This fall term, Enterprise Co-op students took part in the Ignition Week pitch competition. Meet the winners!
When she was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2019, Rachel Bartholemew (MBET '14) learned the surgery and radiation would affect her pelvic health for the rest of her life. She began researching rehabilitation options and discovered women were still using devices known as dilators, which were invented in 1938. So, she founded Hyivy Health, a startup that is developing a rehabilitation system to help women recover from everything from cervical cancer and gender-affirming surgery to childbirth.
Kelly Zheng has a lot on her plate. She’s a doctoral student building a startup while also working towards a graduate business degree. The Entrepreneurial PhD Fellowship has allowed Kelly to gain the business knowledge, skills and experience to commercialize her research. Using her PhD research in artificial intelligence, Kelly's venture, Coastal Carbon uses AI and machine learning technology to help create a sustainable future for our oceans.
Andrew Martinko (BASc ’15, MBET ’16) is the co-founder of Suncayr and its hero product, SpotMyUV, a UV detection sticker that tells you when to reapply sunscreen. It works by placing a small, round sticker on your skin that’s purple when it goes on and turns clear when you apply sunscreen, absorbing the product just as your skin does. When the sticker turns purple again, it’s time to reapply.
Tapping into the entrepreneurial ecosystem at the University of Waterloo, Martinko and his engineering Capstone team leveraged the entrepreneurial opportunities available to them at UWaterloo to turn an idea into a viable product.
Sushan Shetty (MBET ' 22) works for Mastercard as an Associate Managing Consultant. He takes customer data and creates personalized, real-time communications for his clients. These new tactics reshape marketing techniques that have been used by credit card companies for decades. Read on to learn about how entrepreneurship becomes intrepreneurship. This different take on innovation within a company is exactly what Shetty is doing in his current role. Learn about how his experience in the MBET program has allowed him to stand out.
Student ventures, and students themselves, have been recognized for their outstanding accomplishments this winter term. Everyone at the Conrad School is proud to share these highlights.
Despite the challenges faced in 2021, students, staff and alumni at the Conrad School of Entrepreneurship and Business continued to demonstrate resilience and accomplished many achievements. Here are a few highlights from the past year.
A startup founded by second-year Waterloo Engineering students just five years ago would have a market capitalization of US $5.16 billion under a proposed merger to make it a publicly traded company.
Embark Trucks, which is based in San Francisco, was launched by former mechatronics engineering students Alex Rodrigues and Brandon Moak to bring autonomous technology to the trucking industry.
NERv Technology, a Kitchener-Waterloo-based startup offering a sensory platform designed for the healthtech sector, has closed a $3.32 million CAD ($2.65 million USD) seed round of funding.
The seed round was led by returning investor SOSV, with participation from Graphene Ventures, OneValley, Northspring Capital Partners, Boutique Venture Partners, and Threshold Impact. A number of additional undisclosed strategic investors, angels, and physicians also invested in the round.
For graduating master’s students, convocation is an important recognition of their hard work and dedication. Some will move on to professional roles, while others plan to continue the research that has captured their imagination.
As they celebrate their accomplishments with their families and supporters, Waterloo recognizes the commitment and success of our master’s students, including these six graduands.