Fall 2021 Quantum Valley Investments® Problem Pitch Winner

Last night, after weeks of hard work and hours of conducting research, finalists in the Quantum Valley Investments® Problem Pitch put their best work forward and presented their analysis of several important industry problems. 

Six impressive teams had 5-minutes to deliver their research on the problem they identified, followed by 10-minutes of Q&A with a panel of judges. The judges selected the winner that was best able to demonstrate they had the most thorough analysis of the problem. One team emerged as the top pick from the judges, walking away with $7,500 in funding. In support of all the dedication that teams showed throughout the compeition, each finalist received $2,000 to finance the development of a solution to the problems they presented!

We also want to thank our judges for spending their time learning about the unique problems presented and creating meaningful dialogue with teams during the Q&A.  This semester’s judges included Rosalie Wyonch, Senior Policy Analyst, C.D. Howe Institute, and Susan Motkaluk, Chair CEO Advisor & Executive Coach, TEC Canada.

Congratulations to all the finalists in this semester’s Quantum Valley Investments® Problem Pitch competition.

The Winner of the Fall 2021 Quantum Valley Investments® Problem Pitch:

Medical Melanin

The problem:

The problem is that Women of Color (WOC) are misdiagnosed at an alarming rate. In part, this is due to poor listening and implicit bias.

Team:
Yvonne Osagie - Masters of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology (MBET)

This was by far the most eye opening experience for my restart as an entrepreneur. To be able to break a problem down to its core and understand it from every angle just made me more passionate about the problem and potential solution. Going through this opportunity as an initial solopreneur truly made me feel that I can do this. I can tackle this problem.

All finalists presented important and well-researched problems. The Problem Lab commends each of the teams for the time and hard work they put in during the competition process. Please see the news post for the full list of Fall 2021 Quantum Valley Investments® Problem Pitch finalists.

The Quantum Valley Investments® Problem Pitch Competition is made possible by $300,000 in funding from Mike Lazaridis and Doug Fregin, principals of Quantum Valley Investments® and founders of Blackberry.