News

It takes a particular kind of resilience to pitch an idea for a startup to a radiologist—while you’re in hospital waiting for your cancer treatment.

That’s exactly what Rachel Bartholomew (MBET ’14) did. Today she is the founder of Hyivy Health, a startup that is developing a rehabilitation system – a connected vaginal wand, a patient app and a portal for clinicians – to help women recover from everything from cervical cancer and gender-affirming surgery to childbirth.

This spring term, Enterprise Co-op students submitted five-minute video pitches for prizes of $5,000 at the Ignition Week pitch competition. Each student video pitch was evaluated by a panel of judges. Meet the spring 2021 pitch winners!

The winter 2021 term was full of competition news for our undergraduate, graduate, alumni students — and their ventures. Here is a summary of their noteworthy accomplishments during the recent competition season.

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.

Every year, more than 4.5 million people need blood transfusions in Canada and the United States. That amounts to about 36,000 RBC units per day for the US alone. Transfusions are needed for trauma response, surgery and cancer care. The medical system relies on a complex system of blood donations to meet that need. Without a sufficient, reliable supply of safe blood, the health-care system comes into jeopardy.

This winter term, Enterprise Co-op students submitted five-minute video pitches for prizes of $5,000 at the Ignition Week pitch competition. Each student video pitch was evaluated by a panel of judges. Meet the winter 2021 pitch winners!

Our undergraduate; graduate; alumni students and their ventures take centre stage this competition season. Here is a brief summary of some of their outstanding accomplishments this term.

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.

The Hult Prize @ Waterloo competition energizes and activates socially-conscious entrepreneurs at Waterloo and beyond, and this year will no doubt be one of the most exciting yet! Food is a universal need and source of comfort. The theme for this year’s Hult Prize challenge, dubbed “The Nobel Prize for Students”, is Food for Good. The mission? To create jobs, stimulate economies, reimagining supply chains, and improving outcomes of 10 million people by 2030.

This fall term, Enterprise Co-op students submitted five-minute video pitches for prizes of $5,000 at the Ignition Week pitch competition. Each student video pitch was evaluated by a panel of judges. Meet the fall 2020 pitch winners!