic, social and environment fabrics of our landscape. Working one-on-one with our bench of EIRS, ventures are able to reach major milestones, while developing a strong network of industry professionals to help them see continued success and further Canada’s innovation economy. Together, ICICS and entrepreneurship@UBC have created a place where entrepreneurs who strive to make a difference receive the resources and guidance to achieve their greatest potential.
Through HATCH, entrepreneurs have a unique opportunity to work with seasoned industry leaders within and outside their respective industries, giving them diverse perspectives as they refine their ventures. Graduates of HATCH have expanded nationally and globally, driving innovation in healthcare, sustainability, and more, making significant impacts on the world’s well-being. From tackling water issues and producing circular economy products to using microfluidic 3D bioprinting to create human tissues, graduates have become leaders, pushing the boundaries in their industries, challenging what has been tried-and-true.
It is very satisfying to welcome new HATCH ventures and watch them learn, grow and succeed in making an impact. The ventures are also a vital part of our academic and social network in ICICS by providing connections among our researchers and the world of entrepreneurship.
Professor Robert Rohling, ICICS Director
We are thrilled to welcome these new ventures into HATCH to continue their venture building journey. Here they will test the market, gaining first customers, first revenues, and further expand their investor pool to support their growth. Best of luck to you all on this final leg of your journey with entrepreneurship@ubc!
Kari LaMotte, entrpreneurship@UBC Managing Director
To accelerate venture growth is no easy feat and represents tenacity and dedication to the entrepreneurial process. These teams have overcome obstacles and persevered through our CORE and Lab2Launch venture building programs, demonstrating their commitment and passion for solving the critical problems we see today. From AI and agritech to human health innovations and supply chain solutions, these ventures are leading the future of their industries.
ABOzymes
ABOzymes Biomedical Inc. is developing an innovative, unique, and patent-pending platform technology that creates a world where blood type is no longer a constraint for patients needing a life-saving blood transfusion or organ transplant.
Dr. Peter Rahfeld, a UBC postdoctoral fellow, with his collaborators Spence Macdonald and Haisle Moon, UBC graduate students, initiated the formation of ABOzymes and entered e@UBC’s Lab2Launch incubator program in the Spring of 2020. Dr. Geoffrey Houlton and John Barclay, who started with the venture as their L2L mentors, joined the team as CEO and VP Business Development, respectively. Doug Buchanan, another e@UBC mentor, now resides as Chair of the ABOzymes Board of Directors.
Built upon the discoveries of Peter Rahfeld and Professor Stephen G. Withers of UBC’s Michael Smith Laboratories, with collaborator Dr. Jayachandran Kizhakkedathu of UBC’s Centre for Blood Research, their innovative technology utilizes enzymes derived from the human microbiome to convert the cell surface antigens that determine blood type to the universal donor type.
Learn more about them here!
CargoSprout
CargoSprout is the intuitive, no-setup, one-stop shop platform for e-commerce merchants and freight forwarders to automate their logistic needs. They create value by providing turnkey transportation and warehousing solutions that eliminate redundant manual workflow. They are giving customers access to thousands of trucking, drayage, warehousing, and distribution services on a single hub.
Their team is led by Wei Chou and his Co-Founder Firat Nurozler who graduated from UBC’s Engineering Physics program and has his Masters of Engineering Leadership from UBC.
CargoSprout comes from our CORE program and has partners including Clear Freight, Border Bee, Carson International and more!
Learn more about them here!
Neupeak Robotics
Neupeak Robotics is feeding the future with autonomous soft fruit harvesting robots. Today, agriculture has a huge labour problem. Even with rising minimum wages, over 70% of farmers cannot find enough people to work their fields. This problem is especially bad with strawberries, because they are one of the most labour intensive fruits to pick. They will solve this problem of chronic labour shortage by deploying a swarm of fully autonomous robotic harvesters that will be intelligent enough to work alongside other human workers.
The team is led by Anshul Porwal, the Co-Founder and CEO of Neupeak. Anshul completed a B.A.Sc. in Engineering Physics with specialization in Mechanical Engineering and a minor in Honours Mathematics from UBC. His Co-Founders include Div Gill, CTO, Raffaela Di Mattia, Head of Operations, and Betsabeh Madani, the Board Director of Neupeak. Coming from our CORE program, the team has made significant traction and believes in sustainability in farming, aiming to help farmers protect against chronic labour shortages and dropping industry profit margins.
Learn more about them here!
Total Flow Medical
Total Flow Medical’s mission is to improve the length and quality of life for heart surgery and life support patients. Their first product is a cannula for cardiopulmonary bypass, used during minimally invasive heart surgery. Costing the US healthcare system an estimate $1B per year, standard cannula can block blood flow in patients’ legs- leading to ischemic limb conditions, amputation and even death. With their patented solution, they plan to become the standard of care in femoral cannulation and start by treating the 100k US patients per year.
The team is led by CEO Hillary Pierce, coming from our Lab2Launch program.
Learn more about them here!