Atlantic Canadian startups made a strong showing last week at the University of New Brunswick’s BMO Apex Startup Challenge.
The event, organized by UNB’s International Business & Entrepreneurship Centre, saw students and early-stage entrepreneurs from across Canada compete to develop business plans for new ventures.
Held Jan. 25 and 26, the event included multiple streams, including two for students developing new business plans and one for entrepreneurs with “early-stage, massively scaleable ventures."
Entrepreneurs applying to the new ventures track also had to be posting less than $1 million in annual revenue, have fewer than 25 employees and come bearing a 12-slide pitch deck.
The student track was open to competitors from any post-secondary institution in the world, with $20,000 of cash and other prizes up for grabs, along with a travel subsidy. The new venture founders, meanwhile, competed for $10,000 worth of non-dilutive funding.
Halifax-based Aruna Revolution won the the new ventures category, while Altheda Wellness Innovation of Halifax and Parados of Fredericton, tied for second place.
Here’s a look at the Atlantic Canadian winners:
Aquavantage — First Place, Undergraduate Student Track, $5,000
St. Francis Xavier University
Jacob Harrigan, William Fitzsimmons, Thomas Gauntsmith
Aquavantage has developed a tool for streamlining the process of measuring and banding lobster, offering improved precision and regulatory compliance with less effort.
Athlete Aid — Second Place, Undergraduate Student Track, $2,000
The University of New Brunswick and St. Francis Xavier University
Isaac Hierlihy, Morgan Mackinnon
Athlete Aid is an AI-based software platform to help triage sports injuries, determining whether it is safe for an athlete to continuing playing, as well as offering treatment and rehab recommendations.
MapMyBus — Third Place, Undergraduate Student Track, $1,000
The University of New Brunswick
Kieran MacDonald, Isaac Jewett, Ben Nicholson
MapMyBus is developing bus tracking software to address a lack of accurate and timely reporting of bus locations to parents and school administers in the New Brunswick school system.
BeBlended — First Place, Graduate Student Track, $5,000
University of Waterloo
Aileen Agada, Solomon Davidson
BeBlended is an online marketplace for hairstylists who specialize in working with afro-curly hair textures to find clients in need of their services.
Swish — Second Place, Graduate Student Track, $2,000
University of Waterloo and the Technical University of Munich
Miswar Syed, Amirhoessein Boreiri, Asaad Alduais
Swish is developing technology to clean the dust that accumulates under solar panels without the need for water or expensive robotics equipment.
Yellowbird Diagnostics — Third Place, Graduate Student Track, $1,000
University of Ottawa
Nicholas D. Calvert
Yellowbird is developing technology to help doctors make faster diagnoses from common clinical imaging techniques.
Aruna Revolution — First Place, New Ventures Track, $6,000
Halifax
Rashmi Prakash, Gurleen Bajwa, Sabiha Sultana
Aruna has developed compostable menstrual pads made from natural fibres extracted from food and crop waste.
Altheda Wellness Innovation — Second Place, New Ventures Track, $2,000
Halifax
Chris MacLean, Melanie Kelly, Matthew Allain, Peter Ford
Altheda is developing products to promote and maintain healthy aging.
Parados — Second Place, New Ventures Track, $2,000
Halifax
Pascal McCarthy, Ian Lemoine, Yehor Sanko, Jack Ryan
Parados’s software analyzes video of workers performing a variety of different movements in order to predict where a subject’s joints are located and offer medical professionals a user-friendly way to assess someone’s risk of a workplace injury.