Making strides in innovation

Founders are key members of the local entrepreneurship ecosystem, and this year revealed their continued commitment to solving global problems. The University of Waterloo is the number one university for startups, and it shows as Velocity continues to expand to support founders who are shaping our shared futures for the better.

Top highlights of 2023

University of Waterloo puts its money where its mouth is

The University of Waterloo became the first post-secondary institution in Canada to invest from its endowment into a venture capital fund when its board of governors approved an investment of up to $5 million into the Velocity Fund II, a new, for-profit VC fund operated independently by general partners Ross Robinson and Akash Vaswani which was spun out of Velocity. 

Breaking ground

Velocity’s new 90,000 square foot location on the University of Waterloo’s Health Sciences campus was officially revealed when the Ontario government announced a $7.5 million investment in the Innovation Arena, which will launch startups, create jobs and commercialize technologies in the hundreds.

Fostering rapid health tech development

The launch of Velocity health gives founders a resource dedicated to health-tech startups to receive early-stage access of their products and services, as well as support throughout companies’ lifecycles from ideation to clinical trials, market validation and commercialization.

“Velocity health is one of Canada’s first health-technology commercialization platforms. We’re establishing pan-Canadian partnerships so Canadian health-tech companies can tackle the global market.” - Moazam Khan, director, Velocity health

Meeting the student demand with tailored advice 

Thousands of University of Waterloo students and researchers accessed curated programming to learn the skills and details of how to build a business. They showed up to explore, connect, realize their ambitions and commercialize their technology. Through tailored innovation programming, industry-linked innovation challenges, and pitch competitions, student founders showed their skill and commitment to address global challenges through entrepreneurship and displayed impressive solutions related to mental health, climate change, and food security, to name a few.

Founders striving to shape our best possible future

Accelerating founders at any stage is the core of what Velocity does. This year’s launch of major initiatives will continue to help clear the path for founders to get their products and services into the hands of those who need them, saving thousands of hours in productivity, impacting millions of health care patients, and curbing the forces that are changing the climate.

Founders are solving our future’s problems, and they are doing it now. Velocity helps them grow from early-stage startup and beyond, made possible with access to unmatched resources, collaboration space, funding, and an expansive and experienced network in downtown Kitchener and at the University of Waterloo. 

Story highlights

• Building skills to tackle societal challenges
• Waterloo students pilot portable milk pasteurization device in Rwanda
• Gen Z imagines innovative finance tools using virtual reality and 5G
• The method and magic of finding a co-founder
• Solving global sustainability challenges, locally
• Four Key Takeaways for driving startup growth

News highlights

• Velocity finds new digs in Kitchener’s rapidly growing Innovation District - The Globe and Mail
• In Canadian first, UWaterloo endowment launches venture capital play - The Logic
• Liberum Bio Raises $1.8 million for 'protein synthesis as a service' - Betakit
• Mushroom farming gets AI boost from Waterloo startup - The Record
• Is it recyclable or garbage? Students at UW have come up with a solution to help you answer that - CBC The Morning Edition K-W
• Able Innovations strikes deal with Ottawa Hospital for robotic patient transfer tech - Betakit
• Waterloo’s Evolved.Bio regenerates human muscle inside the body - The Record