• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Techcouver.com

 
  • News
  • Interviews
  • Thought Leadership
  • Bulletin Board
  • Job Board
  • About
    • Contact Us
  • Advertise

Six Hardware Startups in BC You May Not Have Heard Of

November 10, 2022 by Knowlton Thomas Leave a Comment

Most startups today are digital-first. Such enterprises are typically easier to launch, and statistics suggest they’re more likely to get funding and survive than their hardware counterparts.

“As hard as it is for all tech startups, it’s even more difficult for consumer hardware companies,” affirms a report from CB Insights, which found that 97% of consumer hardware companies “died or became zombie companies.”

It doesn’t help that investors “have a deep-seated bias against hardware,” according to experts like Paul Graham, who cites the tough scale-up barrier all hardware startups face as one which software startups can crucially bypass.

Below we pay due respect to some of the hard-working hardware companies in BC, who are innovating a variety of spaces—from robots to rescue devices to custom 3D manufacturing and more.

Sanctuary AI

In March, the BC tech company raised a whopping $75 million in capital from an oversubscribed Series A round, which included strong interest from Bell, Export Development Canada, Verizon Ventures, and more.

“Our hardware development and AI training are paying off,” CEO Geordie Rose stated at the time.

The company’s mission is simple to state but incredibly challenging to execute: create human-like intelligence and physical articulation in general-purpose robots.

“We continue to make significant advancements in the autonomy of our robots, the systems they use to sense and understand the world around them, and the dexterity of their hands,” Rose said, who noted that 99% of jobs require the dexterity of human hands.

According to Rose, Sanctuary is turning science fiction into fact through engineering. The company is not some mere research and development arm—Sanctuary is actively developing working prototypes that have impressed early adopters.

“We are engaged with numerous customers across many different sectors and I’m excited to see the positive impact our technology will have on [their] operations,” Rose said.

Sanctuary was founded in 2018 by Rose, Suzanne Gildert, Olivia Norton, and Ajay Agrawal.

MeepMeep

Bootstrapped Victoria startup MeepMeep is in the business of smart disc golf accessories hardware. Its first product is a stick-on, smartphone-connected tracker device designed to help disc golfers save time by finding lost discs faster.

“Growing up playing disc golf in the world-class courses we have here on the West Coast, I’ve always loved the sport,” cofounder Eve Olynyk, who graduated from the University of Victoria, stated earlier this year. “Now with the explosion of disc golf, there has never been a more exciting time to be in this space.”

MeepMeep’s tracker is tiny at five millimetres thick and weighing in at just seven grams. An accompanying app alerts players when needed.

“Unlike annoying, forever-on beepers which interrupt the serenity of your game, this smart disc golf accessory will only ring when you need it to,” the startups website reads.

Olynyk believes there is ample room for hardware startups to launch and grow on Vancouver Island.

“While Greater Victoria’s software tech success story has long been discussed, we’re only recently seeing the hardware space grow and we’re incredibly proud to be one of the companies taking part in this moment,” she said.

PerfectlySnug

Designed and manufactured in BC, the Snug Topper is the first high-tech active cooling sleep product available locally to Canadians.

In 2018, Jason Elliott had had enough of consistently interrupted sleep due to his mattress always feeling too hot and throwing off the blankets in frustration. So Elliot and Perfectly Snug co-founder Marty Furse decided to create their own.  By the end of 2020, the startup had launched.

There are small, quiet fans located in the foot end corners of each sleep zone that pull cool air from the foot of the bed and circulate it under the sleeper’s body. Once the sleeper has set their temperature preferences, a network of temperature sensors in the sleep surface sense the sleeper’s body temperature and automatically adjust the airflow.

For those that need extra heat, the Snug Topper has an integrated heating element. Similar to the cooling system, the topper automatically controls the amount of heat based on your sensed body temperature and set preferences.

If you disagree with your partner on the temperature of your bedroom, the Snug Topper provides separate temperature controls and settings for each sleeper. For athletes and active Vancouverites, the Snug Topper’s burst function provides an instant rush of cool air for quick relief, while pre-set scheduling helps to actively lower body temperature throughout the night, providing muscle recovery for optimal performance.

Daanaa Resolution

This BC company’s proprietary semiconductors provide medium- and modality-free power transactions. That allows solar panels to overcome conventional hardware restrictions of cell connectivity, optimizers and inverter composition, dramatically increasing power production and reducing BOS costs.

Vancouver startup Daanaa raised a USD$7 million Series A round led by VoLo Earth Ventures at the very end of 2021.

Alumni of UBC’s HATCH Accelerator Ventures, Daanaa was runner-up in the 2020 New Ventures BC Competition and Techcouver named Daanaa to its 10 Homegrown B.C. Startups to Watch in 2021.

The funding will be used to complete Daanaa’s first product in the solar energy vertical and move into commercialization, according to a statement from the company, which includes bolstering their team; the company is actively hiring to fill several roles currently.

VodaSafe

VodaSafe is the maker of AquaEye, a hand-held sonar device that uses the latest ultrasound and artificial intelligence technologies to provide record-breaking water rescue response. It counts Whistler Search & Rescue among its advocates.

“We are on a mission to make the difficult process of water rescue and recovery as simple and effective as possible, while eliminating the need for costly additional resources,” Carlyn Loncaric, Founder of VodaSafe, stated at the time of the startup’s seed round. “We built this technology from the ground up because we are committed to making every second count.”

And in S&R, each second can count for a lot.

Kopahi Manufacturing

Kopahi is a multidisciplinary company in Vancouver. Using hardware technology such as 3D printers and laser engravers, the company focuses on engineering design, prototyping, and low-volume production.

“Our mission is to be efficient and cost effective enough to compete with global manufacturers,” the company says. “We do so by always innovating new and better machines and processes.”

With a grand vision is to “boost the local economy and bring back manufacturing jobs,” Kopahi offers customers a range of services including part replication, reverse engineering, and fully customized projects.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Daanaa, Kopahi Manufacturing, MeepMeep, Perfectly Snug, Sanctuary AI, VodaSafe

 

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

 

Stay Connected

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter

About Us

Techcouver provides real-time reporting and analysis of emerging technology news in Vancouver and throughout British Columbia. The … READ MORE... about About Us

Copyright © 2023 Incubate Ventures

Privacy Policy