Tonight at an award ceremony in Vancouver, OVOU won first prize at the 22nd annual New Ventures BC Competition.
Presented by Innovate BC, the competition brings together emerging BC startups who receive access to education, mentorship, and community while they compete for $250,000 available in cash and prizes.
By tapping an OVOU card on any smartphone, users can instantly share a curated professional profile and contact information, setting a new standard for networking and reducing paper waste. The OVOU team bootstrapped their way to profitability and their platform currently facilitates over 4,000 new connections daily.
“It’s an honor to receive this award at the 2022 New Ventures BC Competition and be recognized for all of our achievements to date. We are very grateful for all of the guidance and support we’ve received, and look forward to using the winnings to accelerate our next stage of growth,” said OVOU Founder Reza Varzidehkar.
Beam Commerce took home the second place Innovate BC $60,000 prize package for their e-commerce post purchase upsell app AfterSell.
In third place, VoxCell Bioinnovation received the Innovate BC $35,000 prize package for their innovative 3D bioprinting technology, designed to accelerate meaningful insights derived from clinical trials to help develop oncology drugs.
In addition to these top three prizes, five additional companies were recognized for their achievements across a range of categories:
The $10,000 Innovate BC Sustainability Prize went to Acel Power, a clean-tech manufacturing company providing boat drive systems using renewable energy. The $10,000 Innovate BC Regional Startup Prize went to Nyoka, a company creating non-toxic, biodegradable glow sticks.
The $10,000 Innovate BC Woman-Led Venture Award went to Yvette Wu, CEO of Yield Exchange, a B2B SaaS platform helping organizations access competitive Guaranteed Investment Certificates (GICs). The $7,000 Luminaries Diamond-in-the-Rough Award went to Immfinity, a biotechnology company revolutionizing cancer immunotherapy treatments.
Vancouver’s Semios was awarded the Alumni Impact Award. The award recognizes competition alumni that have made a significant contribution to BC tech.
Semios participated in the competition in 2011, and has since gone on to make several acquisitions, raise over $225 million in capital, and make major contributions to the local Canadian economy and in job growth.
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