Velocity founders on latest Forbes 30 under 30 list
Velocity founders are transforming the world by creating companies with a global impact on humanity and the planet. Their accomplishments have secured them places on this year’s prestigious Forbes 30 Under 30 list, which honours young entrepreneurs making significant strides within their respective industries.
Founders were recognized in categories such as artificial intelligence (AI), energy and green tech, education, and manufacturing.
Category: Energy and Green Tech
Aida Mollaei (MES ’2020, PhD ’2024), co-founder, Adaptis Technologies
Aida Mollaei, co-founder and CTO of Adaptis, is at the forefront of sustainability innovation with a carbon optimization platform that has secured over $7 million in equity and non-dilutive funding. Since 2022, the Velocity startup has evaluated more than 400 buildings, enabling clients to save millions of dollars while preventing 145,000 tons of CO2 emissions. Mollaei currently leads the product development team, overseeing a dedicated group of 12 engineers, designers and data scientists committed to driving environmental impact. She shares this accomplishment with her co-founder and fellow Waterloo alum Sheida Shahi (PhD ’21).
"This recognition is deeply meaningful as it reflects the collective hard work, passion, and innovation that define Adaptis. It’s a powerful validation of the sacrifices and challenges we’ve overcome to reach this point. Being acknowledged in the energy and green tech sector, which is at the forefront of addressing some of the most critical challenges of our time, is both inspiring and motivating. It strengthens our commitment to driving meaningful change in the built environment, making circularity and carbon reduction a reality, and keeps us focused on building a sustainable future." - Aida Mollaei (MES ’2020, PhD ’2024), co-founder, Adaptis Technologies
Category: AI
Serena Ge and Charley Lee, co-founders, Datacurve AI
During a machine learning internship at Cohere, Waterloo computer science student Serena Ge noticed a significant lack of quality data for training advanced AI models. To tackle this issue, she partnered with another budding computer scientist Charley Lee, to launch Datacurve earlier this year. Datacurve provides companies with data to train AI in coding through a gamified platform where contributors earn money by solving problems, thus generating valuable data for enterprises. The co-founders were involved with Velocity on campus through various events and programs and have recently joined Y Combinator, a prestigious startup incubator in Silicon Valley.
Category: Manufacturing and Industry
Myra Arshad and Avneet Ghotra, Alt Tex
In March 2020, Arshad and Ghotra founded Alt Tex, a biomaterials company dedicated to creating a sustainable alternative to polyester using food waste. Their innovative fabric, which contains no plastics, is claimed to be stronger than cotton. Remarkably, a single shirt made from this fabric can divert one kilogram of food waste from landfills, reduce nine kilograms of CO2 emissions, and prevent four grams of microplastics from entering waterways. Based in Toronto, Alt Tex won H&M's Global Change Award in 2023 and has raised $3.5 million from investors, including Y Combinator.
Category: Education
Holden Beggs (BASc ’2020) and Jackson Mills (BCS ’2021), co-founders, The Zero Experience
Driven by a shared vision, Holden Beggs and Jackson Mills founded The Zero Experience — a nonprofit with a mission to impart entrepreneurial skills to students at post-secondary institutions, including the University of Waterloo. The program emphasizes starting from scratch, teaching young innovators to execute their ideas even before they have a groundbreaking business concept. Since its inception in 2020, The Zero Experience has engaged 4,600 students, guiding them to develop practical solutions to pressing issues such as climate change.
