Congratulations to VivaSpire, DropLab and Avro Life Science – and especially the Nanotechnology Engineering students who are key parts of these emerging companies – for their wins at the Fall 2016 Velocity Fund Finals.
VivaSpire, made up of four Nanotechnology Engineering (NE) students, Chris Hajduk, John Grousopoulos, Mostafa Saquib and Pablo Enrique, won a Velocity Fund $5K prize intended to help early-stage companies grow their venture. VivaSpire develops superior portable oxygen delivery systems for patients in need of oxygen therapy.
Among the 10 other teams that pitched their idea for $5K was DropLab, comprising NE students Abdullah Abba, Josh Reid, Lucas Zeer and Kamyar Ghofran, that is working on automating lab work using the power of digital microfluidics.
Avro Life Science, whose CTO Shak Lakhani is an NE student, won $25K for their colourful medicated stickers that conveniently deliver seasonal allergy medication to children.
Velocity is a leading entrepreneurship program at the University of Waterloo and the largest free startup incubator in the world. Velocity Fund is a grant program for startups. Each year, it offers $375,000 in equity-free funding to local startups through its Velocity Fund $25K, Hardware $10K and Velocity Fund $5K programs.
Every four months, Velocity Fund hosts a pitch competition in which finalists present their three-minute pitches in front of hundreds of spectators, to a panel of judges who represent local investment, startup and business communities. In choosing the winners, they consider innovation, market potential, market viability and overall pitch.
Learn more about the Fall 2016 Velocity Fund Finals Competition.