The Coast Capital Savings Venture Prize celebrates innovative ideas and entrepreneurial pursuits from the Simon Fraser University community.
Open to early-stage business ventures founded by SFU students from undergraduate, graduate and professional programs, as well as by staff, faculty, and recent alumni, competitors are judged by a panel of industry experts on the quality of their business concept, current progress and future plans, founder track record and presentation skills.
In April SFU’s brightest entrepreneurs competed in a series of pitch-offs and the winners of the 9th annual competition were announced. Competitors are filtered into two streams, the Idea Stream and the Venture Stream, with the former celebrating ventures in the ideation stage and the latter is designed for fully operating businesses.
The Venture Prize award and a $35,000 prize package went to Mala the Brand, an environmentally conscious startup that helps plant a tree with each purchase of its hand-poured, eco-friendly soy candles.
GameSeta took the Top Idea prize, winning a $5,000 cash prize and entry into SFU’s Venture Connection incubator program. GameSeta wants to integrate eSports programs into high schools. GameSeta manages all the logistics that go into an esports league including a secured platform for schools and students to monitor game performance, conduct training sessions, and manage teams.
Check out a complete list of this year’s winners online.