Entrepreneurship

Nasser Abukhdeir will probably never get accused of going too easy on students who have hopes of turning their fourth-year design projects into commercial ventures.

By his own admission, the University of Waterloo chemical engineering professor is “brutally honest” when it comes to assessing the potential of ideas and the ability of Capstone Design student teams to develop them into viable businesses.

Elucid Labs, Knote and Acerta Systems Analytics will share $400,000 provided through the Spectrum 28 Mentor & Venture Program, a partnership between venture capitalist Lyon Wong and Waterloo Engineering.

Wong, who graduated from Waterloo with a degree in systems design engineering in 2003, is a co-founder and general partner of Spectrum 28, a US $170-million venture capital fund based in Silicon Valley.

The Air2O team (from left to right): Mohammad Ziauddin, Ryan Fahey, Ryan Jung and Suhail Lakhani

A scene from Star Wars and iced coffees from Tim Hortons provided inspiration for one of six winning projects pitched by University of Waterloo engineering students this week at the Norman Esch Capstone Design Awards competition.

A company that uses artificial intelligence to help make water utilities safer and more efficient was among the grand-prize winners at the Velocity Fund Finals held today at the University of Waterloo. Velocity is a comprehensive entrepreneurship program at Waterloo.

Teams have a chance to win a share of $125,000 in seed money and space at the Velocity Garage. Velocity is a comprehensive entrepreneurship program at Waterloo, and the Velocity Garage is the largest free startup incubator in the world.

With a deadline approaching to commit to their fourth-year Capstone Design project, friends Phil Cooper and Michael Phillips were torn between two ideas: one of them relatively straightforward and the other extremely ambitious.

They were still undecided when they went to listen to Chamath Palihapitiya, the celebrated Silicon Valley venture capitalist and Waterloo Engineering alumnus, as he urged students to set aside their fear of failure during an appearance on campus in September.

That was it, the inspiration they needed to go for it instead of playing it safe.

Two teams of engineering students at the University of Waterloo have been awarded $50,000 each to turn their fourth-year projects into startup companies after graduation.

The funding is provided by celebrated Waterloo Engineering graduates Chamath Palihapitiya and his wife Brigette Lau, founders of Social Capital, a Silicon Valley venture capital fund dedicated to solving some of the world’s most difficult problems.

From left to right: Waterloo graduates Spencer Kelly, Ben Wiseman, Aleks Poldma, Sandy McLachlan and Bruce Taylor, and Community Health Agents Brian Arimpa and David Iga

The Water Institute at the University of Waterloo and the de Gaspé Beaubien Foundation launched a three-year partnership that will combine water research and tech to mitigate threats to our vital water resources.

Epoch team: Lisa Tran, Keith Choy, Jade Choy, and BETS student Ryan Schmied

A University of Waterloo startup team that hopes to support refugees once they’ve settled in Canada, has won the regional Hult Prize in London, England, bringing them one step closer to $1 million in seed funding for their social venture.