The 2020 New Ventures Competition, presented by Innovate BC, is officially underway.
Applications are open for early-stage tech ventures from across the province who are looking to establish themselves as one of B.C.’s fastest growing startups.
2020 marks the 20th anniversary of the province’s largest and longest running startup competition.
Over the last two decades, companies like Augurex, Meta Optima, and Lumen5 have used the competition as a springboard to scale their ventures and become global leaders in their field.
Already in 2020, multiple competition finalists, including Aspect Biosystems (2014), Certn (2017), and Cuboh (2019), have secured funding rounds to accelerate hiring, R&D, and commercialization efforts.
“For 20 years, we’ve directly supported some of the province’s most promising tech companies,” says Angie Schick, Executive Director at New Ventures BC.
“And now when you look at past finalists like Ecoation, Saltworks, and AbCellera, not only have they emerged as some of the province’s top companies, but they’re changing the world with homegrown, B.C. innovation.”
Over the next six months, more than 150 companies will compete to get their share of $250,000 in cash and prizes. This year’s prizes include:
– $112,000 Innovate BC first-prize package
– $65,000 Innovate BC second-prize package
– $37,000 Innovate BC third-prize package
– $20,000 Innovate BC Top Regional Startup Prize
– $10,000 People’s Choice Award
– $6,000 BC Tech Association Growth Programs Prize Package
Organizers have modified this year’s competition in response to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic and are moving all educational events scheduled in March and April online via live streaming. In addition, this year’s kickoff networking event scheduled for April 1st has also been postponed.
Applications are due by Tuesday, April 7th at 11pm PST and can be submitted through the New Ventures BC website.